A Day in the Life… Yvonne Ellen

Morning! What time do you usually wake up (or get woken!)?

I am usually awoken around 6/ 6.30am by my little boy Wilfred calling for his ‘Mumma’!

First drink of the day is?

My day always starts with a good cup of strong sugary tea – in a fine bone china YE mug of course ;  )

By 9am what have you achieved?

By 9am I usually feel like I have had an entire day already! After getting my little 2 year old up, fed, and tackled multiple melt downs I am just about ready to start my working day! My day starts with a quick catch up on emails and a run through of my ‘to-do’ list for the day – which I could not do without.

Where do you work best?

I work best from my studio as I have everything to hand and am surrounded by all my Yvonne Ellen product ranges for reference. I have a lot of colour swatches, print and pages from magazines up on all my walls as I find it really helpful to be surrounded by inspirational imagery in my studio too. I like my work environment to feel as relaxed as possible so always have my TV or radio on for background noise .

Tell us your favourite brand ever and why?

I don’t really have one single favourite brand – my favourite brands tend to change and vary depending on what is going on in my life at the time. I am currently obsessed with childrenswear brands Bobo Choses, Mini Rodini and Liewood as am going through a phase of shopping for our new baby who is due in 3 weeks time! I also recently moved house so spent a lot of time admiring fabulous homeware brands such as Tom Dixon, House of Hackney and Farrow & Ball. I am also a big fan of good stationary and always head to the unique shops on Church Street in Stoke Newington for amazing brands like Hay, Notem and Moglea. I think the thing all these brands have in common and the reason I love them is that they are all very unique and really focus on good use of colour to create lovely cohesive ranges.

Biggest tip to aid productivity at work?

For me the best way to aid productivity at work is to ensure I have everything organised and to hand that I might need for a task before I actually start. For example making sure I have all my pens, brushes, paints etc laid out before I start a day of drawing/ painting is really helpful and prevents me having to stop and search for things mid way through my work.

What book are you currently reading?

I am currently reading ‘This Is Going to Hurt’ by Adam Kay after hearing so many amazing reviews. I like to read each night before bed to clear my head and focus on something that isn’t related to work or life stresses.

How does a typical afternoon look for you?

My afternoons are generally a time to be creative – which I love! I like to clear my emails and do any business ‘admin’ tasks that need doing in the mornings so that I have a clear head in the afternoons to focus on being creative. Most afternoons I will either be at my Mac working on new designs on Illustrator, putting together colour palettes for new ranges or working by hand on new illustrations. I also like to keep Instagram up to date with what I am working on or sharing images of new product.