Louise Gardiner - Kettle Chips

            

I heard about Louise Gardiner's illustrations an advertising campaign for Kettle Chips at the AOI lecture the other day. This was her first ad campaign and is very different to her other work. Although he work is so different to mine and not something I'd usually look at, this campaign really interests me. Product and packaging is something that I've always been interested in. It's nice to see how her illustrative practice and embroidery comes through on to something very commercial. The speaker at the AOI talk mentioned how successful and well paid this campaign was. This work also stands out to me because the imagery focuses on food and motifs which as you know that's what I like to draw! Because her method of working is embroidery, there's a real hand made aesthetic coming through. I think this is what the client and illustrator intended. A lot of time, care and effort has gone in to this work. Her work is complex and layered and is simply beautiful.

It's interesting to see how this campaign is so different to her usual work. Her website is really interesting to look at and read. She talks about her work with such detail and meaning. It's really lovely. You can see the time that she not only puts in to the actual work, but her website and  the way she talk about her work and her process. 

She talks through the process on her website:

'For the first stage of this commission I designed a 'treatment' of ideas and some sample embroideries which secured the project. I began to study vegetables and various ingredients, drawing from life and also photocopying slices of vegetables on the photocopier. The crisp packets were much more challenging and I began the slow process of embroidering 6 packets and all the logo details using paint, applique and thread combined. It was important to maintain a spontaneous and handmade finish which would photograph well and stand out in a printed format.'

'The combination of my hand made work, 101's design and a committed client team over at Kettle has resulted in a colourful and wide reaching advertising campaign which reaches as far as Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Sweden. Kettle chips, 101, Kirsty Allsopp and I are running a nationwide Craft Competition in conjunction with this launch and promotion of the 'handmade' so please see the Kettlechips website for details.'

This is also an interesting watch:


                       
                      Stitch & Shine from R&A Collaborations on Vimeo.