Studio Spaces: Anna Ruby King

Today for Studio Spaces, I’d like to share the work of Lila from Anna Ruby King with you. I’ve been an admirer of Lila’s ever since she burst on the scene last year and I am happy to say that you can find Lila’s rescued fabric and hand-drawn cards and prints in the Indie Fixx Shop. I especially love Lila’s sweet fabric and hand-drawn cards and love that they are all different depending on what fabrics Lila has chosen. Here are some of my favorites that are for sale in the Indie Fixx Shop.

Learn more about Lila and her work from my interview with her and these images from her studio.

1. What’s the name of your shop and what do you make?

My business name is Lila Ruby King and I am a jewellery designer and artist. The business is just in its beginnings, right now I have my little Etsy shop, Anna Ruby King, where I sell my works on paper, soon I hope to get the jewellery side of things going too.

2. What’s your favorite thing about your studio or work space? Your least favorite?

I actually have two spaces for working, I have a messy area, in what is basically a storage room for my in-laws, where I do my jewellery work, and I have a clean area, which is my kitchen table, where I make my gift cards, paint, draw, everything else. I should add that the kitchen table has not been used for its intended purpose (eating on) since I started my business. I have to say that there are not too many things I like about either of these spaces, however both of them do have fabulous natural light, and my jewellery space does have a lot of room. Very soon I’ll be moving into a new place, and I have already designated a room there for my new, super fantastic, combined jewellery and paper work studio, I can’t wait!

3. What do you listen to or watch while you work?

When I am in my jewellery studio, I have my little mp3 player which I listen to, right now I have it playing some Radiohead, Powerfinger, U2, Faker and The Doors. When I am inside doing my clean work, I usually have the tv on, I am totally a news junkie, I guess I feel like I am learning something about the world while I am working.

4. What are some of your inspirations?

As you can see by my work most of my inspiration comes from nature, but what interests me most is the way we as humans classify nature. I love how we have to give things names, put them into groups, put them into boxes with labels, document, classify, explore. I love scientific drawings, maps, historic and new, colour charts, diagrams, books. I am also drawn to colours and patterns, anything bright!

5. Anything you want to share? Doing any craft shows this season, have some new products coming out, or get a really big write-up in a national publication?

I am starting a new project that I am calling The Pigeon Project. I am kind of fascinated by pigeons, yes they have a bad reputation, but you have to give these birds credit, unlike those sensitive animals who struggle to live in this world with us humans, pigeons thrive, is there any city in the world where they are not everywhere? So as part of my fascination, I’ve decided to start to document pigeons. Every day, I will find a pigeon, document where I found it and draw it, partly I want to document the great variation of colours and patterns in their feathers, and also I am curious to see if I will ever find the same pigeon twice. I’m not sure how long I will carry it on till, maybe until I do get the same bird twice!

Secondly, hopefully very soon, I will be up and running with my jewellery work as well, keep checking at my current Etsy shop for any news on both of these!

6. What is something completely whimsical that you enjoy doing?

So, I’m not sure if this classifys as whimsical or somewhat crazy, but I’ll tell you about my future business idea that I like to daydream to myself about (my husband also thinks this is a good idea, so let me share the crazyness around a little.) I’d really like to have one day a nature reserve, a great expanse of land, where there will be lush grassy fields, little winding creeks with pebbles, lots of trees and everything else you need for such a thing. Then I would like to populate my reserve with yellow Labradors, who would roam around all day long paddling in the water, creating holes in the fields, eating all the strange bugs their hearts desire. I could charge entry into my nature reserve, like people go to those safari parks. I am fairly certain that anyone who has owned a Labrador will totally understand the brilliance.