Back in June, I discovered that Fedrigoni UK were looking for designers to submit to their calendar project for 2024 and I jumped at the chance. The submission process was mysterious; I just filled out a form on their website which pretty much only included my social media handles and then I just had to wait.
I received an email on 16 August saying I'd been selected, I was given my date / number (26 October) and I had to use a specific colour palette as this year, Fedrigoni 366 is being produced in collaboration with FE Burman using HP Indigo digital print technology. HP SmartStream Designer combined with Indigo digital print technology gives the exciting potential to harness the power of generative design — meaning everyone's original design will be different in every single book, which honestly blows my mind. So I had to use 4-10 of the 10 colours from the palette given to me.
Now the tricky part starts... what the hell do I pick as a subject matter that's colourful and suits the brief? I did a Google search and scoured Wiki but it seems like not very many positive things happened on 26 October in history and then my mother-in-law reminded me that the 26th was actually the date of my wedding party in 2019. My husband and I actually made the decision to elope on 13 October to Scotland but we had what was supposed to be a big party celebrating our marriage after our honeymoon. Unfortunately, our wedding venue was predicted to flood and on the day of the party, they moved us to a room neither of us liked, I had to make minimal wedding decorations stretch beyond belief, I was panic buying huge helium balloons to fill the space and periodically stress crying and laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Anyway, long story short, a lot of our favourite people couldn't make the journey because of the floods but we had an excellent time dancing the night away anyway and watching the river slowly rise and rise and rise! And it turns out, the event planner was correct about the flooding and we watched picnic tables floating around the courtyard! Anyway, I digress...
SO! I thought maybe a glitter ball would be appropriate. Or maybe a mosaic floor paying homage to our wedding month. Or maybe some stained glass windows? I tried a few different options, but ultimately decided it was between the glitter ball and the church windows, so I popped the choices on Instagram for a poll and...
However, what surprised me was that every time someone voted for the glitter ball, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a vote for the church windows so that was me decided!
In the end, I paid tribute to my vows to my beyond-brilliant husband as well as the rise of the water during our wedding party. The colours of the design will be different in every single book so I'm excited to see which version I receive, but I picked pastel colours that work in harmony for the original with a pop of red for the wedding band and the text. This is also a little PSA to keep changing, amending and coming back to your design. My first idea for the windows were clumsy at best but I'm very happy with how the final design came out, especially with the waves being added in the last minute before submission!
I'm so happy I was able to design a little ode to my husband and all he means to me. He is one of the best people I've ever known and has been nothing short of excellent since the day I met him. His patience is beyond belief, his support is always unwavering and he makes me laugh daily (which is no easy task when you have chronic vestibular migraine). So, this one's for you, Peps.
