#SUPERRADCOLLAB with Ampersand Design Studio!

I am a solo designer/entrepreneur, and I am good working alone. But I do play well with others too! And I really love to do it! With the right folks of course.

I’ve worked with Morgan and Carrie of Ampersand Design Studio in the past when I wanted some designs that I knew I couldn’t design, but they could. It was many years ago, and we were definitely overdo for a #SUPERRADCOLLAB round 2 (how has no one taken that hashtag yet!?) It hit me a few months ago when I’m linking to their website in the post here where we featured A Peek Inside Morgan’s home… I find myself looking at their patterns and had a few that jumped out and were begging me to be made into a throw. So we did. It’s really that simple. Well, there’s some secret logistics of getting scale and color right, and some tweeks here and there so stuff doesn’t look weird- we talk a lot about blobs and pokey things and how that reads on a throw, but that was just some fun playing around until it was right.

First up we went with Succulents. Mostly bright and bold, but we couldn’t resist a neutral one too!

In the middle of doing all this, another pattern pops out that would be perfect for a kids mini— so we made 2 versions of Shapes at Play also!

I have a shortlist of criteria I run through when deciding to work with people, whether it be a collaboration of product, photography, videography, charity, etc. Those things are:

1) Will it be fun ?

Sounds very unprofessional, but I’ve found that if it’s not at least a little bit fun, the outcome probably won’t be successful. Fun shows in the work. Laughter as part of the process makes for a good outcome.

2) Are the people GOOD people?

Am I aligning with decent folks? Are they generous, giving and kind? Otherwise, it won’t be FUN (see #1) and will probably fail.

3) Does the project produce GOOD?

There needs to be a purpose. Either making something beautiful, some kind of art that people will enjoy or a charity aspect. It can’t just be about making money. I’ve found time and time again, those projects don’t turn out well- both financially and for fun factor #1.

In this case: 1) indeed it was FUN, I mean just look at collage of color below! It’s bold, fresh and happy. Although our photoshoot was a bit short due to Covid times, we still managed to have a blast while shooting. (I have 1000 hilarious photos of “magic hands Morgan” throwing throws like a magician, if you ever want to see them!)

2) If you are uncertain about whether these girls are good humans, just take a look at their insta— you can find they take time, energy and resources to stand up for human rights and important issues.

3) And in this case, I think we made a good product that will make people smile, it certainly has made me smile over the last few weeks! Has given me something to look forward to in uncertain times and am grateful for the opportunity to work with smart, talented women, who I am lucky to also call my friends. Enjoy!