#FindOutFriday - Summer School Series, Lesson 4: How to Build a STRONG Social Media Catalogue...

One of the staple things that I work on with each of the brands within the ESP Family, is building a solid foundation network for all of you lovely readers; so that you can access all of the latest information and content that we produce. Using most of these sites daily, I'm fairly confident in the use of them; but in bringing my own catalogue up to date and looking at ways to expand over the past few weeks, I was surprised at how little helpful advice exists in what you would think were the most obvious of places!

So this week, with the help of my own personal Web & Graphic Design Superheroine - better known to you all as the lovely Charli-Anne (have another read of her #FindOutFriday if you need reminding of her never-ending super powers...I mean multi-talents); we're going to look at what a Social Media Catalogue actually is, how you can create your own and finally how to use relevant Social Media to your advantage. By no means are we claiming our methods to be the best, we're just going to share a few of the tidbits that have gotten Us the biggest response from You...Shall we get started?

Social...Media...What Now?

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, ReverbNation, Soundcloud, WordPress, Blogspot...

All of these and many, many more, are the Medium that most of us  use to keep up with the latest from our friends, family, people and topics of interest. Twitter didn't settle on the term 'Trend' for nothing; it's the shorter, more effective (and less annoying) equivalent of a Hilton-esque, "That's Hot" Seal of Approval. Whether for personal or professional use, most of us have built ourselves a catalogue. With the added ability of direct interaction, that's when online storage becomes our own Social Network.

Now this is the point where I take my technophobic Mother and make her my muse - see? You DO inspire me...What if you now understand what a Social Media Catalogue IS, you want to start building your own, but don't know how to go about prettying it up and avoiding the dreaded Spam Trap? Read on Class, this is the Tony Hart vs. Blue Peter in 4D part. Or for you non-80's Babies of the BBC-era; here's where the Expert takes over...

Charli-Anne's Cyber Creative Corner

Ever wondered how you can make your Social Media profiles say WOW? Well when it comes to graphics, there are ways to do this well and ways to do it badly! Read on to find out how to avoid the classic mistakes and follow some simple tips to create your own slick graphics!

The Avatar - and we don't mean the blue thingies...

ESP Twitter

This is a graphical representation of YOU, The User. It is usually square in shape, no bigger than 150 pixels squared and used as the thumbnail (miniature) image for your profiles. This could be a photograph of yourself or if you are a business, you could use this tiny graphic in a number of ways:

• The Logo - Simply shrink down your logo to fit in the box
• The 'Alt' Logo - This is far more effective in my opinion, as most logos distort and become illegible when shrunk down. Your 'Alt' logo needs to be a bite-size version of your actual logo, so it's important to stick to the same fonts and colours.
• The Random Image - You could use an image of one of your products or something that represents you, or what you are currently promoting. But remember - the less detail in the image, the better!

TOP TIP! When using a photo, create a great graphic by focusing in on one small, but interesting square of the image and crop it for your avatar!

Photoshop Tidbit: To do this, create an Avatar template file (.jpg or .png), by making a blank square of the correct dimensions (851 x 315 pixels for Facebook, 1040 x 180 for Google Plus, etc.) and saving it. Then simply open it in Photoshop and drag and drop the image you want to use straight into it! You can then just move it around and resize it within the square to see what looks best as an Avatar.

The Facebook Timeline 'Cover' - For Girls, Boys AND Brands...

LIKE Deer Oh Deer on Facebook...

This is the image that appears at the top of the new FB Timeline pages for both personal and business profiles. There are some very strict rules around the use of this area and what you can display, so make sure you are following all of them!  Basically they are:

• No Price or purchase information
• No Contact Information or Web Links
• No reference to 'Liking' or 'Sharing'
• No Calls to Action (read full list of rules)

Don't despair though! You can still use the cover as a great showcase. You could keep it simple with a product snap; or go all out and create an image incorporating text, photographs and graphic elements, without breaking any of the rules - just think creatively! ;)


TOP TIP! Take a funny snap of yourself pointing up and use that as your Avatar! This will not only make people laugh, but it will let people know that you want them to look at your 'Cover' image above!


Photoshop Tidbit: Create a brightly coloured square and place it in the area where your Avatar will overlap, so that you can see how it will look on your page. Make sure you keep the square as the top 'Layer' and you might want to make it slightly translucent using the 'Opacity' slider, so that you can see what you are doing in other layers.


