the dailies: heather from skinny laminx.
Another Daily! I can’t wait to introduce a Design for Mankind newbie— Heather Moore from Skinny LaMinx is joining us for the first time! I couldn’t be more thrilled; Heather is a creative “maverick” if you will [ha! I joke!] and has plenty of inspiration for us to see throughout her day! Take it away, dear Heather!:
Hello, I’m Heather, and here’s the kind of thing I get up to during my days in Cape Town, where I work as an illustrator and designer.
7am – Breakfast
We’re up pretty early, even in the chilly winter. My husband, Paul, has been making us nice hot oats porridge every morning. Our breakfast table has to have some protective devices – the honey has a moat of water to keep the ants away, and the milkjug gets a coaster popped on top to ward off the cats!
7:30 – Computer time
Paul bikes off to his studio, and I get down to drinking tea, blogging for ELLE DECORATION, and filling in waybills for sales in my Etsy shop, because today is a post office day.
9:00 – Studio
I’m the first one at the studio, usually, and look forward to my three painter studiomates’ arrival. But while they’re not here, you can get a quick peek at their respective corners:
Today’s a bit unusual, as I have a job shadow from a local high school called Jane. Once we’ve got ourselves coffees from the nearest overpriced java joint, I set Jane to work getting my tea towels ready for the Neighbourgoods Market coming up on Saturday.
While Jane’s hard at work (so grateful for an extra pair of hands today!), I cut transfers and start applying them to mugs and eggcups. I have a very big market coming up at the end of October, for which I must make heaps of stock, so there’s lots to do.
1pm – Lunch in town
Poor Jane, I made her work for 3 hours without a break! It’s normal for me to get my head down and not stop, but maybe a bit tough on a high school student. Sorry, Jane! To make up for it, we go out for a walk to get some lunch and then sit in St Georges Mall, watching the human parade. We’re so lucky to have a beautiful day after such a long, wet winter.
2 – 4pm – ErrandsNow it’s time to hop in the car and zoot around doing errands. I need to do a big re-stock ahead of Christmas, so we head off to the local cotton mill’s factory shop, where I buy all my fabric.
So grateful to have Jane’s help when we get to the cutters. Hauling great big bolts of fabric around is so much easier with two of us! This is such a great family-run business, and I always have a great time chatting with everyone when I bring in fabric to be cut.
4pm – Packaging
After Jane’s dad has picked her up, I get around to packing up my Etsy sales before taking them to the Post Office. I enjoy wrapping each little sale like a gift, so that it feels extra-special to open up.
6pm – Take it easy
Back at home, me and the cats take a break on the balcony and catch a few rare rays, while we wait for Paul to come home.
Thanks for joining me on this day. Every day is different around here, but I hope you enjoyed this one!
[editor's note: we DID, heather--- thank you!!!]
Heather’s life is like her specially wrapped packages! But with 2 juicy cats!
i love breakfast and never really thought of cape town as being chilly. this daily has such a cool industrial feel. i’d love to be heather’s job shadow.
AMEN!!! :)
This was a fun one, I love her designs. And WOW, the scenery behind the cats is amazing! I loved this Daily, but now I’m REALLY pining for a job shadower! =)
I would love to have a smallish, family, local textile company here in my area. Everything here in US is geared up to huge mass production and not friendly to independent artisans.
Thanks for the inspiration.
I love the mountains in the background. I wonder if they provide any inspiration to her.
i love this one!! after about two seconds i was reading this with an accent. i feel like i just went on a little journey to cape town.
Erin, your blog is absolutely wonderful but I have to say that the Dailies are my favorite-est part! :)
Very fun daily! I would love to have a student shadow my day. What great inspiration!
I wish I was Heather’s shadow for a day. This was great. I get a better mental image of Heather each time I read about her.
I’m not what you’d call a domestic goddess by any stretch of the imagination, but I just had a looksee at Heather’s Etsy store and I’m officially excited about teatowels.
We love this.
It was a fun reading. I really enjoyed. I love the cats and scenery….
ah. i love this – to get to see how someone else’s day is! And especially when she’s such a creative person (though all the dalies are those kind of people!).
Have you had a dalily made by a man?
I always enjoy to see the dailies of all these great and creative people :)
Well Heather is a design miracle, and she seems to get so much done each day! And wow that she gets her (probably large, cause she has a popular business) administration and paperwork done in so little time this early in the morning: I need at least an hour to sort of become awake at that time!
Heather is so awesome! Loved seeing the insider look into her day :)
Anne
yay! i’m a fan of heather’s, and the dailies! it’s kinda like mixing peanut butter with chocolate!
So thrilled to be on the dailies! Thanks for the invitation, Erin, and thanks for all the sweet comments, guys!
i love heather.
Isn’t she awesome!?! I’d love to shadow her, too! :)
Love the dailies- this one especially! Heather, you’re the best :-)
always enjoy reading a bit more about the fabulous Heather!
Great read! Thanks for sharing your day. :)
Its great to get a sneak peak into Heather’s day. I have three of her teatowels – they are my favourite – and it was like receiving a small gift in the mail.
What a great peek into Heather’s world — I love her studio!
Yay! I love Heather’s work and it was so interesting to see how she runs her business!