katy
Katy designs graphics and textiles for Tea and is a self-proclaimed wildlife conservationist. She loves discovering beautiful things and finding inspiration in unexpected places. When she is not working on one of her too many creative projects she enjoys rollerblading to musicals, pretending she can surf and watching Disney movies. Katy has traveled around the globe to work with creatures that have lost their homes to rainforest destruction. Her most memorable trip was to Malaysian Borneo working with orphaned orangutans, next up is sloths in Costa Rica, and hopefully one day Mountain Gorillas in Uganda.
katy's Posts
What could be a more feminine look than adding some flowers to your hair?
From left to right, top to bottom: 1) Unknown 2) Elliot & Erick Jimenez for Material Girl 3) Agata Pospieszyńska 4) Unknown 5) Unknown 6) Edie Campbell
We were overwhelmed by all the great images for this post. It seems to be everywhere, and every images is more pretty than the next. Make sure to check out our Pinterest board to see all the other great floral hair pieces.
What do you think? Will you be adopting the flower-head style? Tell us in the comments section below.
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. Explore all of our Behind the Design posts.
For our Tiger Jungle Shirt, I imagined a time where the Balinese jungles were filled with tigers. I drew the design in a very primitive hand & then carved it out of a linoleum block to create a tribal look.
Sadly, in our time, we will never see even a single tiger in the Balinese forests. This is the only picture you will ever see of the Balinese Tiger. The last tiger in Bali was shot and killed in 1937 and the subspecies went extinct. The drawing below by Russian artist, Evgenia Barinova recapturing that sad event.
While this seems a little more somber than our regular “behind the design” posts, I feel its extremely important to teach our children to protect our fragile wildlife. There is still hope for the last of 3 subspecies of Tiger in Indonesia – the Sumatran Tiger. Their population is frightening small, estimated at less than 300 individuals. The best way to help is to pass this knowledge to our children and raise a generation of mindful, passionate little citizens who want to protect all the creatures of this beautiful planet.
“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.” – Jane Gooodall
National Geographic is currently running an amazing campaign, Cause an Uproar, to help with big cat conservation. They have a great kid’s section to get children involved in the conservation efforts.
How do you teach your little citizens about wildlife preservation? Share with us in the comments section below.
Nothing says Spring more than some photoreal florals. We cultivated the best of the best below for your viewing pleasure.
from top to bottom, left to right: Karen Walker, Stella McCartney, Tea’s Jungle Flower Dress, Dries Van Noten, Prada, Mary Katrantzou, Basso & Brooke, Peter Som, Jill Sander, Peter Som, Jill Sander. View more photoreal prints on our Pinterest.
Liven up your wardrobe with these bright prints. For the bold stylistas, mix your florals with prints and colorful solids. If you’re a little scared of this trend, pair your floral tops with black skinny jeans or a nude pencil skirt. Either way, you’re sure to make a fashion-forward statement with these photoreal prints.
What’s your take on photoreal florals? Share your thoughts about how you’d wear this style in the comments section below.
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. Explore all of our Behind the Design posts.
My very talented partner in design, Amber got really creative with the way she created prints for Bali. We loved the photo real trend we were seeing in prints and graphics. To catch the light and airy feel of Bali, she used sun prints to recreate the gorgeous botanicals we saw on our trip.
These designs just feel like Spring. We imagine wearing them on a stroll to your neighborhood boutique or playing with your kids in the park. How will you be wearing this style? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. Explore all of our Behind the Design posts.
Have you seen our fun “Bali Rocks” shirt yet? It features, the gamelan, which we saw and heard throughout our Bali trip. Our guide Agun stressed the importance that the notes were “ning, nang, nung” in that order, so we were sure to add that to our shirt.
Here are some of the gamelan players we met on our trip. Josh, from our graphic design team, couldn’t be left out of the action. He joined the band playing a musical turtle (or at least that is what it looks like to me).
images (clockwise from top): Mary Katrantzou, Mirnah, pink anchor’s pinterest, honestly wtf, SUNO, where did u get that, Gossip Collection
For more inspiration check out our pinterest print mixing board.
The fashionistas above certainly make a statement with their bold looks. We love their stylish flair and have incorporated print mixing in our Spring Collection. Our outfits can be mixed, matched, and outfitted to your child’s personal style.
How do you fashionably mix-and-match patterns? Share your style advice with us in the comments section below.
Looking for a fun weekend activity? Master the movement of Legong by printing out our Legong Dancer sheet below. If you aren’t in the mood for dancing, you can always color each dancers’ ornate dress.
download more of our cultural activity printouts
I loved these illustrations explaining the legong dance poses and costumes.
Island of Bali. Miguel Covarrubias. Illustration.
Covarrubias in Bali. Adriana Williams and Yu-Chee Chong. EDM, Singapore. Pages 130, 131.
images and sources via Gustavo Thomas Theatre
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. Explore all of our Behind the Design posts.
As the national color of Bali, poleng, a black and white check design, is one of the most reoccurring patterns our designers saw on their inspiration trip.
They viewed this pattern tied to trees and statues, on sarongs and flags, and more; everywhere they turned, they saw poleng. They finally asked a police officer clothed in the poleng pattern, why he wore it. He informed them that he wore it for protection; the black and white checked pattern represents the yin-yang which depicts balance as the pattern always has equal amounts of white to black.
Looking for balance and protection in you child’s wardrobe? We interpreted the poleng pattern in our Spring preview through our boys shorts and girls dresses and skirts.
How would you wear the poleng pattern of balance and protection? Share with us below in the comments section.
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. Explore all of our Behind the Design posts.
While Mexico, doesn’t necessarily have a traditional dragon, per say, it does have some very dragon-like creatures that have become very important to Mexican Culture.
images credits (left to right and top to bottom): Pyramid of Feathered Serpent, Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl Mosaic by Diego Rivera, Diego Rivera Illustrations, Quetzalcoatl Mosaic Detail, Diego Rivera Illustration
The Feathered Serpent is a dragon-like deity important to many mesoamerican cultures. In Aztec culture he is known as Quetzalcoatl. Like many dragons in Asian cultures, the feathered serpent has a snake-like body, however it is not covered in scales like most other cultures’ dragons. The feather serpent is covered with feathers, which gives it the ability to fly, even though it does not have wings. [fun fact: the Korean Dragon can also fly and does not have wings] The feathered serpent appeared in many of Diego Rivera’s works (pictured above). Do you recognize the frog in Diego’s mosaic?
images from inspiration trip photos
Many alebrijes take form as dragons or dragon-like creatures. I suspect since alebrijes are a modern Mexican craft, crafters were exposed to influences from many different cultures. A dragon is a logical choice for an alebrije since they are usually fantasical creatures.
