‘Space Invaders’ is a collaborative exhibition of works by myself and my wonderfully talented friend and artist Jenny Hood, showcasing our dual preoccupation with the natural world and its inhabitants.

For both of us, the natural world provides a constant source of inspiration and stimulation, evoking feelings of wonder and fascination.

As you will know by now, my prints are themed on Scottish folklore and the visual spectacle of rural life. The Inspiration for all my designs is the observation of my natural surroundings, but looking further to see the unexpected details that invade the obvious. Looking beyond the stereotypical pretty forest scene to find the hidden life -creatures scuttling under a rock or behind a leaf, activity that hints at a more unsettling other world of the woodland. Forests are often the setting for dark fairy tales, and having grown up in rural Aberdeenshire with a forest in our back garden to play in, I have always invested my surroundings with a bit of imagination and mystery. As much as I like to create stories from my surroundings, I want to invite the wearer of my prints to create their own narrative from the hidden details of designs.

This exhibition has allowed me to look at ways in which my fabrics and illustrations can be used to decorate the home. With all my printing being carried out in Scotland in small scale production, there is great opportunity to work in collaboration with the user to create a unique interiors piece that will invade their space!

Jenny’s photographic and collage works, part of a body of research entitled ‘The Formations of Toast Crumbs and Other Catastrophes’ possess a similar attention to detail in their approach and influence. Focusing upon the volatility of predominant attitudes towards insect life, these works respond to the transgressive ability of the non-human to intrude into our spatial, cultural and mental spheres. Check out her work at jenny-hood.co.uk/

‘Space Invaders’ is a reaction to both the artists’ physical invasion of the new gallery space, and the psychological space occupied by non-human life in their creative practices.

The exhibition runs from 30th April to 29th May 2016
8 Chattan Place, Aberdeen, AB10 6RD
Open 11-5 Tue-Sat
12-4 Sun

‘Carnival’ Scarf

An oldie but a goodie, our wool ‘Carnival’ Scarf was one of our very first wool scarves and we still love it! The carousel horse motif I had designed as part of a 4th year project at Art School, and the flowers were all photographed in my mum’s garden out in Aberdeenshire. And just to avoid being too cheery obviously we had to add a cheeky couple of skulls in there!

If you enjoy all the fun of the fair we have ONE of these in stock right now, ready to go! And as always please get in touch if you would like to place a special order on any of our ‘out of stock’ designs.

Helen xxx

Scarf PICK OF THE WEEK! number 7

Sorry for neglecting our scarf picks lately! We’ve been busy working away behind the scenes on a top secret project (all will be revealed very shortly, keep your eyes peeled for updates this week!)

Our scarf pick this week was inspired by our unpredictable Scottish Spring weather (can you believe we had snow this week? Well yes actually you probably can…), and a throwback to the time we got to take over the Wolf & Badger shop window in Notting Hill! Our ‘April Showers’ scarf was commissioned in Spring 2012 by Wolf & Badger and featured illustrations of raining cats and dogs, which were also hung in the window to reflect the season.

Aberdeen design concept store ‘Curated Stories’ launches a sister venture ‘Curated Stories Studio’ on Saturday 30th April with an exhibition entitled ‘Space Invaders’ by Helen Greensmith and Jenny Hood.

The newly refurbished creative space formally known as Peltoniemi Concept Store, recently rebranded as Curated Stories Lifestyle, Interiors & Antiques, has moved to larger premises along the road on 54 Claremont Street. Company’s previous retail space has now been established as a sister company ‘Curated Stories Studio’ opening its doors to public first time since the move in November 2015 with an art exhibitions by two Aberdeen based creatives – Jenny Hood (artist) and Helen Greensmith (Helen Ruth Scarves, designer).

Curated Stories founder, Tytti Peltoniemi, wanted to create an inspiring and supportive space in Aberdeen for emerging and established art and design creatives to showcase their work. Curated Stories Studio space promises to be multi-functional – Curated Stories Interior Design Services are run from the space and the plans are currently being finalised for an active calendar of creative workshops, talks and other events. In its core Curated Stories Studio has been established to stimulate awareness of local talent, support creativity in all its forms and involve locals in the area. The first two artists to show their work will take on the running of the space for the duration of their exhibition allowing them to engage with the public about

their work. Miss Peltoniemi hopes to add charm and interest to the West End of Aberdeen, bring more people to the area that is fast becoming ‘The Location’ in Aberdeen and open up new opportunities to those involved.

All of this has come at a perfect time for exhibitors Jenny Hood and Helen Greensmith, both Gray’s School of Art graduates from few years back, who have new interesting artwork and design collections to present. The collaborative exhibition from the two creatives showcases their dual pre-occupation with the natural world and its’ inhabitants. ‘Space Invaders’ is a reaction to both the artists’ physical invasion of the new creative space, and the psychological space occupied by non-human life in their creative practices.

Artist Jenny Hood’s photographic and collage works are part of a body of work entitled ‘The Formation of Toast Crumbs and Other Catastrophes’ which focuses on the volatility of the predominant attitudes towards insect life.

