WORK IN PROGRESS

BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS, MODULAR SYSTEM

new tiles coming soon...

it’s been a while since we made a blog post about anything happening at the studio, because, well, it is a well oiled machine now of things getting designed, printed block by block, then made up and sold… but even with our modular system and infinite possibilities, it’s good to refresh things from time to time and add new ingredients to the well-liked recipes. so we’re working on a brand new tileset - see a little glimpse below!

we’ll be working on some brand new prints with these in the coming months - of course, these tiles will be part of our MODERN collection, not just creating a beautiful collection on their own but working well with more than a hundred of others, extending the possibilities for ever more varied patterns.

if you’re interested in anything bespoke, please do get in touch, we’d be delighted to hear about your project and print fabrics for your interior schemes.

if you got curious about our new stuff - just bear with us while we are putting them together please, you can be sure they’ll arrive in beautiful, bold colours and our signature architectural style! do watch this space…!

BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS

time for a break - and see you soon in 2024!

that’s it for 2023 peeps, time to take a well-deserved break after a busy year. we have a lot of new things planned for 2024 though so do stay tuned as we’re introducing new materials, new collections and new tilesets too! we hope it’s going to be a blast - please, no more “unforseen circumstances”, universe, please! - and we do want to keep blogging too, from interior trends to the loved architectural inspirations as well as the design conversations.

but first and foremost thank you so much for keeping in touch with us, reading our blog, messaging us, buying something bespoke or handmade from us. we are grateful for your business and we hope you keep looking back here. we wish you have a wonderful christmas break, surrounded by loved ones and delicious food - and have an amazing and prosperous new year. see you soon!

BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS

ZITOZZA ON TV!

we have been waiting to announce this news for a while, but we’re finally allowed to say it out loud: zitozza will be on TV!

i am absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to participate in a new project for the BBC titled ‘make it at market’, filmed in beautiful leicestershire earlier this year. the idea of the show is to explore how some talented makers and crafters are turning their hobbies into a business with the help of being mentored by an expert designer - and i got selected to be one of these, to be mentored by the wonderful piyush suri of handmade in britain!)

the challenges were a lot of fun, and obviously the business mentoring has been a huge help, all this while also having met all these amazing and talented people completely flourishing from all kinds of creative disciplines made this a really, really inspiring experience. it will be definitely worth a watch, if not for some “zitozza-behind-the-scenes”, then for the variety of creativity and the immense amounts of talent that this show will cover.

the show is finally confirmed to have an airing date: 3rd january 2023! save the date and do tune in…. eeek!

edit: if you want to learn a bit more about how the experience went, read our next blog post about the episode!

SCOTLAND, TEXTILE INDUSTRY, WORK IN PROGRESS

festive market triple header!

with the festive season in full swing, we’re announcing our upcoming festive market dates - we’re not leaving scotland for this season but we do come to glasgow twice! so make sure you come to one of these to touch our tactile textiles and leave with some brand new handmade homewares - for yourself, or a loved one!

first date: 19-20 november 2022, kibble palace, botanics, glasgow - from 10am to 4pm
- a beautiful, unique setting with a bunch of talented scottish designers, as usual with tea green events, the line-up is going to be exciting, colourful and sustainable.


second date: 26th november, CRAFTED market at the dca, dundee - from 11am to 17:30pm
- another fab line-up, curated by the team at the dundee contemporary arts themselves, it’s guaranteed to bring you the best of the most cutting edge and contemporary designers. please note this is only a one-day event, not the full weekend, so make sure you come and visit on the saturday!


third date: 3rd - 4th december, wasps studios winter market, the briggait, glasgow - from 10am to 5pm
- this is a brand new one for me, but with the hosts being wasps studios, the talent and the quality is guaranteed, at the fabulous setting of the briggait in glasgow. this will be the last one of the year for zitozza, so please do come.


it sure will be a busy few weeks ahead, but it is always worth to meet in person, and new pieces, not yet listed on the website are definitely coming, curated to fit in with the line-up with each of these events so please visit. and although the live events finish on the 4th december, we remain open online 24/7.

for deliveries before christmas though, please place your order before thursday 15th december. thank you and have a fab winter.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY, WORK IN PROGRESS

zitozza coming to handmade oxford!

hello! this is just a short announcement but a very, very exciting one: zitozza is now coming to handmade oxford, a 4-day festival of arts and crafts, taking place between 23rd june till 26th june at waterperry gardens in oxfordshire, organised by handmade in britain.

it’s a very special opportunity for us to meet a new crowd of interested buyers and clients, so we are preparing to launch some new collections for this. it feels really amazing to be included in the line-up with so many talented makers from all over the UK, so we’re working on making a good impression there! we are incredibly busy growing our product range and develop new surface pattern designs, it will all be worth the wait and we really look forward to debuting there! you can buy your tickets here and we hope to see you there soon!

