fbpx
Sophie Robinson
  • Home
  • Workshops
    • Marrakech Retreat
    • Ban the beige
    • Masterclasses
  • Online Courses
  • Collaboration
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • About
    • About me
    • Work with me
    • Press
  • FAQs
  • Contact
  • Bedrooms
  • colour crush
  • Interior Design
  • Living rooms
25 Oct 18

Designer spotlight: Anna Jacobs

Interior designer Sophie Robinson interviews designer Anna Jacobs Flying peacock large lamp

On this blog I’m going to be introducing a monthly designer spotlight post. This is an opportunity for me to share with you a designer in the interior design field who I greatly admire, for their creativity, passion and flair with colour.  Their products will be mouth-wateringly gorgeous enough for me to use in my own projects, so I think you might like them too. It’s going to also be a chance to highlight some smaller businesses, and celebrate entrepreneurship in this industry, which is another thing I’m passionate about. Independent designers are what keep our business interesting and our interiors unique.

 

So first up in long term pattern crush, Anna Jacobs,  Anna is a well established name now, having cemented her reputation with a fabulous long standing ‘pop up shop’ next door to Heals on London’s interiors Mecca, Tottenham court Rd. She has just launched a collection for the Heal’s Festival of Light in London –  (also available on Anna Jacobs) a collection of peacocks, violet backed starlings, black swans and violet trees and, whch is all very on trend. I’ve always recognised Anna as a fellow colour colour and her designs are exquisite, and a have a spirit to lift a scheme. Indeed my Mum absolutely fell in love with Anna’s work, and her lamps were a starting point for my Mum’s redesign of her annex. She was inspired by the exquisite artistry of Anna’s hand drawn designs and the Breaking Dawn lamps take pride of place in her bedroom, setting the colour scheme for the rest of the room. So I was thrilled to catch up with Anna and dig a little deeper into her creative process and business growth.

• So how did you get into this bussiness, can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Well, after Bristol University I actually started off in a girl band called The Shrinking Violets, supporting Robson & Jerome. Then I moved into theatre – producing and marketing for a theatre of science for children and then Clean Break, which is an incredible theatre company and drama school for women prisoners and ex-offenders. After a spell of charity fundraising, I then ended up being asked to set up and Head the new Marketing and Business Development Department for a big City law firm. I only intended to stay for a year, but ended up staying for 8 years! 

Interior designer Sophie Robinson interviews designer Anna Jacobs - blush pink sofa Chinese tree cushion

Chinese Tree cushion in Pink and Violet £65, Anna Jacobs,

• So how did your brand take shape and how did your career take off?

All during the time I was doing those other jobs, what I really wanted to do was create art. I dabbled at painting on and off, but nothing ever quite came together. Then when I was pregnant with my second child I just couldn’t wait any longer – I left the law firm and was determined to find a new creative path, so took some short courses in painting, surface pattern design and interior design at Chelsea College of Arts and Central St Martin’s art school. However, shortly afterwards I lost everything (long story!) and unexpectedly found myself at the age of 41 as a single parent of a 9 month old baby and a toddler with no money, nowhere to live and no career. So, the moment my toddler started school about a year later I put out some feelers to get some sort of creative work. In those first two weeks of September I was incredibly lucky to be offered my first solo show of paintings at a local art gallery, a teaching job at Chelsea College of Arts and my first interior design job. The show sold really well and the gallery owner, who also had a lovely homewares shop above the gallery, said to me that if I made my Welsh Reflection painting into a lampshade she’d sell it in her shop. It then took me two years to work out how to make a lampshade! But once I’d done it – and designed a few more from my paintings, as well as some cushions – I tested them in the gallery shop and at the Dulwich Artists’ Open House show – and the show sold out. That was in May 2014. From there I was selected for the New talent section at Top Drawer, a big homewares trade show at Olympia and I got my first 15 stockists in the UK from that show. It’s really just grown from there.

Interior designer Sophie Robinson interviews designer Anna Jacobs violet Starling lamp Indigo velvet sofa pink rug

Pink and Violet Chinese Tree large lamp £239 and cushion £65, Anna Jacobs,

• Your products are really like works of art. Where do you find your inspiration?

Having been through a really rough time, I got a bit obsessed with gardening and became fascinated by watching the life cycle of the plants. When they ‘died’ I was often reluctant to cut them down because they looked so beautiful, so through my paintings I started exploring the idea that beauty doesn’t always have to be young and perfect. The greatest beauty can actually come through ageing and imperfection. Come to think of it, I might start exploring that again post haste, as I’m turning 50 next year!

