Process of Kip Yard
First things first the planning stage is fairly exhaustive, it always starts with the product. Whatever we’re planning on making, it’s a lot of sketches, a lot of thinking, and a lot of do-ing.
When we have our product down to the knitty gritty stage.. We then start planning the designs. Now the designs always have to be thought about after the product, and the reason is, the designs we do, are particularly for the product entirely. It’s all about the colours, proportion and quantity.
The designs are usually sketched first, before going digital. Sometimes theres a theme, sometimes it’s just the way the design flows, and it may be abstract and something just clicked. For example the kids dinosaur lampshade, that was through a much longer trial and error (3 weeks) on what was going to work and not going to work. There were a lot of things from that design heading for the bin, but we saved the best parts of it. Where as the lovely vibrant pink abstract design on the purse pouches, that design came about in less than half an hour. Could we repeat that again? probably not. But we’ll give it a try!
Once the design stage is there, however long it may take it’s then deciding on the really detailed parts of the product. First up on this section it’s the MATERIAL.
If this product is fabric based, it’s all about the MILLS in the UK. The fabrics are from a Bradford Mill, which are then eventually coated for digital use. We only ever use pure fabrics, in the forms of: cotton + linen. There sometimes may be a mix of cotton + linen. These mills haven’t just got the history but they have the knowledge.
Then it’s onto the PRINTING in Edinburgh, Scotland- where the designs are sent to a wonderful small company run by two sisters. They care just as much about the printing quality as much as we do, so it’s a lovely friendship to build.
Once that is done, its back to the studio where we make up the products, assessing them at every stage to make sure it’s the best possible product to be sending out to customers.
If it’s wallpapers, we finish the designs and send to a wonderful family run company in Lancashire. The quality is unreal and we love working with them.
Then things are packaged up using recycled cardboard to make each delivery a little bit more environmentally friendly.
