Design Video: Lulu deKwiatkowski on Living the Designer's Life

 

We always want each student we teach in our Complete Course in Interior Design to learn the basic elements that comprise great design and then add liberal dashes of your personal style and creativity to select a path that feels "so right" for you.
 

 

We found this video featuring textile, wallpaper, and product designer Lulu deKwiatkowski, and she examplifies how we'd like our students to morph into their own creations, find their own style paths, and celebrate the design heritage they grew up with.
 

 

What inspires you? Where do your best ideas come from? Where is your passion for design? Ask yourself these questions while you're mastering the basics of interior design, and you'll be on a solid path for personal and professional growth. Please visit Lulu's Lulu DK website to see her inspiring creations, and click on any of the photos for more information.
 

 

Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

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Jewelry Inspiration: Bead Queen

Klimt02 is a website that provides an international forum for contemporary jewelry in a creative space that offers knowledge, information, debates, and exchanges - all within the artistic realm of jewelry. Based in Barcelona, Spain, Kilmt02 inspires everyone interested in the selection, quality, art, technology, and creation of art jewelry. Sheffield School has kindly been given permission to share works of global designers here on our website. Today's post focuses on a jewelry designer we've singled out in our Sheffield School course in Jewelry Design: Beading & Wire Working - the incredibly accomplished Suzanne Golden.

Suzanne Golden

 
Suzanne Golden
Ring: Around the Daisy 2011
Tubular, Spiral Peyote Stitching

Suzanne Golden
Piece: Fish In Bloom 2011
Netting, acrylic beads, wood beads, seed beads

Suzanne Golden
Bracelets: Square 2011
Right Angle Weave, Embellishing, Acrylic Beads

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Our Favorite Wedding Floral Headpieces

One of the most beautiful uses of fresh flowers in a wedding is the artform we know as the floral headpiece. The really good ones are masterpieces, adding to the beauty of the bride. Our students in the Complete Course in Wedding and Event Planning know that trends are important to keep abreast of, and many engaged couples are opting for more naturalistic weddings. A floral headpiece dramatically carries out this theme, adding great romance, beauty, drama, and earthiness. Here are some of our favorite floral headpieces. Click on each picture for more information, along with photography and floral styling credits.

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Lighting the Way: LEDs

Starflex and Connetix by SonnemanSleek, beautiful, modern are just some of the words that describe the LED lighting shown at the recent Architectural Digest Home Design Show. But equally important are the more technical descriptions: green, efficient, long-lasting. We discuss this lighting technology in our interior design course.

Light fixtures with LED lamps are appearing in many stores now and interior designers are finally recommending them to their clients. Philips, the big Dutch lighting company, has reported an increase of 38% in sales of LED bulbs over last year. 

Above is the flexible Starflex pendant from Sonneman. The arms hold LED-lamps that can move up and down in various configurations. On the wall is the Connetix sconce that are available in different sizes.  Below is the Axes lighting - available in singles or multiple arms, in sconces, pendant or floor fixtures. 

Axes sconces by SonnemanBrooklyn-based Bec Brittain offers their version of LED lighting in this hanging pendant called Shy.  Its multiple arms are lit with LED tubes and can be arranged in different ways that recall star constellations.

Shy pendant, courtesy of Bec Brittain

Interested in learning more about green design and lighting?  Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design.  At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories. 

Finding Closure In Jewelry Design

 

Before reading on... for those of you who think this blog is about relationships, I must clarify it is not. This is for those who are interested in creating their own closures when making jewelry. At Sheffield we teach students how to make their own clasps and ear wires, otherwise referred to in jewelry design as findings. Findings are the parts used to join jewelry components together to form a completed piece.

  

Clasps above both found on Something Sublime blog.

Clasp by Image Bead Jewelry on Etsy.

Embellishing clasps and ear wires with stones and coiling gives your work that unique handcrafted look. When you create your own clasps you can incorporate stones into the claps so there is a blending, a consistent feel with the work, instead of finishing your piece with a purchased clasp that may not be cohesive.

 

Hoops by Fail Jewelry.

 

Earrings by Fail Jewelry.

 

Learning to create your own ear wires is one of the most liberating moments in jewelry making. It opens the door to a whole new world of where you can take your designs. Rather than always having to attach an ear wire to a drop stone, or chain, you have the option to shape your earrings into one continuous piece. The hoop and inverted V earrings by Fail Jewelry are great examples of this. Learning how to make inverted V earrings, and hoops, are taught in unit four of the Sheffield Jewelry Design Course.  

Bracelet by Silver Bench Jewelry.

Once you know how to make your own findings, you may choose to blend your clasp right into the design of your piece, like the bracelet above by Silver Bench Jewelry.

If you're interested in learning more about jewelry design, we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.