© Amy King
Amy King of Shiny Orange Dreams, grew up in London, England but has been based in New York City for many years. Designing for a range of childrenswear and bedding companies including BabyGap, Martha Stewart, and Oshkosh B'Gosh. Amy's work has been purchased by companies including Gymboree, Carters and Paperchase UK.
Her style wonderfully captures colourful and enchanting characters and her use of fresh and exciting colours really brings the designs to life. Find out more about Amy and her work below.
Name: Amy King
University/College: Fashion Institute Of Technology, New York
Course: AAS Textile Design
Current Occupation: Textile and Surface Designer.
© Amy King
© Amy King
What three to five words would you use to describe your work?
Whimsical, fun, and colourful.
What medium do you work with?
Generally I work in a digital format with some hand embroidery accents.
© Amy King
What inspires you?
I am inspired by everything from films, music, art, retro and Scandinavian design, to colour- especially orange! The television series ‘Mad Men’ has also been an influence and I am always sure to have a notebook and pen on hand while watching it so that I can note some of wonderful color combinations of the clothes, furniture and wall colors featured on the programme!
What was your first job? When/how did you know you wanted a career in art?
My first job was working for a small textile company in New York. Most of my work included doing tons of re-colouring of designs. Not very exciting, but it taught me a lot about matching colors and creating new color combinations- something that was, in retrospect, an invaluable experience.
Both of my parents were artists and I was surrounded by creativity during my childhood. I think that it was inevitable that I pursued a career in a creative area.
Design books/blogs you can’t live without
The Print & Pattern book is a fabulous book to have in my library. Also, I am enjoying the new Orla Kiely book- so full of wonderful images and history of her work. I have a few books on Scandinavian design including one by Marimekko who is one of my favorite designers. Some of the blogs that I look at most days are Print & Pattern, Helen Dardik’s, Sandra Isaksson’s and How About Orange.
What’s next?
I’ll be continuing to sell my fabrics on Spoonflower and hope to open an etsy store in the near future to sell tea towels, bags and toys made from those fabrics. The greeting card and gift wrap markets are ones that I would like to continue to branch out into. I will continue to work for my design clients and am always open to accepting new commissions from new contacts.
© Amy King
Take a look at Amy's work here and enjoy.