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Ok, so anyone who creates temporary tattoo's, notebooks and jewellery of cats, unicorns and Russian dolls is a mega babe. FACT. This is why we are totally fan girling over Rosie Wonder's. Rosie Wonders creates fun and colourful cards, jewellery and our favourite, temporary tattoos. Based in London, Rosie designs amazingly illustrated nostalgic and vintage inspired pieces. We caught up with the lovely Rosie below about her brand, inspirations and following her dream!
How did Rosie Wonders begin?
Rosie Wonders began when I was working as an Assistant Producer in TV. TV wasn't allowing me enough creativity so I started making handmade greeting cards and sending them to the buyers of all the major stores like Selfridges, Liberty and Paperchase. I got a loan of £3,000 from the Princes Trust, bought a computer and taught myself photoshop and soon after I received a call from the buyer at Selfridges who said they were going to buy my Valentines cards. Selfridges were my first major stockists and the business grew from this point.
Where does the brand name come from?
Actually this was my mum's idea. I wanted something that incorporated my name but also had some element of magic or wonder to it, hence Rosie Wonders. I like it because it has two meanings and I do spend quite a lot of time wondering about things!
What influences your designs?
I can be influenced by anything. Often it is world culture of some kind. The colours of India and Mexico or Japanese Kitsch. I am particularly influenced by the 1950's, by the idea of childhood. Toys and dolls and fantasy.
How would you describe a Rosie Wonders customer?
We are lucky at Rosie Wonders that our products seem to appeal to a wide array of people. I think what they have in common is an ability to be nostalgic about childhood and to see the fun in our products. They are also probably lovers of glitter and neon! Maybe they are a mum who is excited to see our tattoos on their child remembering their own childhood when they would wear transfer tattoos or perhaps they are a young 20 something woman who is going to a festival and wants to feel individual and free. Whoever they are, we think they are all very lovely :)
Do you have a favourite piece from your current collection?
I have recently designed a range of cards called 'Fortunes' they feature a fairground fortune teller and messages such as ' no distance is too far if two hearts are tied together', although a little tongue in cheek, they seem to be raising smiles amongst our customers.
I am also really pleased with the new Paisley tattoos which I drew with coloured pens and have added gold and silver foil to which creates a really nice effect on the skin.
What has been your greatest achievement so far?
I think my greatest achievement has been in growing the brand to where it is now whilst maintaining the handmade element of many of our products. We have a wonderful list of stockists worldwide including Liberty and ABC Carpet and Home in New York, Le Bon Marché in Paris, Ito-ya stationery department store in Tokyo. We were asked by Liberty in 2013 to make cards in the shop window during their 'Get Creative' event in 2013. To have our brand in the window of such an iconic store was pretty amazing. Last year I was asked to design a set of tattoos for Cartier which was pretty great. Having said this, there is still a long way to go. I have lots of ideas for the brand and new products and am hoping to open our first shop this year.
If you were invisible for a day, you would…
Wow, what a question! I would probably walk around naked to see how it feels out there. Lets hope it happens on a beautiful summers day!
What’s next for the brand, where do you see it in the future?
The sky is the limit. I have lots of ideas for new products and companies I would like to collaborate with. Hopefully we will open our first studio/shop in East London later this year where customers will be able to come and see how our products are handmade and buy items that are not available through our stockists. If this goes well we will look into opening elsewhere but really, anything is possible.
Wanna check out more from Rosie Wonder's? Click below!