Pretty Southern

Tag: design

  • Pretty Up Your Office Space

    Pretty Up Your Office Space

    As the summer is coming to an end and children are packing their book bags with new notebooks, fresh pencils, and colorful accessories it may be a good time to reevaluate your own work space.  Have you had the same office accessories, photographs, and stack of papers to be filed sitting their for months?  August is a perfect time to spruce up your work space, add some color to a drab office, and get your organization on!

    I love these colorful office supplies from Design Public for adding some life to your desk, cubicle, or corner office.  Whether you work from home or in a busy corporate setting, we all spend many, many hours at work and deserve to have a comfortable place to pass the work day in.  Take just a few minutes this upcoming work week to see what works and what isn’t working for you!  Clear out old papers, commit to getting through that stack of files that has been looming over you, print out some new family photos, and grab some colorful accessories to add some cheer to your space.  You will not only feel refreshed, organized, and ready to start your work week, but you might also motivate some of your coworkers to spruce up their work space as well.

    I head back to work this week, starting my fifth year of teaching, and I know that a few fun, modern accessories will lift my spirits and get me in gear for the upcoming school year.

    All photos from Design Public.

    [author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://prettysouthern.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/KatHeadShot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kat Kraszeski-Jackson is an art teacher, artist, and diy crafter living in Greensboro, NC. She loves sharing her favorite artists, projects, and creative inspiration here on Pretty Southern.[/author_info] [/author]

  • Southern Roots Influence Modern Design

    Southern Roots Influence Modern Design

    Noelle O’Reilly founded her etsy shop, Priss Designs after graduating from Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Design. Afterwards, she needed to find an outlet for her creative side. 

    Her work is modern, digital art but has a strong influence from her Southern roots, having grown up in rural southwestern Albany, Ga. You can see the influence of nature throughout her designs, whether in bird silhouettes, repeating birch trees, or vintage leaves; and she describes her work as “rustic modern.”

    Chrysanthemum on Blue 8×10 Print

    Noelle grew up in a family that worked with their hands, made the things that they needed, and were a part of the handmade community long before it was trendy. Her grandparents grew, canned, and sold vegetables out of a wooden store her grandfather built, plus her dad is a mechanic who has always known the importance of making something by hand. 

    She says that, “growing up in an environment where everyone makes what they need with their hands, it really influenced me to want to make things myself, and also influences me to support the handmade movement in general.” It was not until college, originally pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering, that Noelle decided she needed to find a degree that would better fit her desire to create and work with her hands the way her family always had. That is when she made the switch to Industrial Design.

    Custom Couple Tree Print

    Fast forward to today and Noelle is keeping busy with her etsy shop, selling designs that are a fresh, clean-lined take on the nature of southern Georgia that inspired her while growing up.  She has combined these natural references with her experiences at an engineering school and a design degree to create truly unique work with a special Southern flair.  She knows her roots are in the South and has let that help shape the creative person that she always had in her!

    Bird on Yellow 8×10 Print

    Be sure to check out Noelle’s shop, Priss Designs, where she is offering Pretty Southern readers free shipping for all of 2011.  Just use the code “FREESHIP11” at checkout!  You can also read more about her background and her creative process on her blog, Priss This.