MEET: Robin and Mould

We're Christian Mould and Amy Robinson and we started Robin & Mould in 2010 after Christian had taken a refresher screen printing course and was hooked. We'd read online how it could all be done from home DIY style and thought we'd have a go! We tried it all out on friends and family and handmade all our Christmas presents one year. It went so well we decided to take the plunge and took part in a local craft market a few months later, then we opened our etsy shop and everything just grew from there.

 

We generally have ideas and designs floating around in our heads for a while and we'll just bounce thoughts off each other, start sketching then finalise the designs ready to print. We love colour and simple shapes and so far others seem to too!

 

 

We've both have creative backgrounds and actually met way back in 1996 on a Foundation Art course at college. Then I studied Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent and Christian studied Fine Art in Cardiff.

 

We'd both been toying with the idea for years but it hadn't occurred to us to actually work together for some reason! I think when we first opened our etsy shop we thought it would probably be a bit of a hobby but it's grown and we've been blown away by the response to our things. It still amuses us to think of ourselves as running a 'business'! 

 

 

I've always loved simplicity in design and was constantly being told I needed to continue to work on my designs at college when I thought they were finished! So I think I've been drawn to that side of Scandinavian design. We both love and are inspired by interiors, children's illustration and mid century graphics. It's an ongoing discussion between us as I come from a very clean graphic style and Christian is the scribbler and illustrator - somehow we always find middle ground and that's where our work comes from.

 

 

We've always loved the idea of creating something from nothing. That before we begin our designs are just in our heads and then they can end up in someone's home anywhere in the world. We've both always been doodlers and have stacks of sketch books everywhere in the house - literally! The most frustrating things are feeling totally uninspired and stuck in a rut and things going wrong (screen printing can be incredibly frustrating at times!). Luckily with two of us it doesn't take much to get each other back on track.

 

 

Thanks! We're quite proud of our fox although we've both got a bit of a soft spot for our Sleepy Dog as he was the first design we ever finished and made into something. There are very early versions littering quite a few of our friend's houses! 

 

 

We started in our dining room and spare room but we've got baby number two on the way in a matter of weeks so we now work all over the place. I mostly sew and ship out orders from home and we have a print studio nearby in an outbuilding at my parent's house. We've been really lucky to have found space through family as without it our house would be completely overrun with giant bags of stuffing, rolls of fabric not to mention the stock itself! We want to paint the studio space soon but we've not managed to fit it in yet... 

 

 

It can be anything and everything. Just spotting random combinations of colour and shape anywhere can spark an idea. We both love interiors, illustration old and new, typography, nature, architecture, Scandinavian and mid century design we could go on and on. Some of our favourite illustrators and designers include Oliver Jeffers, Mary Blair, Herve Morvan, Marc Boutavant, Orla Kiely, Robin & Lucienne Day, Saul Bass.

 

 

All our best laid plans will be up in the air for the next 12 months as we become a family of four. But we've got a few ideas for new little critters up our sleeves which we'll work on as and when. In the longterm we hope to continue to grow the business to the point where we can give up other work. One day we'd love to have a shop/studio space of our own...

 

We've both always made things, created, designed and are inspired by those who do the same so we guess it's how we've always lived and hoped to work.

 

 

Not especially successfully! We're either working flat out or both too tired and drained to get off the sofa! It's hard to find time when we're not thinking of work and running mental checklists although our three year old is a great distraction and makes us laugh all the time. Plus the dog gets us all out of the house everyday which we love. If only we were both a bit more organised...

 

 

We have a blog although we're awful at updating regularly. So far we've been incredibly lucky that we were picked up by a few popular blogs early on and everything seemed to grow from there. We've also done a few big London markets last year and hope to do more. It's really good to meet other designer/makers and the people who buy our things face to face. 

 

We mainly sell through etsy so far although we plan to open a uk based online shop soon. We are also stocked in a few shops and websites in the UK and Europe.