• Can you describe your design process? 

It all starts with my original paintings. I’ll have an idea for a bird or another image that makes me feel happy and inspired and then study the form with lots of pencil sketches, before creating the final painting in pen and ink on watercolour paper – often playing with the original colour. If I think the painting lends itself to product design, I then have it scanned by a specialist art printer and I start manipulating the painting into fabric design. When I’m in the midst of intense designing I sometimes start losing perspective about what is actually working and what isn’t, so I use my family a lot as a barometer. I’ll send them screenshots of the designs first to test initial reactions. Once I’ve crossed that hurdle I get the first test print done, which is always a bit nerve wracking because the colour can print on fabric completely differently from how it looks on my screen and at this stage I can see that sometimes some designs just aren’t going translate on to fabric, so I leave them. I then try the fabric of the more successful ones in all sorts of settings, draped across various sofas and lampshades, so that I can see how they actually work in a domestic setting and in different lights. I might then make some alterations and will usually go through two more print tests for scale, placement and colour, before reaching the final artwork. 

Interior designer Sophie Robinson interviews designer Anna Jacobs tobacco curtain flying bird cushion and lamp

Meditation in Flying cushion £65 and medium lamp £199, Anna Jacobs,

• Take me through a typical day. 

I typically get up at about 5.30 am and start working straight away with an apple and a large mug of coffee at the desk in my bedroom, so that I can get a good couple of hours in before the kids wake up. Then the morning is usually emails, general running of the business, ordering stock etc, interweaved with putting on a wash of dirty school clothes.

Then I’ll often have art prints to pick up, sign and ship to customers from my specialist art printer who is local. I might also get some sketching or designing done and I’ll inevitably have a lot more to respond to on the business side. By 3.20 most days I’m off to pick up the kids from school and they’re pretty happy to play while I carry on working for another couple of hours. We always try to have a family dinner with the three of us; then once they’re in bed, I’ll do another hour or two of work, before collapsing in bed myself.

• What’s next

 I’ll be starting to develop new product lines – ceramics and …. Well you’ll just have to keep up on Instagram and spot the new things coming through. You can find me on https://www.instagram.com/annalysejacobs/

Thanks to Anna for giving her time to interview and I’m personally really looking forward to seeing that new ceramics collection.  You can visit Anna’s shop in London to see the full range at 196 Tottenham Court Road (Between Heal’s and Habitat), London, W1T 7LQ, UK.

Next month I hold my designer Spot light with surface and textile designer Molly Mahon.

  • Bedrooms
  • colour crush
  • Interior Design
  • Living rooms
Should you invest in the cement tile trend? Should you buy a velvet sofa?

Leave a Comment

Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

  • Interiors
    • colour crush
    • DIY
    • Home Tours
    • Interior Design
    • Interior Styling
    • podcast
    • trends
  • Lifestyle
    • Business
    • Fashion/Beauty
    • Life
    • My House
    • Nosh
    • Travel
  • Rooms
    • Bathrooms
    • Bedrooms
    • Kids rooms
    • Kitchens
    • Living rooms
    • Outside
  • Videos

mailing
list

Videos

Listen

Listen Here

Bedlinen range

Shop

Colour Psychology for professionals

book your place!

Catch Sophie In All Her Colourful Glory On Instagram

DAY 18 of #easywininteriors and I’m getting the DAY 18 of #easywininteriors and I’m getting the paintbrush out! Giving old and unappreciated brown furniture of coat of colour is not just easy but quick too and you get ooodles of satisfaction giving something a new lease of life. Since the sun is starting to poke it’s head out it’s the perfect opportunity to fling open the windows, roll out the dust sheet, and calm your senses with the therapeutic strokes of a paint brush. I transformed these battered old Ercol chairs that I found at a car boot sale with an undercoat of Zinsser and a top coat of eggshell so they really can withstand the knocks. I love how the pink legs pick up on the pink in the wallpaper. I’ve got a couple of pots of chalk paint waiting in the wings. This just might be the weekend to tackle the bedside tables at last! Have a wonderful weekend  and I hope the sun shines on you wherever you are! 

