Our brand new collection 'The Pond Dance' will be launching at 8.30am on Saturday 1st Nov (UK time).
Like most of our collections, Rebecca and I had been flirting with the theme of a Pond for a really long time. We thought about dinosaurs, or perhaps a journey to the tree tops of the Amazon was calling? But something kept us coming back to this particular body of water.
By definition a pond is a body of water that can range from 1 meter to 2 hectares, which holds water for 4 months or more of the year. Despite being small they support more biodiversity than rivers and lakes and we knew it could offer one of the richest places to explore. They also need our attention more then ever as their habitat and species sadly shrink each year. But when it came to starting the drawing for what would become named 'The Pond Dance' what I asked myself was 'what fascinates us from a young age about ponds and why do they retain a magic for us even as adults?'
I went back in time to being a child and recalling what it had been about ponds that kept me there. It dawned on me that it is one of the first places we encounter transformation. Witnessing a tadpole grow a tail, followed by legs and metamorphose into a frog that can swim and jump.
I wanted to capture the familiarity of humble ponds and at the same time capture that unique surreal experience they offer us. That's what led me down more of a psychedelic route for the colours (as well as the actual pigments of the creatures themselves such as the Scarlet dragonfly). I also experimented with an Alice in Wonderland playfulness with scale, shrinking children to be the same size as the insects and creatures, adorning them in wings of butterflies that become cloaks. It has been one of my favourite collections to draw and we will have a limited edition black and white version of the nighttime side of the design which feels extra special because it somehow captures the old fashioned feeling of a pond and book illustrations.
The nature of ponds meant we could take the surreal approach even further, reflecting the wildlife such as incredible amphibians like the frog and newt that can breath in and out of water. Here the blurring of lines between fact and fantasy is greater in many ways, reflecting how the wildlife of ponds transverse air, land and water.
It also felt right to make children and adults more prominent in this collection as somehow we are intrinsically linked to them. From toddlers delighting (and getting scared) feeding geese at the man made pond in the park to the joy of walking around larger wild ponds as an adult, admiring the elegant swans land or perch on their nests.
On the daytime side (see image below of our new muslin) there is a child studying the tadpoles in a jar while others are preoccupied glimpsing the fish that dart about, a violin lies half submerged in the grass waiting for someone to play it. Rebecca and I wanted this collection to feel musical which seemed fitting as ponds are lyrical (and noisy) in their own way.
On the reverse side of the design (below) as dusk has turned into night, the mysterious pond has taken on it's own life. The tadpoles are now a frog, the swan is a boat that brings the revellers to their midnight ball. Children in caterpillar and butterfly costumes listen as music is carried over the water.
Submerged at the bottom of the pond you'll find an antique perfume bottle with the Forivor phrase written on a scroll inside 'I hope the Bird of Paradise Flies with you Always'. Rebecca's father Ivor always said this phrase to her and for us it continues to be the message in the bottle we always want to reach you and the children in your life.
