Graphic art prints that make your walls smile

In the process of decorating my new place, I have been really keen to discover new prints and artists. As my new home is all about bright colours and typography, I was thrilled to discover the lovely new website: www.mleko.co.uk. 

In fact, this week, I have been lucky enough to have an exclusive interview with Mleko's owner and founder Ania Newland, who has been telling me all about the birth of this exciting new brand...

The wonderfully talented Ania Newland

1. When did you start Mleko?
The company is very new, we launched in May 2014 so only a few months ago!

2. What is your background? 

My background is quite varied: I studied English philology at a University in Poland hoping to become a translator for the EU but then I moved to England and took up a variety of different roles from management consulting to Insurance. I never liked the corporate world and had to find a way out of there so I started to think about doing something that I really love... 
I have always enjoyed art, drawing and anything crafty and one day I stumbled upon a vector programming software and thought – ‘OK, let's see how this works’. I loved it so much that graphic design quickly turned into my true, insatiable passion. I started off teaching myself digital arts, after which I enrolled onto a graphic design course at St. Martins which was so inspiring and motivated me to open Mleko.

3. What is your company ethos?

We strive to be different, colourful, fun, playful, modern, personal and at the same time offer only premium quality, well-made items that people can enjoy for years to come.  

4. Where did the name Mleko come from?

The name was actually suggested by my British husband and my business partner Mark. He thought that I should give the venture a polish name but I really struggled to come up with a short, pronounceable name in polish. One day, my husband got home from work and said; ‘why not Mleko?'. 
Mleko actually means milk in polish but the spelling of the name was easy so I said ‘yes’-:) Interestingly, after we decided on Mleko, someone from India told us that ‘milk’ as a business name should bring us luck as cows are sacred over there – it sealed the deal for us.

5. How do you get your inspiration for each piece?

I get inspired by a variety of things from day to day stuff or beautiful colours to nature, as well as my 2 cute cats!  
I am also definitely inspired by Scandinavian design, colourful polish folklore art, beautiful African and tribal patterns and the Bauhaus movement. 
Ideas for new pieces pop into my head all the time and I draw them up as quickly as I can, In fact, I have dozens of workbooks full of sketches and new ideas – most of those will probably never turn into a design but I like to draw them up or write them down anyway, just in case I come across a creative block one day.

6. Which designers/illustrators inspire your work?

I am a huge, huge fan of Paul Rand… I can safely say he is my very favourite graphic designer of all times– I love his approach to colour – his sense of playfulness, the simplicity of his work. I also love the way he writes about design, some of his client proposals are like poetry. To me, he is a genius. 
There are loads of other, younger designers that I really like – Anna Sannuka, Kate Moross and I adore the work of the guy behind the Partizan brand – Alec Doherty. Oh I also love the work of tattoo artist Angelique Houtkamp and one of her beautiful girl prints graces my bedroom wall.

7. What is your most popular design?

This is a hard one as I have quite a few designs in my store and people tend to buy a wide range. At the moment: ‘so fruity’ is being very popular with bloggers and fellow designers. We receive a lot of orders for the ‘Yummy Tea’ ‘Noah’s Ark’ & ‘Mr Stork’ prints at the moment.

Yummy Tea print from Mleko

8. Where do people tend to hear about you? Have you been featured anywhere else online or in print?

We try and introduce people to our brand via  social media. We also proud to partner with on Not On The High Street which has been amazing for us so far. We have  been featured on the Apartment Therapy, Design Sheppard, Print & Pattern blogs and many, many others, perhaps less known ones too. The interest in our brand is definitely on the up and we hope to appear on many more blogs in near future.

9. Which prints do you have in your own home?

We have 3 framed prints – LOL, Tour de France/Bicycle and the Egg print gracing our kitchen (I actually use it as a reference when cooking eggs!)

10. Where do you hope to take the company in the next five years?

We hope to grow the brand to incorporate many other design-led home-ware. Currently, we are working on expanding our personalised/special occasion range for NOTHS & are planning to introduce greeting cards very shortly too. 

I have my head full of ideas so time is my only limit at the moment, I can’t wait to grow Mleko and make it a recognised brand for unique, quirky and colourful home ware and gifts. 

Ania's passion for design is intoxicating and her work really enchanting. In fact, I even have her Love Birds print up in my own flat - and it certainly makes my walls smile! 
Her determination to follow her dreams and invest in her own creativity is really inspiring and I wish her all the success in the world with Mleko. Some of those prints would make lovely Christmas presents...

Love Birds print from Mleko

Animal inspiration

On my many online travels to various interiors shops, I have noticed a somewhat startling pattern emerging...one with animals on it.

I think it is a good job I have noticed this early so that I don't end up with a flat that resembles a zoo.

Never the less, I have already settled on a few animal gems for my flat, including table mats in these very sweet designs. I got these from a very cute shop in Devon but have seen them online in a few places since then.

In my bedroom, I also really fancy one wall of wallpaper.  I think this is the only place I will have wallpaper in the flat as I am hoping it will give it more of a homely feel. Anyway, needless to say it has animals on it - birds in fact. This is from liveliketheboy.co.uk.

I am still trying to settle on a colour scheme for my own bedroom and this is actually proving quite tough. I was working towards a grass green and deep purple mix, but I am not sure how well it will come together in reality. Anyway, there is still plenty of time to sort that out!

In the meantime, I also found this gem of a cushion which is the height of hilarity and sophistication from ohdeer.com. I am in love :)

My addiction

My name is Sarah and I am addicted to Pinterest.

Since my last blog I have been whiling away hours creating moods and themes for each of the rooms in my new flat. It is hugely moreish, but also really helpful as my plans for each room are starting to take shape.

The lounge in particular, I have been agonising over for a while but I think I have cracked it with these beautiful Ritchie sofas from Made.com (A.K.A Mecca!) and an amazing coloured "bubble rug" courtesy of my parents.

I am planning on using the multi-coloured rug to create a fun and funky feel and then use the sofas to define the two key tones in the room - grey and pink. I absolutely love this suite - the coloured buttons add a real element of fun and the fabric looks pretty hard-wearing which will be good with the cats.

I had a little bit more interiors-porn today too, in the form of ReStore - a beautiful little shop in Dartington, Totnes that specialises in upcycling donated pieces. I found myself looking for a  real life Pin It button for these little beauties...

Needless to say, I will certainly be coming back when I have done the space planning for my flat.

So far, I am trying to fight the temptation to buy anything for my new place. I am scared to jinx it and so keep telling myself to wait until I have exchanged. However, I have started a rather sad spreadsheet which has links and costs for all the items I would like, so that I can budget and digitally stash the bits and pieces I am after. Organisational winning! :)

I did invest in one little gem today as it is not strictly speaking for my new flat. I bought a wonderful little book called Sew La Tea Do by Pip Lincolne. I have had my eye on it for a while as I have read great reviews. It includes a collection of patterns for some ace projects, including a tunic dress, cushions and bean bag and a wrap skirt. Really excited to get started on them!