The Wallpaper Background - you won't find these in B&Q...


Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Tumblr are all good examples of sites that encourage you to fully customise your profile / home page. The best aspect of this is that you can upload your own background image so really, the Sky is the limit! They all have different size specifications and upload size limitations (try 1350 x 605 for Twitter, but you will have to tweak for the new 'Let's Fly' update; file size is maximum 800kb), but you could create one great branded image that can be adapted for use across all sites (with a bit more tweaking)!

Follow Drassick DIGITAL on Twitter...

Familiarise yourself with the areas of a background that are visible and not obscured by a text box, video or image. Use those areas to place images and text. Keep text to a minimum! Just a couple of links and a quote is more than good enough ;)

Follow Lekhem on Twitter...

TOP TIP! Don't be afraid to 'Crop'! Avoid 'stretching' images to fit; it looks much more professional to have images in the correct dimensions, even if you can only see part of them!


Photoshop Tidbit: If your background image doesn't 'fit' the dimensions of your wallpaper, hit the 'Shift' key while you resize it, to stop it from stretching.


In conclusion I would say, if you can afford a Graphic Designer, use one, but Shop Around! You don't always get what you pay for. Equally, don't just go for the cheapest deal! A logo for £20 is NOT going to fully meet your needs, or be bespoke in any way. Look at examples of their work first; give them your deadline before they start and make sure there are no hidden costs!


If you can't afford to pay someone professional, it IS totally possible for you to use simple imagery effectively. If you fancy dabbling in the world of Photoshop but have always been too scared...don't be! There are some great tutorials on the net and you only need to know the basics to create a perfectly good graphic. Just keep it simple, avoid tacky comedy fonts and text effects (these take practice to get right), follow the 'Crop' TOP TIP and you will be good to go!

There is a Graphic Designer in all of us...just remember, less is more!

Charli-Anne - x -

So now you know what it is, you know how to make it look A+MAZING; the last thing you want to do, is put all your hard work to waste, by placing it in the wrong professional arena...


Share and Share a(nd) LIKE...


Don't just assume that by sticking to one site, you are automatically reaching the biggest and best audience. The Rise of YouTube is doing absolute wonders for Musicians, but the big sites have made it possible for you to integrate your accounts, to match a growing demand. That does not mean you should saturate the net with your content; because you then run the risk of annoying cross-audiences into ignoring you and all your hard work. Don't forget, there is such a thing as a 'trickle effect'! Once your work is out there, your audience will help you share it and Word of Other Mouths have a much greater effect than your own!

deerohdeer.co.uk

Control your distribution by putting it out in the Top 5 sites, but then look for the targeted websites that specialise in what you do. For Kawaii and Vintage-inspired fashion label Deer Oh Deer Ltd., Charli-Anne and I often target Vintage Fashion bloggers and the Japanese Kawaii market.

reverbnation.com/Lekhem

Lastly; there's no better Social Media base than your own website. Often, musicians don't have the means or ability to get their own together right away. Prior to the launch of LekLane last October; Lekhem and I used his ReverbNation account to it's fullest capacity as, for an indie artist-based website, it covered absolutely every aspect that we needed to present, while we began building his foundation and encouraged the customisation that Charli-Anne spoke of earlier.

Follow Jelli Ltd. on Twitter

And there you have it for this week! Huge thanks to super-talented Expert, our very own Charli-Anne; I don't know about you, but I've got some updates to make! For more of her a+mazing creations, connect with her works and services through the Jelli Ltd. Social Media Catalogue!

Twitter / Facebook / Jelli Ltd. Website

We hope you enjoyed this week's lesson - feedback, as always, is appreciated via the comment box below!


See you soon!
ES ;)

Want to join the ESP Ltd. Family?

Hope your week is going well thus far, all!

I've had a lot of enquiries regarding the Internship positions you will have seen me tweeting about recently; much more than expected, or I would have blogged about it to begin with! Rather than my keep replying to everyone via email, here's a quick rundown on what ESP Ltd. is essentially about, what I'm looking for and what I'm offering:

I run a very busy start up Brand Development company that mixes long-term rostered artists (music, fashion and graphic design) with short-term and freelance contracts.

