Shop Talk with Robin and Mould

For this week’s Shop Talk, we’re delighted to be chatting to Amy and Christian from textiles design company Robin and Mould. Working from their studio deep in the Wiltshire countryside, they make wonderfully friendly, bright and stylish accessories for the home, including the adorable Sleepy Dog cushions which have been a big hit at Plaisir this spring.

Having met at college, they then headed off to universities at opposite ends of the country to study Fine Art and Graphic Design. Amy and Christian eventually realised they worked well as a team and decided to take the plunge in setting up Robin and Mould, combining their surnames to create the name of their business. We really love their work here at Plaisir, and as a couple who work together ourselves, it’s fascinating to get an insight into how other people do it! Here’s our chat.

I grew up wanting to be…Christian: something arty although I never knew exactly what or how to make that happen and I’m still a little bitter that my pop career never took off!

Amy: a teacher for the longest time then a film poster/book cover designer or sign writer – basically anything which involved typography and enabled me to indulge in endless meticulous fiddling. Having been brought up without a TV we had to find some way to fill the time! Although thanks to that I’m a mean knitter and sewer and even spend my one night off a week at a social sewing club.

We can be made very happy by… a hot beverage and biscuits. Tea and rich teas for Christian and hot ribena (for some inexplicable reason I’ve never taken to tea!) and dark chocolate digestives for Amy. A magazine each plus Adam and Joe on the radio would round things off nicely. We’re simple folk!

The music I love is…Amy: at the moment, when I’m not listening to the radio, it’s Camera Obscura, Phoenix, Feist, She & Him, Arcade Fire, ‘You Make My Dreams’ by Hall & Oates never fails to make me sing/smile. I’m a sucker for anything sunny and poppy I can sing along to.

We’re inspired by much of the same things but the design process is quite different for both of us.

Our work is inspired by…anything and everything, small random combinations of colours/textures/type spotted in everyday things, illustration, graphic design, interiors, patterns, architecture…we could go on forever. We’re inspired by much of the same things but the design process is quite different for both of us. Somehow it always comes together with Christian doing lots of sketching and scribbling and Amy writing down ideas and beavering away on Illustrator.

My favourite cake is …Amy: carrot cake complete with cream cheese topping. I’m going through bit of a baking phase at the moment and am planning my first foray into homemade bread someday soon, much to Christian’s trepidation (see below!)