Colour code

Watch Faye Toogood bring to life the design of her digitally printed leather hide for Bill Amberg

British designer Faye Toogood is one of the five design stars launching leather hides with Bill Amberg’s new innovative digital printing method. Her artful design showcases rich patterns in the form of painterly brushstrokes and drawings, all inspired by her sketchpad.

In the above video, watch as Toogood methodcially draws, paints and shades the abstract details in her design. ‘I am always doodling, it helps me think and visualise things,' she says. ‘Random shapes and patterns often emerge on one side of my notebook whereas the other side is meticulously organised for project notes. From these sketches I developed shapes and added pigment test washes to these.’

Toogood explains that the intricacies in her design could only be bought to life by Amberg’s new high-quality printing technique – ‘previously printing on leather would’ve blurred out these finer details and made it look cartoon-ish and flat’. The distinct palette of peat brown, brick red, ochre yellow and flesh pink are close to Toogood as well – ‘I have been working a lot with these colours this year. It’s a very intuitive process for me and often derivative from the material I am working with at that moment.’

Find the leather range at Tom Dixon’s  ELECTROANALOGUE showcase during London Design Festival; 15-23 September; The Coal Office, Arches, Coal Drops Yard, 3-10 Bagley Walk, N1C 4DH

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.