I'm looking for someone RELIABLE (I cannot stress that enough) to look after the administrative back end of the business. That will involve all manner of tasks from daily promotional social media networking, to web research, to liaising with internal and external service providers, providing personal administrative support to me and occasionally the ESP roster; updating the ESP web and blogsites, diary and travel management and more.

Once the successful candidate has completed three consecutive,  capable months on the job, the opportunity to become a paid member of staff will become available. The rate will be determined based upon the hours available for work and individual factors to be agreed at the time. 

In addition, once the candidate has demonstrated that they are capable of completing the assigned tasks to the standard required, additional freedom and opportunities will become available according to personal strengths. Whilst opportunities to develop in specific, preferred areas will also become available at that time, I will always endeavour to include areas of interest in assignments where possible.

Although I will be providing support and training, as most of ESP Ltd.'s endeavours take place online, you MUST be computer literate, with good writing skills and a suitable grasp of spelling and grammar.

I am extremely flexible, however I have experienced problems with staff consistency, so Interns would need to demonstrate a strong work ethic, initiative, dedication and most importantly, RELIABILITY.

Although I am happy to consider and accept more than one person for Intern trials, only ONE post will be offered at the end of the 3-month probation - nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition!

Ideally, the postholder should be London-based.

If you think this is something you would be interested in, please provide your CV and covering letter, detailing why you feel you have the skills necessary to perform the tasks laid out above and your work availability, by 5PM, Wednesday 20th June.

All candidates will receive a response within 24 hours of the closing date.

Please submit your applications to contact@espromotions.co.uk (enquiries should be submitted to the same address).


Looking forward to hearing from you!
ES

#FindOutFriday with Charli-Anne Shirley!

Charli-Anne Shirley

For me, this one isn't just any interview.

Learning what makes a talented person 'tick' is always interesting. Getting a 'glimpse behind the curtain' of someone you know well, that reaches hidden depths you had no clue you would find? Well that is one of the most hypnotic things that I think I have ever come across. I've 

For those unfamiliar; Charli-Anne Shirley is the Founder and 'Designer Extraordinaire' behind Web and Graphic Design company Jelli Ltd. She is also the extremely talented Visionary and Creator of Vintage Fashion, Accessory and Printed Apparel brand, deer oh deer. It was only a matter of time before I raked her over the coals! Find out what happened when I put the most creative lady I know (who just so happens to be one of my nearest and dearest), under the spotlight...

1. So Mrs S; let start at the very beginning in a very Julie Andrews-like manner. I'm privileged enough to know that your earliest Artistic Influence comes from your lovely Dad, John. Can you remember the first piece of Art to inspire you?

Charli with Dad, John

YOU! Always with the hard questions (laughs)! Well Art has always been a massive part of my life; from 'day dot' really so I have far too many memories to just pinpoint one! My Dad was an Art teacher before he retired, so he is knowledgeable about the subject in general. I remember he used to take me to exhibitions when I was really small. He was so passionate about it...I suppose that more than the Art itself, my first real memory was of seeing my Dad and thinking "Wow; this person, is totally in love with this thing". From a young age; I remember seeing what was obviously a huge passion...how much in love he was with something that was just such a huge part of his life. Your parents are role models so when you see someone that you love and they're just...enthralled by something, you can't help getting drawn in. There wasn't anyway I couldn't have been involved in something creative.

Charli's Mum Christine and older Sister, Heather

It wasn't just my Dad. My Mum is not an 'Artist' in the technical sense of the word, but she is very creative, she's very musical and an amazing poet; she writes a lot. My whole family is creative. My sister was also very musical as well, so I guess my whole environment was conducive to me coming out with something in my own voice. I dabbled in various things, tried my hand at music and all the rest of it; but the underlying thing was that I wanted to create something visual. So although I can't really remember a specific piece, I do remember my Dad loving and introducing me to, a lot of the classic Artists. He loves a lot of Renaissance Art, as well as Romantic Artists like Constable, Turner...a lot of  the works that he was into was quite dramatic and emotional. So I guess that influenced my work as well. And also kind of quirky things as well. We have quite an eclectic taste in this family!

