Amanda Vencatasamy: We’re like Marmite, love us or hate us
chats to Amanda Vencatasamy, co-founder of Hey, Bulldog! Design.
I was born in London and started working when I left school. I worked mostly in administrative roles until I decided to go back to college full-time to do a Foundation in Art and Design at Camberwell College of Arts.
From there, I wanted to try living somewhere other than London and I knew I wanted to study Fine Art (Sculpture), so on a weekend away to Dublin with a friend, I stumbled across the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) whilst on the way to the Guinness Storehouse.
I subsequently did a BA degree in fine art there, specialising in sculpture. I also met Joe, so things came together at the same time. Joe has a background in Engineering and Sustainable Development and has always made things, as that was a strong family ethic.
Our name comes from the animated Beatles film, Yellow Submarine.
I loved this film so much when I was little, but somehow forgot about it for a good while, until I discovered it again. There was a lovely nostalgic comfort of knowing the songs and illustrations and being able to appreciate them on a different level. We think that the style of the film is reflected in some of our designs, as we love to play with materials, shape and colour.
I’m the first one up in our house and try to squeeze in a walk or bit of exercise before waking up our six-year-old, Mia, for school. I would be in our studio in the Chocolate Factory on Kings Inn Street, Dublin in the mornings.
I collect Mia in the afternoon and we have a bit of homework/chill out time whilst preparing dinner, then myself and Joe are usually working for the rest of the evening.
We have been working on our new Terrazzo clock and table designs and launched them on our new website recently.
They are a pleasure to make as the bright colours emerge slowly as you sand down the material – sanding Terrazzo is me in my happy place!
We love bold clashy colours! I wouldn’t say we have a particular style, but we’re a bit like Marmite – you either love us or hate us!
We love to play with materials and from this process create beautiful homewares.
We’re all about surrounding yourself with things that you love and that make you happy. We’re always striving to be more mindful and that inspires our work.
Future-friendly design would be important to us too and that helps shape what we make. We try to use as many low-carbon materials in our work and packaging.
We try not to rely on trends, but instead make things that look and feel right to us. That said, we do have a thing for Terrazzo at the moment!
It’s not really a possession but rather the ritual of having a cup of Jasmine tea in one of my favourite mugs first thing in the morning.
I love Marimekko, the Finnish Design House – we would have similar ideas of bringing joy into people’s lives with the use of bold pattern and colours.
Collaborating with artists/designers who have similar values would be an amazing experience. We are in the early stages of working out a few collaborative projects so we’re very excited about those. We would love to work with someone in lighting design as it’s something we’ve touched on in the past.
Your house should be a true reflection of you who are and should look and feel how you want it. Try not to follow the crowd and trust your own instincts.
- www.heybulldogdesign.com
- Twitter: @heybulldogdesign
- Instagram: @heybulldogdesign
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