BEHIND THE SCENES, SCOTLAND, WORK IN PROGRESS

market alert - support the makers

good afternoon - this just a very quick announcement that zitozza joined the support the makers network and will be attending the spring market on sunday 6th march, at bellfield, portobello, edinburgh (16b bellfield st, portobello, edinburgh EH15 2BP) between 11am and 4pm.

this is a ticketed event (costs £1.50) so hurry up and purchase yours now - and see you there soon!

UPDATE 03/03/2022

many apologies but due to a positive covid test zitozza will be unable to attend the market. we are definitely, definitely going to the next one though (same place, in may), so stay tuned and i will leave this post here because i’m sure that it will be still worth attending!

SCOTLAND, WORK IN PROGRESS

zitozza at the V&A dunde and bowhouse markets!

we’re pleased to gather you around today, ladies and gentlemen, with a few more announcements to make. zitozza has been selected for the line-up of this year’s tea green festive market at the v&a dundee. zitozza will be there for one day only, on the sunday 7th november, but the event itself takes place on the whole weekend with a whole bunch of brilliant designers and i can hardly contain myself! it will be amazing to be exhibiting at this most prestigious venue and meet fans and makers of high quality contemporary design made in scotland. really cannot wait!

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but before that, i’m going somewhere much more local, finally here in the east neuk of fife, at the bowhouse market (also thanks to tea green events) also on sunday only, on the 10th october. there will be three of these in total though, with weekends also in november and december, all with a fabulous line-up of scottish makers, music and all sorts of great stuff here which i love and as a fifer, close to the heart! (and oh my god, the food! THE FOOD!)

so we’ll be looking forward to meeting you all and showcase the latest hand block printed jute stuff to you - please think about christmas in advance to ease the pressure on the poor delivery folk! let’s make shopping an event, treat your home (and yourself) to some beautiful decor and at these fairs - shop local, discover an army of local creatives, and… did i mention the food?

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SCOTLAND, TEXTILE INDUSTRY, WORK IN PROGRESS

zitozza at cloth#21!

i hope you’re having a happy summer people, i know it’s not easy to navigate between wanting a sense of normality and being cautious about the spread of the virus, but as we are getting through it all, we are very happy to announce that you’ll be able to meet us again, in real life, at CLOTH#21 in edinburgh, scotland, at the beautiful venue of the dovecot studios.

this will take place on two weekends, and zitozza will be there at the second one, on the 21st and 22nd august, from 10am till 5pm. it’s an honour to be standing amongst many other talented makers and textile designers - so please do come as it will be definitely worth it. not only it’s going to be full of stalls with beautiful stuff but the venue itself is one of the best in scotland, and perhaps one of the only ones catering for tapestries and textile arts at such a level.

and also please don’t forget that on the 7th august, the penultimate jutefest will also be on in dundee (at unit 2, anchor mills, west hendersons wynd from 10am till 4pm) man it feels good to be blogging about physical events and i hope it can continue! see you soon!

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BEHIND THE SCENES, JUTE, SUSTAINABILITY, WORK IN PROGRESS

a survey on rugs - your opinion wanted!

dear friends, i have an important question to you ahead of the new collection launches, concerning the rugs in particular. in a nutshell - would you be okay with improved quality on the rugs at the price of biodegradability? how important is it to you to purchase something that’s 100% jute - as opposed to, say, 67% jute, 33% polyester? it’s a big dilemma at the moment and i need your help to decide!

so if you feel like answering or giving your opinion, please fill out the form below. you will not receive marketing or any other email and we remain fully gdpr compliant - read our privacy policy here.

BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS

psa - studio move!

so this is just a short blog post to thank you for bearing with us - we have spent the last few weeks moving everything into a shiny brand new studio space and it’s nearly complete. it’s a much bigger space now to make more brand new rugs, lampshades and cushions and launch my brand new collection - two brand new tilesets are coming soon with prints ready on jute homewares.

as we are coming out of lockdown, there are also some more exciting news and yes, some real-life (yes, still socially distanced, still masked up, but also real!) events coming up soon of which some more news will be shared very soon - this will also serve as a perfect occasion to launch the zitozza wall-art collection (of which, yes, more details will be shared soon)

so once again, thanks for your patience, and hope to see you soon!