      

'Looking South from Near Red Brow Towards Rosthawaite',

Constable

'Light and Colour', 'Shade and Darkness'
Turner

       







2. I'm Sorry...You "dabbled in music"? When did that happen and in what context?

(Laughs) I shouldn't have said that...it's because it's YOU I'm being interviewed by! I could at one point, "Sing", but I never considered myself a 'Singer'; I wasn't confident. I wanted to make music, so I wrote, sang and worked with various Producers; this was when I was at University and I would drive to Brighton from Southampton with the Producer and we'd record in the studio. I did some dance tracks and a few little bits but I was never fully able to get across what I wanted, because I felt my voice wasn't strong enough to do it. And of course, having someone like Mariah Carey being my favourite female vocalist EVER, then just hearing my own voice, I was just like "Ugh, NO! I can't be Mariah, I'm not gonna bother!" I do love music and it is a huge part of my existence but yeah, that was my little music adventure! But we don't talk about it! 

Bobby (Male face of deer oh deer) and Charli-Anne

That was at the point when I met my best friend Bobby actually. He's this amazing vocalist. I'm more of a private person creatively, I find that being an artist, which I'm not, but I am(!) doing my creative stuff with deer oh deer, the graphic stuff with Jelli, and also my own personal stuff that no-one ever sees...I'm not performing for anybody - that's totally coming from inside me. I put out what I feel is good enough for other people to see.

3. So talking of Family, Friends and Stuff...I think it would be fair to say that everyone that you work with, you have strong personal ties to. Do you feel that adds to your creativity and inspiration in anyway? How does that affect you professionally?

(l-r top) Lottey (female face of deer oh deer / Design Assistant), Mike (Operations Director), Charli-Anne
(l-r, bottom) Toby (Sales), Andrew (Mr. Shirley!), Yours Truly (Marketing/PR Manager)

Yeah, it does inspire me. Whenever I've worked in any job, done anything creative or put something out there, I've always needed to feel like I'm part of a family or a team. I can work on my own, and I need that space to work on my own; but definitely feeling like you're in it together with other people, and you're all "making you're own lanes" as Lek (Lekhem) would say...I need to feel like yes, we're making our own lanes, but we're all still in the same town! There's nothing worse than feeling completely alone when you're trying to do something and nobody else gets it, or can experience it with you; sharing those highs and the lows. It's amazing to have a support network when you're feeling a bit down but also, to celebrate  with you when things happen! 

Peter Andre in his custom 'Cookie Monster Hunter Hood

We had the recent deer oh deer moment with Peter Andre wearing the hood. It was just so brilliant to be able to share that and have that little "whoop" moment, where the whole team knows how much work everyone's put in along the journey, to get that far. All these little moments that we're having together, we're all going to remember them. I want to have those moments, because I want to be able to look back in 10 years time and be able to call you, or Lottey or Bobby and say this is what we were doing back then; do you remember that?

In other ways it's difficult because there's pressure. Sometimes you just want to walk away from everything completely just and say; "You know what? For a week I'm not doing anything!" But you  know you can't, you've got other people relying on you, and it's not easy to walk away from that. But I think I would far rather have that support and that feeling of knowing there's always going to be someone there I can talk to about what's going on, and share with. It far outweighs the need for being able to cut myself off, so yeah, you all definitely help me!

4. Can you tell me how the 'Glamslamorous' nickname came about?

Oh. Well! That is just the ultimate combination! 'Glamslamorous' is my Alter Ego..thing...person...creature! When I'm not slogging away at my laptop working, making deer oh deer stuff...when I go out and have a good time and like to get Glammed Up! But  basically the whole Glamslamorous thing came from a combination of two people. Two musicians who have influenced,  and helped me through a lot of the crap that I've been through, but also astounded me with the things that they've achieved. That's Mariah Carey obviously and Prince. Mariah's whole 'Glam' appearance...there's something about her that she always has an aura that I love. 

Do I even NEED to label this?

A lot of people hate on her for whatever reason they want to, but I see beyond any of that outward glamour, which is like her little character that she has. I kind of identify with that, having that need for playing a role or a character that people see, but there's a lot of depth to her as a woman. I can see that and I've always seen that. I've had the privilege of meeting her a few times now as a fan and she was just so beautiful, inside and out, and so down to Earth. There's this whole fan thing where she affectionately calls her fans 'Lambs'; from that we all named ourselves. I was 'Glam Lamb' because I was always into the lipstick, the sparkles and the rest of it. When I met her, she knew me as 'Glam' and said to me that my theme song should be 'The Glamorous Life' by Sheila E...

