Artabella Collective is a group of seven surface pattern designers who have joined forces to show this year at Blueprint. This wonderfully creative group of artists include Claire Elsworth and Michelle Grace from the UK, Deane Christiansen from Canada, and Amber Shaw, Diana Kelley, Erica Ilene and Shelley Seguinot from the United States.

And while they are all super busy right now preparing for the show, Erica Ilene did find time to chat with me about her journey and how the collective is preparing for the show.

Hi Erica! Before we jump into questions about the collective, please tell us how you got into surface pattern design.

I ran another business for years, but found that it was difficult to manage as my kids got older and our schedules got busy. There was only so much I could do on the road with this business while running from activity to activity. I went to college for graphic design, so I decided to get back into that, and started designing logos and websites.

I always wanted to do surface pattern design, but was unsure about how to make it a business, so a few years ago I enrolled in Make It In Design Module 3 to see what involved in licensing artwork. Then about a year and a half ago I decided to get serious. I started building a portfolio, designing pieces and working to find a style. Finally by the end of the year I felt that things were in a good place and I was ready to move on to the next step.

Can you tell us a bit about the patterns you make?

In the beginning I thought that my patterns would be all flowers. I love flowers and they are a main part of my other business. However, as I've gotten into surface pattern design I've found that I also enjoy doing a lot of spot illustrations and using typography in my work. The typography piece comes from my graphic design background. It's not something I would ever think I'd be interested in, but it ended-up being something that came naturally.

How did you go about forming a collective?

I learned that there were a few spots left at Blueprint, and thought it would be a great opportunity to show as part of a collective, so I started looking for other designers. I first I reached out to Shelley and Amber... I had gotten to know them through a few Facebook groups. Then I saw a post on Jennifer Nelson’s Advice for Artists Facebook group where Claire, and Michelle noted that they were looking to join collectives for trade show purposes. From there, Deane reached out to me, and Claire brought in Michelle and Diane. Claire knew both of them from many Make It In Design courses.

Why did your collective decide to show at Blueprint?

Blueprint appealed to us all for a number of reasons, cost being the critical one as it is the most affordable of the New York Shows. After researching and chatting with other surface pattern designers we discovered that it is also a show that is growing with more exhibitors and visitors each year. We also like that it's run by designers for designers and that it's a smaller show. Easier for us out of the gate.

Tell us a little bit about how you are preparing for Blueprint.

Early on we Skyped to ‘meet’ each other and got to know each other through a private Facebook group. I came-up with an initial task list and we began gathering information about the best way to show. We quickly decided on a collective name, designed a logo, and booked Blueprint. From there the list of initial tasks has steadily increased and we have continually worked with passion to support each other in many different ways from creating the website, setting up portfolio sell sheets, handling payments, liaison with BP, managing BP marketing design call outs, designing marketing flyers for the BP website, postcards and Print & Pattern, plus handling advertising magazine requirements and giving each a boost of positivity when we felt overwhelmed or needed help with something. We have all learnt and achieved so much together along the way already - it is quite mind-blowing!

The great thing about Blueprint is that you don’t have to set-up a huge booth like at Surtex. It's more like a science fair with a table and backdrop behind you. You just have to bring your own freestanding banners. We've had to design and print a lot of materials, so that takes time. I'm a broker for a printer, so I'm having a lot of the materials printed and then shipping them to Shelley. She is only an hour away from the show so it works well.

We've also spent a lot of time fine tuning the pricing. We have pricing tiers a to d. Pricing has really been the biggest gray area of it all. From what we can tell, some artists only have one design per sell sheet, some have 3. We've had to do a lot of research, and have had to talk to a lot of people to figure out exactly how to approach the show. We've discovered that a lot of pricing depends on the buyers, their budgets, etc. You have to have a bottom line price for your artwork and then set a higher price so that there is room to negotiate. Ultimately, we've decided to create cheat sheets for the different price levels using stickers on the back of our sell sheets. The sticker lists the collection number and includes a colored dots to show if something is already licensed. This will hopefully help us keep things clear during the show.

What has it been like working together as a collective?

So far it has gone really well. We've divided-up the research and talk frequently via a private Facebook page and Skype sessions. We come to agreements pretty easily, and whenever there are divided opinions we work as a group to talk it through. Overall we have found that where one person is weak, someone else is strong. And with seven designers in our group that means seven people are helping to market the show!

However, things can get tricky. We are all in multiple time zones and all have kids, so setting-up times to chat can get difficult!

What are your goals for Blueprint? What will make it a success?

Because this is our first show, we are trying to approach it without too many expectations. Ultimately we are all hoping to sell and license our designs and to do this by making as many contacts as possible at the show, doing a lot of talking and showing-off our beautiful portfolios to lots of buyers and art directors. We want to gain exposure and establish Artabella as a reputable and professional collective with quality design led artwork.Also, we are looking forward to actually ‘meeting’ many of our contemporaries from the amazingly supportive SPD community!