CREDITS Reclaimed terracotta tiles @ca_pietra_  Borastapeter Rubarber wallpaper @wallpaperdirect Clock @newgateclocks Doors painted in Rose Ash Light @sanderson1860 Everything else is vintage 

#easywininteriors #kitchen #countrykitchen #upcycle #upcycledfurniture #countryliving #countrylivingmodernrustic #countrykitchen #greenkitchen #greenandpink #interiorinspo #interiordesign
DAY 17 of #easywininteriors is all about making do DAY 17 of #easywininteriors is all about making do with what you’ve got and making it work. For most of us, decorating our home and choosing all the things we want to go with it is a long if not a life time journey and there are plenty of compromises along the way. One of the ways I make do with things I’m less happy about is with distraction. You can use colour to draw the eye and highlight the bits you do like and similarly blend away the areas that need to fade into the back ground. For me joinery, radiators and my unattractive windows all get painted in the same colour so they fall to the background and then the cushions and artwork can come to the fore and catch your eye. I painted these lovely old solid wood doors bright yellow on a whim with some left over paint. It was a quick and easy way to inject a burst of  colour joy. So don’t discount doors and architraves as a fun way to play with colour, but only if you have nice ones. 
On the PODCAST today @mad_about_the_house and I discuss more ways you can make do. I interview leading interior designer and queen of colour and pattern @nicolahardingandco who has amazing insights on how to go about planning your schemes, conjure mouthwatering colour palettes and work with what you’ve got. And our style surgery is from Callum who finds himself stuck with a shiny blue green sofa which he doesn’t love and doesn’t know what to put with. Obviously cover it with cushions and distract the eye with A bright yellow door Callum! 

If you have a question for our style surgery do please send it in as we are lining them up for the next series and we’d love to hear from you! Drop us an email to thegreatindoorspod@gmail.com.You can here all our ramblings and insights on today’s show The Great Indoors and thankyou to @katetaylorldn for producing the show. 

#thegreatindoors #bluesofa #yellowdoor #banthebeige #interiorspodcast #podcast #interiordesign #interiorinspo
DAY 16 of #easywininteriors and I’m extolling th DAY 16 of #easywininteriors and I’m extolling the benefits of an occasional chair. I’ve always loved occasional chairs primarily for their decorative function. I’m a patterned fabric addict and so an occasional chair I’d another opportunity to add more pattern, more colour and another cushion to boot! But during these extended periods of lock down and staying at home I’ve appreciated the quiet little corners they offer. I’m lucky enough to find a space for one here on my landing but they can also find a home in a bedroom, a home office, under the stairs or indeed #lifegoals in the bathroom. So rather than playing second fiddle to THE SOFA put your occasional chair in pride of place and grab yourself 5 minutes solitude! Most of mine are junk shop funds bought back to live with my hoarded stash of remnant fabrics. So it’s time to raid grannies attic and  create a seat that makes you smile . 🥰  use the hashtags #easywininteriors to share your favourite corners of escape.

#easywininteriors #vintagearmchair #armchair #occassionalchair #colourlover #banthebiege
DAY 15 of #easywininteriors and I’m having a re DAY 15 of #easywininteriors  and I’m having a reshuffle on the bookcase to celebrate the happy Back To School vibes! 🙌 YES! This one is a work in progress because sorting your books as to the spine colour can be really meditative! I’m excited for you guys to share your colour coded bookcases using the hashtag #easywininteriors because I’ve seen some amazing examples on here! This idea can also include colour coding your ornaments or glassware collection too. Somehow grouping them in blocks  just intensifies the colour and I love the 🌈 effect. Happy faffing! 

#interiorinspo #interiorstyling #colourlover #banthebeige #faffthegaff #bookshelf #shelfie #shelfiestyling #rainbow #rainbowstyle #mycolourfulinterior #colourfulhomevibe
DAY 13 of #easywininteriors and Sundays here are o DAY 13 of #easywininteriors and Sundays here are often the day I get the house in order before the week starts again. It’s laundry day, the on-line shop gets done and if I can be bothered I might do some batch cooking. 💪 But the garden is also pulling our attention at this time of year and I spent yesterday picking up twigs that have littered the garden after the high winds and piled it all up for kindling. Satisfying! I’m not a naturally tidy or organised person  but I do feel like I’m winning at life once chores have been done and everything is in it’s place. And here lies the easy win. If you have systems in place it makes it so much easier! This shoe storage was game changing. Before the hall was littered with shoes and bags that I was always tripping over. So planning your storage and then using it is key to creating order and an element of calm. And once the storage is fit to bursting, it’s time to have a declutter. How do you keep the house feeling orderly and calm and do you use Sunday as a Sort It day too? #sortitsunday 