...Which of course is one of the BEST Songs EVER! I was absolutely stoked about that, so that IS my theme song and always will be - if Mariah gives you a theme song, you don't argue with her! Hence the name of the blog that I've just recently started - The Glamorous Life. 

The name is also a Prince thing. After the whole Glam Slam Club (The singer opened string of nightclubs under the name). I can't even deal with Prince, he's just incredible. He visually, is a GENIUS as well as musically. The image he created for himself; he broke so many boundaries with style, I mean you can't even put him in a particular genre, because he's pretty much covered everything in his career. He's an icon, everybody knows Prince. He's just inspiring, an amazing musician.

5. Most people will look at the Artists you've named and not understand why they're influential. What is the message that you hope people will take from you, they way that you have from them?

People like that you just think, at one point in their lives they were ordinary people going about their day with a dream - look where they are now? I think it's important for anyone who has a passion and a dream to think about them and realise that it can happen, you just have to work, and you have to work hard. They did and look where it got them. Those two out of any artists you can pick out there, are the hardest workers I've ever seen, with probably the least recognition. They're not complacent at all, they just keep going and that's inspiring for anyone who has a dream they want to fulfil - including me.

6. You know we can't not talk about the tattoos! Where did the inspirations first start?

Andrew's Transformers tattoo

I didn't know what was out there until I met my husband. He is literally like a walking canvas so of course there's immediate conversation. I'll never forget the first time I met him! We were in a pub and the first thing he did, I mean we were just sitting there talking and he just put his foot on the table in this pub (laughs) and showed me his leg tattoo, which was this Transformers piece that he's got which is amazing, it's still one of my favourite pieces. But I just remember thinking, this guy is firstly insane, but just adorable because he's like this little ball of colour! And he's sitting there with his leg on the table and I just thought it was AMAZING! This guy is covered in all this stuff and he's not having tattoos because he's trying to be cool, but because he genuinely likes it! So of course, being creative and someone who's inspired by Art, I was really intrigued by the world of tattoos. It did happen later for me than for a lot of people. We talked about them, he used to buy certain magazines and we'd look through them and be drawn to all of these people walking around with these amazing pieces of artwork on their bodies...

Mr & Mrs Shirley

Andrew just opened the door to this amazing world of Art that I'd never had firsthand experience of in a positive way. I was brought up in a traditional Catholic family. Although we're quite Bohemian - we're not stiff upper lip, British, boring stereotypes, but we do have a traditional influence, I guess. So that kind of art I wasn't exposed to it in that same way until I met Andrew. His family are very different to mine. His parents have tattoos, his sister has tattoos and  I absolutely LOVED it. I remember my first one completely wasn't planned; I went with Andrew to get the skull on his shoulders and  this amazing  tattoo artist, Aaron said: "oh I might have a gap of an hour when I've finished Andrew, do you want a tattoo done?" At first I was like, "...What?" Then the adrenaline rush of "Yeah, I want it! But I don't know what I want!" kicked in. Aaron said "I think we should do something on your foot". I said ok! Andrew was looking at me like "what the hell are you doing?! Don't get it on your foot! It's really painful". I decided no, and I really liked it!

Because I hadn't planned what I was going to get, it had to be a Butterfly, obviously because of Mariah, again! The song Butterfly is my favourite, I love the lyrics, the whole idea of what it represents, in the song and my life as well; it just means so much to me. Aaron does Japanese styles in particular, and so the influence is there with the Cherry Blossoms around it...For me it was just perfect. I could go on and on about tattooing; you need a whole separate interview just about that...

7.  So since you've taken us there, let's keep going on the route. The Japanese Kawaii-style, where did that come from?

Ohhh...see I'm good at this whole segue-thing, aren't I? (Laughs) Well I don't think you can't mistake - I like things that are cute! I like things that are pink, I like things that are sparkly, I like things with bows on...(she's not kidding, have you seen our AW10 Bow'n'Chain collection? ES)

Think Pink - Charli-Anne paid homage
to our fave Female with one of her
earliest collections

 

AW10 BowTie Chain

Candy Bling
(Inspired by the 2009 Mariah Carey track)

Female face of deer oh deer Lottey,
modelling 2011's 'Lolita' inspired range

      

