Reflecting on my time at Ink & Spindle.

Selection of books from the shelf

Art inspiration from Uppercase Magazine

Art inspiration from Uppercase Magazine

At the Ink & Spindle studios there is a plethora of reading material to flick through while waiting for a screen to dry or during a tea break, while surrounded by loads of great ink colours and designs and learning new techniques and opportunities it allowed me the time to consider what style of printing I want to hone in my practice as well as other avenues for business I may be interested in investing my time into.
Having come from an Illustration and Design background, but finding briefs and client work far too restrictive I felt that I sat alot more fluidly in the Fine Art realm. I had always wanted to study Fine Art but thought I could continue that direction on my own and perhaps university wasn't key.
My outlook on this has drastically changed, but I am still interested in mixing my Design and Illustration knowledge and aesthetic and using it to fuel larger scale concepts and ideas of print imaging that I have gained in the Fine Art world. I used some of the sources above to inspire ideas and wrote notes and took photos for my personal catalogue.

This internship has been core in allowing me to see the function of a small studio that has flourished and grown to become multi faceted and also a great supportive environment. While the designs and colours are fun and creative elements of the business and the printing days are skills based and hands on, there are also many adhoc elements of a small business that help to keep the flow of the day to day running from pattern cutting, packaging, post, promotion and website interaction with customers as well as having the showroom ready for drop ins. It was very interesting to see how the studio functions as a small business and how something like this may work in Melbourne, which is a very creative and supportive city to be residing.