Back in September I was going through my weekly scanning of Kickstarter in search of interesting design that I might like for my home. That's when I bumped into Daniel Heath's campaign, which you can read about here.

Daniel is an independent wallpaper, textile and surface designer renowned for his illustrative and engaging designs like HIGH WIRE shown below. I was really interested in the campaign as I really enjoyed the video that Daniel made which I found inspiring. So I posted on the blog about it.

A month or so later, Daniel's campaign came to an end, successfully, and I get an email from Van Anh of In the Window inviting me to attend a bloggers' evening where we would have a go at screen printing with none other than Daniel Heath.

OK, In The Window - who are you exactly?

I have been missing out apparently or did not get the Memo (and it wouldn't exactly be the first time).

So In The Window launched last May and is, well, a virtual window for artisans and designers to showcase their products in an intimate way, explain their story and all that with aesthetically pleasing photography.

"Through immersive storytelling and curation, In The Window enables designers, makers, architects, and brands to deeply engage a global community of design enthusiasts and professionals. In The Window’s community can discover, experience, and meaningfully interact with the content via curation, sharing, and conversations".

All great so far. So I tried it out and I am pretty happy that I can start creating my own collections (treasuries) on the site. And big names are there too: Anglepoise, Buster+Punch, Cole & Son, MaisonObjet. But, I digress.

So invitation accepted, fast forward to the 11th of November and after work I make my way to Walthamstow to join the bloggers crew. Having to get off at Blackhorse Road station (Victoria Line) which is extremelly busy at this time. See below. Scenes from 28 Days Later spring to mind and I have to watch out in case anyone or anything else springs at me.

Blackhorse station is incredibly busy around 6.30pm. Where is everyone?!

I get out of the station and just cross the street, Google maps in hand, the blue dot blipping on the screen....

Aaaaaaaaaand I am going the wrong way.

No problem, back towards the station and take the other direction.

Aaaaaaaaannd, no, wrong again.

I can't. Read. A. Map.

NOW YOU KNOW WHY WE HAVE COLUMBUS, MAGELLAN, VESPUCCI, COOK, AMUDSEN AND ANOTHER HUNDRED MALE EXPLORERS AND ONLY ONE BLOODY SACAGAWEA. AND WHAT DID SHE DISCOVER? THE US WEST. WOMEN JUST CANNOT READ MAPS. WE CAN READ AND RECOGNISE SIGNS (especially the word SALE in a 100 languages) BUT WE CANNOT. READ. MAPS. Before you get angry at me for saying so, read some literature around it, I am not making it up. There are exceptions of course and you may well be one of them. Hurray for you, now come and help me find the studios!

Anyway, 10 minutes, a stressed tweet and a call to V.A. later I was pointed to the right direction by Stephanie of Lifeat139a who probably took pitty in my "lost blogger" look. She was right behind me as I came out of a dark alley and pointed to a sign in front of me that read: WORKSHOP (next right).

* embarassing moment *

The event had started with drinks and desserts in the form of cheesecakes, cupcakes and pop corn. Oh Yum. And it's after work. And I know I am missing dinner. And it's - HOLD ON, IS THAT CATE ST HILL?

But my attention turns back to these babies. Who needs New Year resolutions when they have Moreish Cake!

And I got a great kick out of this Cayenne based drink!

The In The Window ladies talk to all of us and then Daniel Heath shows up.

* stops blogging and pops downstairs to try the Smooth Peanut and Almond pop corn that she knows is still inside the -hidden- goody bag * #notsharing

*better save draft *

* I am back *

Ok, the pop corn above was amazing. Peanut butter alright. Problem is, I want more!

Soon we're off on a tour of the Blackhorse Lane studios and eventually make it to Daniel's studio which is full of paints and screens and paper. Interesting stuff. Oh, and there's Laura Perryman, Daniel Heath Studios' other half.

Now, screen printing, who wants to have a go first?

I have to admit, the end result is gorgeous, but it must need a helluva lot of patience this screen printing business. There's a lot of waiting involved. And precision matters. Now, if you know me (and my better half can vouch for it), two things I am missing are patience and precision. I calculate everything with my eye and never a measure tape, so behind my frames, you may often find two-three nail holes instead of one. Life's too short to care about millimeters.

But enough of my talking. Enjoy the photos and click on them to get re-directed to Dan Heath's story on In The Window.

From the left: Cate St Hill, Daniel Heath and Laura Perryman, inspecting the goods.

Emma of bloomzy.co.uk

Jesse Audubey of hecticophilia.com

Sarah Akwisombe

You can see my curated collections on In The Window and find out more about them here.

An overall great event, a fun evening and much more enjoyable as the number of bloggers was kept reasonably low and the venue was not huge. Meaning we kept together as a group and talked to each other. Thank you V.A. and In the Window for the invite!

I was invited to this event by In the Window but all opinions are my own.

#events