AW10 Charm Necklace

AW10 DIDI Necklace

Catch our GORGEOUS Design Assistant, Lottey and the rest
of the dod team at HYPER JAPAN SPRING 2012, 24-26 Feb

My Melody

Little Twin Stars

I grew up in the era of Sanrio, when it was the biggest thing ever. I remember Hello Kitty at it's birth point really. My Melody is still my favourite Sanrio character. I remember the Little Twin Stars, all my pencil cases were the Sanrio characters - I just loved the style of the Art and everything about it. I remember my best friend at Primary School for probably about 2/3 years was a Japanese girl. She used to draw characters from the cartoons she watched and I remember looking at them and thinking, that I just loved the way she drew them. The whole style of it just really appealed to me from a young age, I've ALWAYS been in love with it. That only grows when you look more into it. When you get into tattoos as well; that whole geek sub-culture really, is a world that I love; you can't fail to be influenced and inspired by it. 

'The Gay 90s' ,
Mark Ryden

Ryden was the GENIUS behind
Michael Jackson's most daring album
artwork.

There's something about that imagery with the big eyes; you see it in the deer oh deer characters and that kind of doe-like quality in a sense. They're not necessarily Japanese but you see that kind of style in the works of Artists like, Mark Ryden, who's one of my favourite Artists. He does all this crazy work but he's an absolutely brilliant Painter. All of his work has a concept, a dark side, and I love that. I love things that appear to be cute, but when you look at them closely, it's actually something different., especially Art.

Hansel & Gretel, 
Junko Mizuno

The Life of Momongo,

Junko Mizuno

There's also Junko Mizuno; she does comic strips and comic books. She's done a couple of graphic novels. She's done things like the Hansel and Gretel story, but she's made it quite twisted; there's all this weird stuff going on but it's just so beautifully done! She's got these really cute, weird, beautiful drawings and the characters are really evil! She's got this female character that is sexy, and she's got  beautiful clothes and she's girly and got long hair; she's what every little girl wants to be, but then when you look underneath that, there's a lot more to it...it's a little bit warped! And I think that's why with certain things that I do, more with deer oh deer - I can't so much with Jelli because I'm working for clients - but with my own stuff, I can put that little twist on it.

I'm so absorbed in the culture that I created my own character who, kind of came out to play for a little while, maybe about a year and a half, two years ago. She's having a little break right now and hopefully will return at some point, I don't know when! She is called 'Chicchai' which means 'Tiny'.

'Chicchai' means 'Tiny', which at an even 5 Feet,
fits our Char to a T!

She's like a little woman and when I look at her, I think of myself when I was a child. She's got the little fringe and the brown hair; she's girly, but she's also a little bit brave. She's got a little funny friend called Blue. Blue is a little Rabbit kind of character who doesn't speak very much! I've created some other characters who are her friends...She actually has her own facebook page, but I'm not really doing much with her at the moment because I'm so focused on deer oh deer and Jelli. Chicchai will appear again at some point. My friend Paul actually made me a 3D rendering until then!

7. Has there been anything you tried to design or anything you tried to turn your hand to that just, didn't work? 

(Laughs) Now that's funny! I've always struggled with the confidence in my drawing. I've become far too reliant on my computer so I'm not as good at that as I could be. Everything I know how to do graphically is self-taught, I'm not professionally trained. I did a lot of Web training! I'm quite lucky that I can pick things up quite quickly on that front, but with drawing it's not that easy. The greatest Artists to me, are the ones who make the most confident lines on the paper. You can tell a confident line and you can tell one that says "eh...I'm trying". That to me is the difference between something incredible and something mediocre.  And I never wanted to be mediocre with drawing or painting. So I kind of gave up on it a bit because I wasn't that good (expletive from Andrew in the background that can't be printed, but matched what I said-ES)! So I guess I would love to work more on that. Recently Andrew bought me these amazing 'How to draw Anime' books which are just brilliant, and I love all the illustrations. SO I thought, right; I'm going to sit down and teach myself. But I ended up being so picky with it and crap that I gave up because it was too hard and I couldn't be bothered! I've had to scrap that and say to myself: "Look. You're not good because you haven't practiced. You've got to practice". Anything creative that I can do is going to help me in my work, so I have to push myself to do things that I'm not confident with and may never be very good at, but will help me in the long run.

8. Of all the pieces that you've designed, and this goes back to the first time you ever picked up a pen, pencil or paintbrush - what's been your favourite design?