CREDITS walls in Lazuli and woodwork in Perfect white @zoffanyfw . Havana Bauta cement Tiles @claybrookstudio . Fabrics are vintage and @thestripescompany . Stair runner @roger_oates 

#easywininteriors #colourlover #banthebeige #hallwaydecor #hallway #interiorinspo #declutter #storageideas #shoestorage
DAY 12 of #easywininteriors and I’m back in the DAY 12 of #easywininteriors and I’m back in the bedroom and enjoying a well earned lie in this morning! My morning routine has been really important to me during lock down. In  his brilliant book ‘think like a monk’ @jayshetty talks about how a positive morning ritual sets you up for the day. Similarly a good night time ritual sets you up for a good nights sleep. Styling up your bedroom  to support these ideas really helps! I’ve taken to setting my wake up alarm an hour before the rest of the house so I can enjoy some quiet solitude before the day gets going. I make my coffee in my favourite mug and spend a while reading or exercising. But no phone scrolling! My bedside is laid out with everything I need including a big pile of books and a dish for my watch and specs. I charge my phone in the kitchen to keep it away from temptation! Admittedly I’ve never had a problem sleeping but I was hardly what you’d call a morning person. Now it’s my favourite time of the day! Have a gorgeous lazy weekend folks x

CREDITS wallpaper @mollymahonblockprinting bedside table is vintage. Lamp @pookylights Vases and dishes all vintage. Pillows and duvet @cocoandwolf Flat sheet and bedthrow @societyofwanderers 

#easywininteriors #bedroomdecor #countrybedroom #colourfiedhomes #colourstylehome #colourlover #banthebeige #patternclash #interiorstyling #interiordesign #interiorinspo #faffthegaff
DAY 11 of #easywininteriors and we are over half w DAY 11 of #easywininteriors and we are over half way there! Whoop whoop, March is  just nine short days away! And I can feel the Spring vibes! It’s getting lighter, the bluebells are coming and the birds are singing! But back to it, we’ve got work to do! Today I’m sharing how I switch my home from working day to home time, without leaving the house. It’s so important for our mental health that we can make that transition. I’ve worked from home for years so I’ve always done this, but I find it essential to tidy my desk/kitchen table at the end of everyday and get it out of sight. This often means piling up all my paper work, laptop, pen pot and putting it all into a tray. And if you don’t have a deep tray a cardboard box does the job. Then hide it in the cupboard, pop it on a shelf or slide it under the table. The key is that you can’t see it and it doesn’t encroach on your non-work life. Out of sight out of mind kind of thing. 
And you might notice in the back of this shot is my 2021 vision board. I keep this in my view everyday as it helps keep me focused, uplifted and motivated. Im hosting a live webinar next Tuesday on how and why I create vision boards for every aspect of my life, including my interiors. If you’d like to join me it’s 7pm 23/02/21 and I can promise a fun, creative and enlightening evening! Link to book is up in my bio if you fancy getting a boost of inspiration towards creating your dream home. 

Happy Friday and have a lovely weekend 😍

#workingfromhome #myhomeoffice #interiorstyling #visionboard #interiorinspo #interiorinspiration #homeoffice #creativeworkspace #colourlover #colourcolorlovers #banthebeige
DAY 9 of #easywininteriors and I’m going to make DAY 9 of #easywininteriors and I’m going to make it super easy after yesterday’s kitchen cupboard love, which I’ll be honest, felt a bit strenuous! So today is all about creating as simple but effective styling moment; a trio of vases. Three seems to be the magic number when it comes to styling your objects and I have a few tips . I like to make sure there is a mixture of sizes, colour and textures but all held together with a theme. These three work because they’re  all vintage, Picked up from various car boot sales over the years! You can create little trios all over your home from the sideboards, book shelves, worktops, bathrooms and side tables. Push the tall one to the back and bring the small one to the fore but it’s the lack of symmetry that makes it pleasing. And you don’t have to stop with just vases, a trio of objects works with picture frames, ornaments and candle sticks too. 

#easywininteriors #vintagestyle #howivintage #myvintagehome #interiorstyling #interiorstyle #interiorinspo #colourlover #banthebeige
Load More… Follow on Instagram
Sophie Robinson
  • © 2017 Sophie Robinson

    /
  • Contact/
  • About/
  • Design by MW

Don't forget to join!