From Brighton with Love - Artist Collaboration
In homage to our beloved Brighton hometown, we have collaborated with talented local artist Rosie Apps to create an exclusive From Brighton with Love jewellery collection.
Rosie used the city's quirky idiosyncrasies and iconic landmarks as her inspiration. Our talented jewellers then took her beautiful illustrations into the workshop and created the stunning range of engraved pieces.
To celebrate the launch, we have dedicated our North Laines store window to Rosie's striking illustrations and drawings. A true love letter to our City by the Sea! British-Australian artist Rosie Apps was the perfect collaborator for this project - her paintings, illustrations and prints perfectly capture the essence of special places, beach life and a lust for endless adventure.
As real ˜super fans' of Rosie's work we asked her a few questions to see what inspires her and find out about her long journey from Bondi to Brighton.
We absolutely love your work! Tell us a bit more about you and your artistic style?
I've been into art since I was very little, but I really got into things in a big way in the early noughties in my late teens/early twenties, with the street art movement of the time. Artists such as Banksy, Ben Eine, Mode2, D*Face, Antony Micallefetc absolutely captured my attention and I became fascinated (verging on obsessed if I'm totally honest!) with street art and graffiti; its bold aesthetic and the strong line work used. It was around this time I started to really develop my style.
In 2011 I moved to Australia and whilst acquainting myself with my new home-country I started to get intrigued by maps and the art of cartography (the drawing of maps) and my work evolved further still. I've since created countless illustrated maps of places around the world “ including our beloved Brighton (my current hometown!)
I still use the same bold, hand-drawn aesthetic in my illustrations as my early pieces, but my recent work also often includes my love of travel, and it often has a beachy/surf aesthetic too (another of my loves).
Over the years I've worked with a lot of fantastic dream clients including MTV, Converse, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Bondi Beach Council (Australia), Jetstar, Tourism Australia, South African Tourism and more. My work has appeared in everything from magazines and book covers, to sculptures, art prints and on huge public murals (which are my personal favourite to create!) It's been a fun ride so far and I can't wait to see what's next!
What inspires you?
- I love to travel “ seeing new places, experiencing new cultures, meeting new people Travel and a sense of place features pretty prominently in my recent work.
- I love the whole surf/skate/snowboard culture and an adventure lifestyle and the people it attracts interests me.
- Graffiti / street art (both on the streets and in fine art galleries!) has been a constant source of inspiration of mine for many years (and my art print collection is getting out of hand “ I'm running out of wall space in my house!)
- Anyone who includes humour or quirky oddities in their work.
- Colour “ Whilst I love to use thick black lines, I also love a good splurge of colour here and there.
Where do you do most of illustrations? And what is your creative process?
I work from my little home office in Brighton, where I've been working for the last 5 years. My process usually starts fairly traditionally with pen/paper, where I'll do some initial sketches and scribbles. For me this part is crucial to really solidify my ideas and the direction I want a piece to take. After this if I'm creating a digital/print piece I'll transfer onto my laptop where I use a Wacom tablet and I mainly work in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. Or if I'm creating a mural or physical piece, I'll take my sketches, grab my materials and just get to work splashing some paint around! I love both digital and physical work in different ways and they both keep me on my toes!
What has been your favourite illustration to date and why?
Aside from the lovely new Posh Totty Designs window (of course! ;)) I've got a few career highlights. One of my favourites was a 30ft mural I painted right on Bondi beachfront in Sydney Australia. They've erected this incredible mural wall that's been around since the late 1970's and they invite artists from all around the world to create works. It was a dream come true when I was selected to paint there a few years back. It's absolutely the most beautiful and idyllic location to paint - right next to the sand and waves - and it was so much fun. I also got tagged in literally hundreds of photos of people enjoying my work, which was just the greatest feeling.
I've also loved creating every single one of the many maps I've drawn over the years. Many people think of maps as being a fairly boring piece of design, but I love to think about how you can modernise them, making them functional but also engaging “ by using interesting colours, or including unique illustrations and quirky details (such as local spots and hidden gems.) It's important for me to really capture flavour of a place and make a working map that also doubles up as a piece of art. They're just really good fun to create and I love to see them come together.
You are from Australia originally. Brighton or Bondi?!
Can I pick both please?! Brighton for the art/music scene, creative community and amazing independent shops/restaurantsetc. Bondi for the weather (drool!), the beautiful beach and the 100% chilled out, relaxed beachy lifestyle. If I could merge the two, it would be the most perfect place.
You obviously love being by the sea, how does it influence your work?
100%. Like many people I find being by the sea so grounding. I love everything to do with a beach lifestyle, so I'll often try to include surfboards, skateboards, palm trees, starfish, ice-creams, sunglasses and more in my work!
Tell us more about the gorgeous new Posh Totty Designs window!
I'm so excited about this new project “ thanks so much for getting me involved. The brief was to create a window to represent ˜With Love from Brighton.' I therefore wanted to create my very own love letter to Brighton celebrating the many places that make Brighton so unique (which felt especially important after the 18 months we've all had!) Of course, the pavilion, bandstand, Brighton Palace pier and the West Pier were included. But I also squeezed in many, many other recognisable things such as the Brighton Upside Down House, the iconic Komedia/Duke or York's pair or legs, the wind turbines, the carousel, deckchairs, regency buildings, the North Laines, colourful beach huts, the ˜Afloat' donut sculpture, seagulls, ice-creams etc.
It's meant to be a fun and vibrant piece that I hope will raise a smile to everyone walking by or entering the shop, celebrating some of the things that make Brighton such a wonderful city. ˜º
Rosie's stunning range of prints are available to buy here.
From Brighton with Love
The new and exclusive From Brighton with Love jewellery collection is available in sterling silver with optional 18ct gold plating and is available to buy in our Brighton Sydney Street store or here online.
Discover the Collection