Oh my GOODNESS! I think the problem is, when you're caught up in something, it becomes your favourite thing! I'm working with Lottey on the Spring Summer collection and I'm totally obsessing over that right now. Maybe the jewellery for the last collection? I was really really pleased with that. 

The GORGEOUS Jaya
in custom Heritage Collection pieces
ILUVLIVE, November 2011

I do love the Halcyon earrings. I love bold, structural things. I've always loved big earrings. If I go into a shop, I go straight to them and luckily, the whole Pat Butcher thing has been very big this season! This is how evil my friends are to me - years ago, I had this gorgeous coat. It had a big, beautiful camel-coloured collar, and I wore it with big earrings. Well my best friend Bobby, who clearly loves me dearly, decided to say: "You look like Pat Butcher in those". So I think that I've subconsciously been getting my revenge by designing all of these big earrings ever since...WE LOVE PAT! She's gonna be SORELY MISSED! But not really, because I AM the real Pat Butcher!

Halcyon Earrings, so named in honour of Marian Lindkvist,
Charli-Anne's Grandmother

Actually, talking about people in my life who have influenced me enormously; I have a special connection to the Halcyon earrings. 'Halcyon' was  the name of a Norwegian vessel that docked in the Lindkvist ports of Liverpool - Lindkvist was my Grandfather's surname. The design is a tribute to my Grandmother.

Bring White Beads When You Call on the Healer,
Marian Lindkvist

I know it's slightly off topic, but I want people to go and read her book so they can understand why I am the way I am! My Granny had a dream that she was surrounded by people in a mental hospital. They had been written off and dumped there, deemed not worth investing in because they couldn't function in 'normal' society. Supposedly none of the patients were capable of movement, yet somehow they were all moving their bodies to music. She wanted to change that in reality and improve their quality of life; that dream inspired that. She set up an organisation called the Sesame Institute. They managed to get certain hospitals to agree for her group to go in and do these movement sessions with some of these patients; people who had sat there for 10 years not able to do anything. Their family members talked about them never doing the simple things the rest of us take for granted, like lifting their arms. With the help of the therapy that she came up with called 'Movement with Touch', the Sesame Institute have literally been able to change lives all over the world...and that came from the dream of a regular mum with an autistic daughter.

9. Is that why Charity resonates so deeply with you? I know from working with you and just your nature as a person, giving is something that's a big part of your nature:

When you've had someone like my Granny in your family, you can't fail to want to try to do something even slightly comparing to that. At some point I want to do some more work for Charity. I've had that in my life, My work as a Fundraising Manager came from that desire to do something. Yes I do believe it's great to go out there and create a famous brand or whatever, but there's always a higher purpose, always something more important that, if I'm successful in what I do, then I will have to use that in a wise way. I believe that we can do that with deer oh deer so Watch This Space when it comes to that area.

10. Ok, so us being the way that we are, of course I have to end with a quirk. Why a deer?

Why a deer? Why a deer indeed! (laughs) Because I love them! I love the shape of the head, especially in that Kawaii style, it just lent itself to the character really well; with their enormous head, little body, and doe eyes. I love all animals, but I love the doe and the stag. To me, stags are just incredible creatures, they're the ultimate handsome couple! So I guess...a deer because they're random! AND we have them in Britain which also lends to our Brit-Vintage core!

I cannot tell you how PROUD I am of this Lady. This has been one of my favourite interviews for several reasons, but mainly because my intention was to bring one of the greatest talents I know to the forefront. I hope you got a glimpse! She is the hardest-working, most patient and empathetic woman I know. Although you could feasibly say our CharStar is the quietest of the ESP Family, take it from me when I tell you, that Charli-Anne is the backbone of our whole mad pack!

Please take a moment to check out just a few of her amazing works:

Charli-Anne:

twitter / The Glamorous Life

deer oh deer ltd:

twitter / facebook / tumblr / youtube

SS11 VIVID Collection / AW11 Heritage Collection

Jelli Ltd:

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And keep an eye out for everything we have coming up! deer oh deer will be at HYPER JAPAN SPRING 2012, from 24-26 February...

And expect the SpringSummer12 collection, 'Carnivale' shortly after. I've already seen some of the designs and I can tell you, my jewellery box and I are VERY excited!