A trip to the Zoo

I have to admit I've not really been a fan of zoos in general, I'm not sure about the animals in cages thing. However I never realise how important they are in the conservation of so many animals. It wasn't until Perth Zoo asked us to do a Future Shelter for Perth Zoo badge range that I really learned all about what they do to save endangered species.

After drawing tigers many many times for kidswear it wasn't until I started researching into Sumatran Tigers for the drawing the illustrations that I realised there were only around 400 left. We have lost 97% of the tiger population this century with only around 3,200 left across all the subspecies.

This was such a shock to me as when you think that there are way more images of tigers than real-life tigers. What are we going to say to our kids when we have to explain that the tigers died out in our lifetime especially after we made them wear tiger costumes, tiger t-shirts and read them so many story books about tigers? An the same goes for so many jungle animals we've grown up with through our childhood.

I then had to research all the other endangered animals and was shocked to learn how many creatures are on the brink of becoming extinct, including our very own Numbat who has lost most of its territory due to landclearing. And it's not just all about loosing the major rainforests but all the last remaining pockets of forests in our local areas. We all need to be aware of where our paper comes from, choosing Forestry certified suppliers and recycled where possible. When buying furniture make sure you are not buying a piece of valuable rainforest OR local forest - as long as we keep buying it, they will keep chopping it down. Believe it or not IKEA is one of the leading major companies working with the WWF to only use wood from approved sources.

You can adopt a tiger and many other animals via the World Wildlife Fund or Perth Zoo also have an adopt a tiger program.

On a lighter note, I also drew some Little Penguins of which are not endangered but important all the same and very cute. In WA you can see them on Penguin Island near Rockingham.

Montage Collective - pop-up store from 8th Feb

There is a great new pop-up shop happening in Fremantle over the next few weeks. Montage Collective are opening 7 days a week from the 8th Feb to the 25th Feb.

Go to www.montagecollective.blogspot.com for a full list of designers and links to their websites. And for those who social network via the internet they have a facebook page here

Talented interior design friends

It's very handy having a mother's group full of very talented interior designers! Luckily for me Megan let me take photos of her beautiful home in North Perth to display our wall decals.




It's very handy having a mother's group full of very talented interior designers! Luckily for me Megan let me take photos of her beautiful home in North Perth to display our wall decals. Here is her daughter Bella wearing one of our Love Dog T-shirts!

Guide to love

I have to admit that Valentine's Day in our house is all about making the other half a present or card of some sort. I'm not really into buying your loved one a new Ferrari or a diamond watch. For me there's nothing quite like a hand made card of any standard, its the time that's gone into it that counts. Usually we turn it into a product of some sort, last year resulted in the pop-up numbat card which we then put into production. And for those with screen-printing husbands you may be interested in this.....

For those who shy away from the making things bit don't worry we have lots of little treats to give away (or to give to yourself). Let's face it sometimes the other halves struggle a bit to remember things like Valentine's Day, I think the perfect answer is to buy yourself something that you really like and then they can pay for it.
Wooden & white heart decorations $12 for 6

New signs

There is nothing quite like a glistening sign to attract the attention of the passer-by. We couldn't resist a little bit of shiny silver on our new sign! We have now taken down our old sign (Little Design Horse) to make way for Future Shelter. Little Design Horse was our original design studio where we designed for other big brands and we always wanted our products to be separate and hence we had to find a new name.

The name originates from our first collection of T-shirts and cushions we designed. Our T-shirts all have an environmental theme and we liked the idea that a T-shirt is a form of shelter from the world. Shelter is one of our very basic needs together with food, water etc. But then we also like the idea that our homes are also our "future shelter"... and we design for both! The themes of the illustrations were all very simple based around the idea of shelter.

shelter in the trees
shelter from the sun
Solar power

We choose T-shirts that are designed to last longer with excellent quality cotton, our products are well made and designed to be passed down to future generations and their own "future shelters".

What & where will your Future Shelter be?