I'm so excited to share the designers for the 2024 Artist Tea Towels with you. Each designer has their own style, making each month unique. One of the things I like the most about this series is that each month is a surprise, to me too! This year's designers are:
Pretty Flours, Molly Thompson. Molly's designs are inspired by nature and a passion for color. Each of her hand printed textiles is unique – individually printed, one at a time, using a process that begins with carving her drawings onto a pliable rubber surface which is mounted on wood to create a stamp. Once her design is finalized, she hand paints and prints the stamp again and again to create impressions. She is the designer of the first tea towel of 2024, the pink orchid.
Tröskö Design is a surface design studio based in Maine, owned by Solvejg Makaretz. A trained architect, after designing houses and buildings for 25 years she started her own product line, Tröskö. She turns to her native Scandinavia, life in the beautiful state of Maine, folklore, childrenʼs books, and small moments of everyday life for inspiration. Her mission is to fill homes with uplifting designs full of color and humor. In 2015 she was chosen as one of the design finalists in Martha Stewartʼs American Made competition. She is the designer for February, 2024.
The Faithful Hound, designer Kirsten Flakne, designs woodland inspired patterns in her Waterboro studio. Kirsten earned a BFA in Crafts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she focused on illustrative ceramics. She spent the majority of her career building museum exhibits, where she gained a passion for inspiring the public's appreciation of native species. After school, she spent many years as a sculptor, building museum and trade show exhibits and illustrating on the side. She is a self taught printmaker and started The Faithful Hound with an interested in combining her love for painting and illustration with her training in crafts. She spends much of her free time walking in the garden and hiking in the white mountains. She likes to create stories about what the insects and other creatures are getting up to when they think no one is watching. As a result, much of her work has a strong narrative quality. She likes to think the owner of one of her towels creates their own story as they use it. She is the designer for March and October this year.
Zaz and Moe, Susan Delsandro Hellier. Susan is based in South Portland and is a surface pattern designer, fiber/mixed media artist and teacher. A maker by nature, she works in many mediums. She is obsessed with reusing and repurposing whenever possible in work and life and loves the perfect imperfections of handmade. She has been designing and selling in shops, boutiques and juried craft shows since the early 1990's under Zaz + Moe (named after her children). Her work reflects the objects and locations she captures in her photography. She is the designer for April.
Louisa Wickard, Studio Downhill. Louisa starts her design process for the tea towels by carving a linoleum block. She grew up on a Maine island and often turns to her garden in Cumberland and the ocean for inspiration, finding beauty in natural objects like vegetables and mussel shells. Her designs are hand-pressed and each resulting print is unique. She likes thinking of her artwork in people's homes, being used daily. Louisa is the designer for May.
Allison McKeen is an interdisciplinary artist currently focused on printmaking, illustration, and design. She enjoys the exploratory adventure of shape, color and pattern - all mixed in with a bit of humor and nostalgia. Allison is based in Gardiner, Maine. She is the designer for June.
Nina Devenney, Wild Rosie Nina's tea towels are hand-dyed and printed using original watercolor paintings. Wild Rosie was born out of a sincere love of the natural world and a true desire to bring beauty, genuine joy, hope, and love to the lives of others through all that she and her husband create in their home studio in the midcoast. She is the designer for July.
Angela Adams, Maine designer Angela Adams is best known for her gorgeous rugs but has also created bedding, home accessories and much more, including furniture with her husband Sherwood Hamill. Her global design company, angela adams design, is dedicated to the principle that one’s lifestyle should provide a constant source of inspiration. Angela Adams Design is dedicated to craftsmanship, modernism and a unique interpretation of the natural world, transforming interior environments into inspiring places to live, work and play. She grew up on the island of North Haven, Maine, and is inspired by the natural surroundings of Coastal Maine. She is designing the August tea towel; this is her first design for Eat Drink Lucky.
Hilary Crowell, The Cultivated Thread. Hilary is a weaver, and for September is planning a new color combination for her design for us. Her handwoven towels are soft, absorbent and long lasting in addition to being beautiful. She is the designer for September. This is her first design for Eat Drink Lucky.
Four + North, Pamela Fortin. Pam's designs are screen printed by hand in small batches using eco-friendly ink. Her work, often in black on white, is inspired by the farms, fields and coast of Maine. She is based in central Maine and is the designer for November.
Rose Normann, Dippermouth. Rose is a seamstress and textile designer. Each meticulously made small collection features hand screen-printed fabrics, often dyed using homegrown plant materials. Dippermouth named after Dippermouth Farm, Rose’s childhood home in Frankfort, Maine, where she learned the beauty of handmade things. She is designing the December tea towel; this will be her first design for Eat Drink Lucky.