Rachael Taylor is an award-winning art director, creative mentor, and print and pattern designer and now author. She is best known for her quirky style, daring use of colour, and unique innovation. She regularly takes on design commissions for various companies and has created prints and patterns for almost every part of the marketplace. She is a trademarked brand with a number of licensed products worldwide. 

Rachael is also a much-loved coach and creative mentor who is well-known for her friendly, honest, and motivational teaching style. As the co-founder of Make It In Design, she has developed a ground-breaking educational platform and taught more than 25,000 students across 100 countries. 

Rachael has been featured in many print and online publications including House Beautiful, Red, Mollie Makes and Homestyle, and on ITV, BBC and Channel 4. She is also a member of the UK government’s Anti-Copying in Design Sector Council, and a regular speaker at design industry events. 

This special interview is in celebration of Rachael's book, Power up your Creativity – available now! After so many conversations with our much-loved Make it in Design community, Rachael has developed a keen insight into what obstacles stand in the way of creative success for so many of us and has turned her guidance into a stunning book.

Episode includes:

·      Where Rachael’s passion for design and colour began

·      Discovering what resonates with you

·      Creativity is about taking risks, breaking rules and having fun

·      The value of teaching and passing on your experiences

·      Dealing with adversity and how to make it positive

·      How to deal with rejection when it happens

Alexander Wills is a digital textile printing expert. He is devoted to helping designers gain financial freedom, while doing what they love, through the Maake ecosystem. He works with 100’s of company’s daily from small brands to big names including Alexander McQueen, Dior, Burberry and BBC and his belief is ‘all designers should be treated with the same respect, no matter their status, as creativity is unique’.

After 15 years in textile printing, Alex and his wife Artemis were tired of seeing talented people left behind in their industry. 

Massive minimums and complicated ordering processes made it impossible to run a profitable small or medium-sized business. Outsourcing abroad only presented unsustainable practices and lengthy wait times.

It was time to shake up the textile industry. 

Fashion Formula (soon to be Maake) gives ordinary people the opportunity to bring their extraordinary visions to life. 

A simple, uncomplicated ordering process. Made in London, so no more long lead times. No more large orders needed, no more waste, and no more broken promises and giving your business an edge. 

Alex has had huge success since launching Fashion Formula which has expanded above and beyond the realms of fabric printing as they are just in the process of launching their brilliant NEW platform Maake.

Episode 7 includes:

• Surrounding yourself with creativity and combining science and arts
• Having the confidence to grow and develop your own business in align with your passions and beliefs
• Redefining and making it so much easier for designers to delve into the world of printing and manufacturing
• The importance of the customer experience
• Carving out time to research and continuing to develop what your business has to offer
• The importance of a good team and how to nurture them
• Creating opportunities for designers to thrive in the industry

Simion Hawtin-Smith is the Creative Director of Reloved Upholstery and Design in Manchester. He started Reloved Upholstery in 2014, and specialises in giving iconic chairs a new lease of life, using a combination of traditional and modern methods.

He is an upholsterer for the BBC One TV show, Money for Nothing, and has a monthly column in Reclaim magazine sharing the inspirations behind his work.

Simion is an incredibly diverse and multi-disciplined creative. 

He also works as an interior stylist and as a workshop host and loves nothing more than teaching and passing on his skills and love of all things upholstery.

At Make it in Design we are thrilled to have Simion on board featuring as an expert guest tutor in the “hands on” Make It In Design interior masterclassess: Surface Pattern Design + Cushion Making and Pattern Creation + Chair Upholstery.

Perhaps starting his creative career later than some as he changed up his path, but since the beginning Simion has completely owned his specialism all whilst diversifying his skill set and being a lovely, inspiring and generous person in the process. 

Episode 6 includes:

·      Giving yourself the time to explore what you are passionate about and then doing it

·      Growing your own business and brand and sharing your creative goal with others

·      Working with independent designers with an authentic narrative to their work 

·       Absorbing inspiration from other creatives and channelling this into your own work and creative development

·      Restoring and reinventing interior pieces whilst retaining their sentimental value

·      Passing on the joy of upholstery with others whilst connecting with them