Inspiration Board: Wendren Milford

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Wendren is the South African designer behind The Wren Design. Previously, Wendren worked in the the textile design industry before starting her own business where she now employs three seamestresses. Wendren designs a line of bags using organic fabrics and sustainable materials, her work has been featured in Mango Magazine and House and Leisure.

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Poly Republic (PR): What are some of the important items on your board?

Wendren Milfrod (WM): Generally my board is a collection of images that appeal to me in a ‘wait a moment/this is lovely/so cool/wonderful/a must keep’ moment.

The photostat bird cutouts are the silhouettes of my swallow wall art. I lost the original and I put them on the board so as not to loose these.

I have a soft spot for fabric selvages – I love colour and the combination that these are often in make the most gorgeous colour story (and Rothko post cards are great colour stories in their own right). I really enjoy pairing colours with images – it helps create a mood, the fabric selvedges add textural qualities to a flat image and the colour also breaks an image down into the basic elements which helps when organising thoughts.

The big black and white bird is the ink drawing I did for the coffee clutch print. It was too big so I drew a smaller version but never had the heart to file it away … and with the transparent nature it found its home on my board.

The post cards are from Switzerland and the one is ‘find the 4 leaf clover’ and the other ‘the lady bird with 4 spots’. I love the concept behind these postcards – fun, quirky and intelligent.

PR: Where the board is located in your house and how often do you look at it?

WM:The board is above my desk. I have piles of to-do lists and a small part of my board is designated to cards and notes (ie, business cards that I need to remember etc) so that I do not loose them in a pile but I prefer that my board is visually more of a mood setter than a note keeper.

PR: Why do you keep an inspiration board?

WM: My board is a collection of things I like, put together to create one story. I can stare at the board for ages and just be soaked in by the connection of things. I think that is the best part about my board – how all things can be connected. My days and life in general seem to be about making connections between things. For example, between imagination and reality, between an idea and the how, between a problem and a solution – it’s about finding what goes inbetween that can make the two parts meet.

All images are courtesy of The Wren Design and The Wren Flickr photostream

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