Fabric Friday {Spoonflower Feature - Monda & Fabric Giveaway OPEN INTERNATIONALLY}

I am excited to share with you a wonderful designer who is giving away a yard of her fabric, your choice!  I actually stumbled upon Vanessa through Flickr.  I saw a cool print, and I asked her if she designed her own fabric.  Come to find out, she has a Spoonflower account!  Gee, I should realize by now that a lot of great designers are using Spoonflower.

Vanessa has a different kind of style.  I feel a retro vibe when browsing her designs.  They are fun, humorous, uplifting, and most definitely kid friendly.   I can definitely see some of her prints used for clothing, blankets, quilts, accessories, toys, and some furniture pieces. 

You can view all of her prints on Spoonflower.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Vanessa Waller - but I'm also called Monda (which was a childhood nickname). I'm 35 and live in Berkshire in the UK - not very far from the Queen in fact. In January this year I married my best friend (Brendan) after 14 happy years together.  Our little family includes our 2 cats, Mellie and Stevie.

When did you know you wanted to be a surface pattern designer?

My preferred subjects in school had always been art and design, so when all my friends were leaving for university, I went and did a foundation course in Art and design which covered lots of disciplines and helped me learn that I was interested in textile and pattern design. I then studied for a Design Crafts degree at Cumbria College of Art and Design, in Carlisle, which was where I met Brendan, who is also a Designer. My course was a mixture of printed textiles, multi-media textiles and ceramics. I studied from 1994-1998, and back in those days we didn't use computers at all when it came to designing. Everything was done by hand - I learnt the old school way, which I think gave me a good grounding and understanding of how to produce printed textiles. I loved screen printing, and I specialised in this during my last year, along with multi media textiles - more specifically machine embroidery.

Were there any challenging obstacles you had to overcome to get to where you are now?

After leaving Art College, I looked for a design job, but found it so difficult. We didn't use the internet back then and I had no working experience as a designer, so whilst looking for my dream job and getting countless rejections, I got a job in retail to tide me over and help pay the bills. Then, 13 years seem to pass by and I still wasn't working as a designer - although I had dabbled here and there and have kept a blog since 2007 to document my endeavours. 

In 2010, I finally made the decision to leave my job as a recruitment manager to follow my dream, and I can honestly say I haven't looked back. At that point I was working to live, not living to work.

I used my savings to pay for a 'zero to hero' adobe illustrator course so I could learn how to use the computer in order to design digitally. I'm still very much in the early days of my design career and as much as I miss the monthly salary (I'm living like a student again!) I feel so much richer for loving what I am doing on a daily basis. I can see my own work improving daily and I'm sure it won't be long before I can earn a good living from what I do.

I'm currently working from my spare room, which has been converted into an office/studio, but I'd love to have a real home studio one day - a dedicated space that's not also trying to be a guest room!

Where does your inspiration come from?

Everywhere!  Since making the decision to leave my job last year my eyes have really been opened to how pattern and print is used in the wider world.
I read a lot of blogs - the wealth of visual stimulation out there is immense.  I love books - design books but also picture/children's books, I take pictures for reference when I've seen something that catches my eye - this could be a flower, a piece of packaging, a building, a piece of fabric or clothing - countless things.  I draw ideas and doodle in my sketchbook, as well as making countless lists of things I want to achieve.

Deceased of living, whose studio would you raid?

Oh this is hard!  I can't pick just one person/designer.  I love Mary Quants bold 60's patterns and I'm also a big fan of Alexander Henry fabrics, past and present.  I would definitely raid the Paperchase studios.  I can happily spend a good few hours looking at all the stationary patterns and designs in Paperchase.  I also really love the vintage Figgjo Flint pottery/ceramic designs, so I would definitely like to go back in time and take a look around their Norwegian studios.

What is success to you?

I feel like every day is a little bit of a success at the moment and I know that this is just the beginning.  I love what I do.  My work is starting to achieve recognition and that makes me very happy.  I like to create things that will make people smile and feel happy - whether that's a piece of fabric, a greetings card, some stationery, or a soft toy.  I guess from a very practical and boring point of view, it will also feel like I have achieved success when I don't have to worry about how I will pay my bills!


Where would you like to be in the next decade?

In the future I'd love to be able to see my design work on many different surfaces, and I'd love to drink out of a mug with my designs on it, draw in a sketch book with my design on the cover, wear a dress with fabric I have designed or go into a shop and see my designs on cards and gift wrap.
My dream scenario is to live in a house in the country with a separate design studio in the grounds (where I can work with my husband), a huge garden with lots of fruit tree's, flowers, a vegetable garden, my moggies, and a few new little people additions to our family.

Thank you so much Vanessa for sharing a little piece of your life with us!
You can find Vanessa on Etsy, Spoonflower, Pinterest, Twitter @mondaloves, and her blog.

One lucky reader will win 1 yard of quilting weight fabric.  

Giveaway Rules:

Visit Vanessa's blog and leave her a comment.  Come back here and let me know you did!

Additional Entries:

1. Follow Monda on Twitter @mondaland

2. Follow Monda on Pinterest

3.  Follow me

4. Blog, tweet, or FB about this giveaway
5. Add Monda to your Favorites on Etsy

Giveaway will close on 11/27 at 9 PM EST.  Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced 11/29.