Francisca Prieto's Antitype was a big hit, and now inspired by this she has been chosen for Heal's Discovers via the Hidden Art Brokerage. Her Asterisk Bookeds will be available in Heal's this September, and she filled us in on the Brokerage progression.
How did you hear about the Brief?
Since I have arrived in London I have always loved Heal’s. So when I got the Hidden Art Brokerage email about the Heal’s brief I thought, “wow”. And because I had ideas I was already developing, I thought it was perfect for me. It was a very open brief.
What stage were the bookends at when you submitted?
They were already designed and I was talking to a manufacturer about producing them. It was good timing because Heal’s wanted to see finished pieces, so it was luck that I had worked ahead. It is so different to see something printed and then to be able to touch it. They were really impressed to be able to see the quality and the finish. It let me prove that it could be done.
How many designs did you put forward?
I put a couple in. I wanted to know what feedback they might give me. They liked other things but because my pieces are handmade with a lot of processes it is hard to produce them on a large scale, and I don’t really want them on a large scale. Even though they liked other pieces they decided to for the bookend. This was the one I thought they’d pick, and I want to keep the control of the other pieces. This is my first adventure into mass-producing pieces. I’m just trying it out, I’m not sure if it is what I want to do. Mass-producing provides a good opportunity for people to buy my pieces if the hand made things are too expensive for them.
How did you get the idea for the bookends?
I did the Antitype some time ago, I wanted to do something with the asterisk. I realised I wanted to take it outside the book and change the way people look at. It was an experiment. The shape of it comes from the grid I developed for the kerning of the Antitype. It is really efficient for the books. If the angles of the bookends had been straight, they wouldn’t have handled so well and wouldn’t have covered the right amount of area.
The good thing is you can play with the colours throughout the seasons. So far I have done only red.
Click here for more details on the Heal's Discovers range.