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BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS

stitched patterns

ok so this is going to be another more visual blog post and i might have to share a little bit more of the history behind these prints. (if you’re interested in the full origin story, you can visit my other website where i have already written a blog post about it here, however i’m quite willing to write more if you want to read!)

anyway, one of the base of zitozza was a uni project called “anthropocene” where one of the three collection called “GRIDS” consisted of block printed jute (now the SOROMPÓ, TRANZIT, FÁZIS and a small part of the SKÁLA tilesets). however each of these also had an extra “haptic” layer over the print and on the “GRIDS” collection these were stitches.

the main inspiration behind these initial patterns were of course actual grids, transport networks, cranes, gas tanks, industrial architecture, signals and signs, that kind of stuff. so naturally, more lines, straight and zigzag stitches were applied for that kind of “wiring” effect.

i’m going to put some products with these surface effects up for sale in the coming weeks to test and see how you’d like them. below then is the picture gallery of these older ideas. these are all from that old project (hence the aligning colours) with the more grid-like tiles, and linear or zigzaggy stitches that complement the surface. the colour inspiration came from industrial signage too at the time but i just love the nautical effect of these.

as for the future, i’m especially interested in this effect on the lampshades for the potential contrast against the illumination. what do you think? would this work on a rug? or a cushion?

and about the other, more brutalist, blocky patterns… combining embroidery with these is also possible, even with different colours and bolder areas, however these will be an entirely new category of haptic, tactile rugs and lampshades and cushion. see also the BRUTEJUTE project and watch this space….! :)

BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS, ZERO WASTE, SUSTAINABILITY

cushion stories (inside the scrap bag)

ah september, we’re well and truly open, and getting into autumn already (crazy). i hope you’re enjoying browsing the shop so far - thank you for the many follows on social media! we will always have regular updates in this blog too, and there’s an exciting product pipeline in the works i’d love to share news about. i’m going to attempt a picture blog this time and i’ll let the photos do the talking. the first of this kind is about our new cushions - some available since monday, some you’ll see a sneaky peeky of here first!

about the ones available: thank you so much for all the positive feedback on the two NOMÁD ones. feel free to purchase, i’m going to make them again, and if it’s out stock, they will be available in the made-to-order section. i personally also love this pattern and i’m thinking of trying it out in a few different colours and printing it as a runner rug as well. would you be interested in it?

about the cushions in general… you might have noticed, only one at the moment is purpose printed with both sides, and most are backed with a pre-dyed piece of jute. this will not always be the case as some printed fabric is waiting to be made into cushions. but the truth is… the scrap bag is a little bit too distracting and it is just so much combining remnants from lampshades or other cushions with all these colours (and with each-other in the future too!)

using the scraps is also a creative way of going zero-waste. i’ve become religiously obsessive about this and i want to be honest with it. scraps and remnants in our production line don’t just happen with pattern cutting, but i use up the dye as well if it’s a mixed colour and can’t be put back into the jar. if it’s enough for a small area, it gets printed and used up! this makes some cushions a truly unique, one-off piece. i hope you come back frequently for them!

but anyway, enjoy the pictures!

BEHIND THE SCENES, WORK IN PROGRESS, MODULAR SYSTEM

it’s all about the system

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hello! and welcome to zitozza. we are now open and this is our first blog post. introductions are always awkward so let’s get it quickly over with. the intention of this blog is to keep it updating regularly, with all the latest research into our processes and thoughts that drive our designs, and of course news and developments around our studio. also, of course, to give a chance to look behind the scenes from time to time, share some inspiration and sneak peeks of up and coming products. so let’s start with a short introductory post.

so what is exactly do we do here at zitozza? first and foremost, surface pattern design. however i understand that’s a little generic, given that the “surface” at zitozza is made exclusively of jute, for its amazing, tactile texture and incredibly sustainable qualities. we mostly cover surfaces in the modern home such as rugs, lampshades and cushions and these products showcase the variety of patterns possible with the printing blocks. (although you can, for sure, make bags and other things of our fabrics too (and if you do, please share!)

and yeah, well, pattern design must be specified further too. we don’t just offer separate patterns in defined colourways, no. here’s the interesting bit: the zitozza look is all one system! not individual designs, not separate collections (okay, a little bit), but it’s all about the system. our patterns are made of (mostly) uniform sized, square shaped printing blocks, creating the system of interchangeable, infinitely combinable designs, and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. they are separated into MODERN and HERITAGE, the former consisting of brutalism-inspired, geometric elements and the latter a bit more organic and tradtional, but all arranged in an orthogonal geometry that’s unique and defining our look.

this system allows us to create an infinite number of pattern with the same printing blocks in individual colourways, suited to your taste and surroundings. because of the flat, square shapes of our blocks, we call them tiles, and instead of collections, we call them tilesets, because they are not a collection, and it’s all one system. we don’t have collections in the sense of metres and metres of the same pattern and even samples are made to order because the hand printing makes a deep level of customisation and exclusive designs possible.

apart from having immense fun making them, we want to be able to offer unique designs and something that can be varied further in a single room but remains in the same modern, hand printed style of course that we define as the “zitozza aesthetics”.

what we want to offer to the modern home is colours, play, and nice, durable things that didn’t cost the earth.

so why don’t you browse and discover for yourself what’s available? explore our “collections” or make up your own design with these blocks.