House of Chintz

You may know Kate Boyce from her fabulous semi abstract paintings of our local landscape. If you don’t, then have a quick look here. I used to be in the same studio (Northlight Studios) group as Kate, before I moved to the shop so I have seen her work develop over the years (and been to her sell out exhibitions and open studio events). Anyway I’m very excited to announce that she has now branched out in to lampshades under the name of ‘House of Chintz’ and Radiance is the first place to have some! Lucky us!!! I thought I’d ask Kate a few questions about this new venture!

So Kate, how did this come about? What made you want to make lampshades?

Well, my creativity has manifested in many ways over the years and I do like to try out different things. Before becoming a painter I started out as a surface pattern designer and not so long ago I decided I wanted to bring pattern into my paintings in some way. I often arrive at ideas by playing about with images on the computer and I was doing just that one time when I realised that rather than being an idea for a painting I had a design that was just asking to be a lampshade!



You have three designs so far with great names such as ‘Buddleia of Suburbia’ and ‘Caravan of love’. What are the designs inspired by?
Yes I couldn’t resist the opportunity to give my designs some fun names as I had so much fun making them. Working on a new project gave me a sense of freedom to explore different themes that had bubbled away at the back of my mind for a while. Whereas my paintings deal with a deep sense of feeling about a mainly rural landscape, this new work stems from a light hearted look at the surroundings I grew up in – the suburban landscape of Middle-England. The designs began as a combination of my own photographic imagery with scans of floral fabric from the 70’s and 80’s. I find it engaging how suburban houses were often lined with stylized versions of nature in the form of co-ordinating furnishing fabric and wallpaper. This along with the growing popularity of gardening as a hobby showed the importance of the natural environment in an otherwise concrete jungle of housing estates. I decided to reflect this stylised imagery onto the external surroundings in my designs. They in turn have been applied to a contemporary interior design product which I hope others will identify with in terms of the imagery and the nostalgic atmosphere they evoke.

Without giving your secrets away can you tell us a little about how the shades are made and finished?
The designs are printed with fade resistant inks on a high quality tear-proof paper which allows light to filter through beautifully. I then apply a protective polymer lacquer to deter dust and allow gentle sponge cleaning. After assembling the shades using fittings for either pendant lights or lamp base I then finish them with a velvet trim.



If someone wants to commission a lamp of their own what can you do for them? Can they come in other sizes?
My current three designs are all 30cm in diameter; however both larger and smaller sizes are in the pipe-line. I also plan to offer a bespoke design service. I have made a couple of shades as commissions for friends based on their own houses and favourite fabrics.



Have you got anything else up your sleeve? I heard you were going to an MA. Where’s that?
I have been enjoying sharing my work time between designing and painting so much that I have decided to apply for a postgraduate course in surface pattern. If successful I plan to explore my ideas further and gain more knowledge of new technology for the application of my designs on other surfaces.

Caravan of Love is here, Suburban Dream is here and I'll be adding Buddleia of Suburbia later on. Watch this space...