Designer Helen Greensmith uses hand-drawn illustration and found imagery to create her whimsical narrative textiles. Presenting her new collection of fabrics for interiors, inspired by the wild Scottish landscape of her upbringing, this is the perfect opportunity to invite a new audience to explore the intricate designs.

‘Space Invaders’ runs from 30th April until the 29th May at ‘Curated Stories Studio’ on 8 Chattan Place Aberdeen. Open hours are Tuesday – Saturday 11am-5pm, Sundays 12-4pm.

This is our REFLECTING POOL scarf, a 90x90cm silk square featuring two golden Koi Carp swirling in a dreamy tranquil pool, scattered with confetti of fresh flowers and pearls. We picked this one for all the fellow Piceans who have just been enjoying their birthdays this month! (resulting in the delay in posting our weekly scarf picks!)

SCARF PICK OF THE WEEK number 5

Valentine’s Day has got me in the mood for a RED theme today so for this weeks scarf pick I’ve chosen the RUBY WOODLAND wool scarf from the AW13 collection.

Featuring a fiery hot woodland scene with creatures galore and delicate autumnal plant-life, this scarf was inspired by the wild landscape I grew up in in Aberdeenshire.

SCARF PICK OF THE WEEK number 4

This is our ‘UNDERWORLD’ wool scarf from the ‘Lore of the Land’ collection.

I picked this scarf after coming across this Disney short animation this week ‘The Goddess of Spring’ (love a bit of old school Disney!)

SCARF PICK OF THE WEEK!
Number 3, my lucky number, so obviously it had better be a special one!

This is our Limited Edition ‘Nightingale and the Rose’ Scarf, an illustration of the classic Oscar Wilde Story. This was one of my favourite stories as a child, such a beautiful tale but with a very sad ending.

“A young Student is infatuated by the daughter of a Professor. She promises to dance with him till dawn at the Prince’s ball if the Student will bring her a red rose. But in his garden there are no red roses. The Nightingale, who night after night romantically sings of such love as she believes she now sees demonstrated, is moved to provide the red rose so as to facilitate the love between the Student and the young woman. Whereas the Prince in the previous story had spoken of the Mystery of Misery, the Nightingale here is struck by “the mystery of Love”. Following the typical pattern of threes, she goes to three rose trees asking for a red rose. The first bares only white roses, the second only yellow ones. The third is indeed a red rose tree, but because of a harsh winter cannot bare any roses. The Tree tells her: “If you want a red rose you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your own heart’s blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood must flow into my veins, and become mine.” She would inevitably die as a result, an arrow piercing her heart. This is precisely what happened, but the student finally obtained his rose. Sadly his romantic intentions remained unfulfilled; having presented the rose to his beloved, he discovered to his cost that she was more interested in material things such as jewellery. How could he expect to win her love with a mere rose! The student threw it into the street, where it was crushed by the wheels of a cart. Meanwhile the student gave up his suit altogether and consoled himself with a dusty book of metaphysics.”

You can purchase this limited edition scarf from 20LTD, it is a 100% wool scarf with Chantilly lace trim. Only 15 will ever be made so once they are gone they are gone!

For my second SCARF PICK OF THE WEEK I’ve gone right back to the beginning of Helen Ruth Scarves, when I was fresh out of Gray’s School of Art in 2008 and wondering what I should do with my life! A fortunate turn of events led me to designing a small collection of scarves for a brand new Concept Store in London – Wolf & Badger (who we still retail with online).

My very first collection drew on a lot of the work I had created during my degree year at Gray’s. I was inspired by my own memories of childhood as well as more broader themes of childhood such as nostalgia and comfort. This design is called ‘CAMEO AND PEARL‘ and is an homage to all the forgotten toys and dolls, each with their own story to tell.

SCARF PICK OF THE WEEK!

The ‘TWO SISTERS’ scarf is part of the Winter 2015 ‘LORE OF THE LAND’ collection. It’s inspired by the traditional tale of two sisters, and like all good stories includes LOVE, JEALOUSY and REVENGE! When the fair and kind sister is courted by a handsome gentleman her dark and bitter sister decides to get rid of the competition by chucking her in the sea! The dark sister plaits her fair sister’s golden hair into the seaweed while putting her to sleep with her sweet song. She then watches from a cliff as the tide comes in and washes over her.

However instead of the fair sister meeting her end, she is transformed into a Selkie (Selkie’s are creatures of Scottish and Irish Folklore, watch this beautiful animation Song of the Sea for more.).

The dark sister is struck with remorse and is so distraught she throws herself into the sea, transforming into a cormorant as she falls. And so the legend goes that seals and cormorants can never be friends, and you can see the two call to each other on coastlines all over Britain and Ireland.

For me I was inspired by this story when my good friend and extremely talented folk singer Jenny Sturgeon introduced me to the story through her song ‘CULAN’. Check out her website here

http://www.jennysturgeonmusic.com/