Introducing... Laurent Moreau

The author and illustrator of several children's books, Laurent Moreau lives and works in Strasbourg, France, having moved there to study at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs. The images for these six cards, are all taken from his most recent book Après, published by Hélium éditions, Paris.

His fresh and modern images are full of decorative plants and animals, which he says emanates from growing up in the countryside, among fields and trees - "I love nature, it makes me feel good, laying in the grass, looking closely at the leaf of a tree, a pebble..."

Eschewing the use of a computer, Laurent creates his artwork almost entirely by hand, enjoying the tactility of paper, the smell of the ink, and the textures of his materials. His passion for traditional printing techniques such as engraving, and silkscreen, inspires use of a limited range of colours - "I’m not so at ease with the computer, so I draw with pencils, paint with gouache, I cut and paste… I change techniques. I like being spontaneous, the gesture, the line, little dots…" 

His artistic influences include BlexBolex, Sophie Dutertre, Jochen Gerner, Atak, Olle Eksell, and Saul Steinberg. Aside from drawing, Laurent dabbles in Polaroid photography, enjoys gardening, cooking, and plays in a rock band with friends.

The 4 x 6" cards are printed on premium textured card, and come with coordinating coloured envelopes. Available now, you can see the full range online here

Imitation is NOT the sincerest form of flattery.

We have some rather disappointing news to share with you, and we're writing this in support of one of the designers we've worked with, Eloise Renouf.

Eloise recently came across some new spring/summer season products on sale in Debenhams department store, with pattern designs that bear more than a passing resemblance to her own work, which is sold on Etsy.

This is one of the pattern designs by Eloise, used on our giftwrap and notebooks.

And these are some of the kitchenware items produced by Debenhams.

Eloise has taken this matter up with Debenhams, but their response has been very dismissive. She posted on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/eloiserenoufdesign;

I've been speaking with the head of buying for home wares. They have actually admitted buying my work for "inspiration". The wrapping paper has been gracing their office. They have simply "drawn inspiration" from "a variety of sources" and so their design is "original".

We're a teeny tiny company, and value the talent of the artists we work with, by paying them a licence fee for their designs. If we can manage to find the money within our limited budget, then surely larger companies could easily do so, rather than using someone in-house to create an imitation.

This is a widespread problem for many small businesses/artists. Other people we've worked with, such as Gemma Correll, and Tatty Devine, have been victim to even more blatant copying of their designs.

So we want to help name-and-shame those responsible for this kind of behaviour, in an effort to perhaps persuade them to change their ways. As well as raising public awareness of this issue, so that they can make their own judgement over where they choose to shop.

UPDATE, 5th March 2014:

Post by Eloise Renouf Design.

Smilin' Jack B's cigar box guitar

Another rendition of our eponymous theme song has appeared on YouTube. This one played on a cigar box guitar:

 

The lyrics to Betty & Dupree always vary slightly, depending on the performer, but this one seems to have whole verses that I've not heard before. It also has a pleasing amount of distortion from Smilin' Jack B's homemade instrument.