Tom – KDD & Co

Colour at Work

a challenging, inspiring, thought-provoking and truly in-the-round celebration of that most unruly of creative concepts – COLOUR

iola

Introducing Iola – the first design from Davaar

Picturing the Secret Coast

telling the story of a place with images

Making Latitude Hello again, it’s Tom here with my third, and final, instalment about making my new book, Latitude. In my previous two posts I’ve spoken about the craft of bookbinding and the importance of the choice of materials to the finished book object. Today I’d like to tell you more about the concepts and…

Making books by hand: part 2

By: Kate Davies Designs September 11, 2018September 11, 2018

bookbinding, books, making, ootlier, photography, Tombookbinding, books, landscape, Latitude, making, photography, printing, publishing23 Comments

Hi, it’s Tom again, with part 2 of my series about my new adventures in book making – and specifically about making a particular book, which I’ve named Latitude. Latitude is a photographic project I’ve been working on for the past year or so. It’s a made-object, as much as it is a collection of…

Making books by hand: part 1

By: Kate Davies Designs September 8, 2018September 11, 2018

bookbinding, Tombookbinding, books, coptic binding, making, stitching, Tom63 Comments

Hello, everyone. It’s Tom here – popping in to the KDD blog to share my latest obsession – making books by hand. . . One of the most enjoyable aspects of my work at Kate Davies Designs is the making of books. I’ve talked about the creative choices involved in making a book with a…

representing my local landscape (a post from Tom)

Hello. It’s Tom here. Kate is sat outside knitting a new design (and muttering something about modified raglans), so I thought I’d chip in here for once. When I’m not busy taking photos or handling day to day business matters, I’m responsible for the graphic and design work here at KDD – creating everything from…

in progress

1. I’m now over half way through writing my new book. I’ve been enjoying the project immensely. Being able to just explore ideas and try out different ways of putting things across feels like a complete luxury. I genuinely love writing (which is probably the key to being any sort of writer, I think) and…

aurora

By: Kate Davies Designs March 28, 2017

Loch Lomond, photography, Tom, West Highland Wayaurora, aurora borealis, Loch Lomond, ootlier, photography, time lapse, Tom48 Comments

There was a really magnificent aurora here last night – I thought you might like to see it. Tom took this time lapse out by Loch Lomond – there’s 78 minutes compressed into 13 seconds. Thanks so much for your responses to my last post, especially the reading suggestions, which have been very helpful. A…

Home and away

By: Kate Davies Designs October 16, 2016October 16, 2016

Lives in Oo, personal, photography, seasonal, Shetland, Tom, travel, writingknitting, landscape, photography, Shetland, writing46 Comments

It’s been an interesting (and busy) couple of weeks. Tom has been travelling around Shetland, finalising the photography for our new book, and I’ve been here, at home, working. Without Tom, I’ve a tendency to go a bit feral. I eat whatever happens to be in the cupboard, I leave things lying around with no…

August thoughts

By: Kate Davies Designs August 5, 2016August 5, 2016

personal, photography, Scotland, Tom, West Highland Way, West Highlands, writinganniversary, Scotland, summer, Tom, wedding100 Comments

High summer in Scotland. Days of rain, and days of grey, and weird, unseasonably chilly days, and then the occasional jewel comes along. A day of warm sunshine and breezes when, after work, we pick chard or courgettes from the garden, lament the woeful state of the tomatoes, and sit outside to eat with swallows…

hap stretcher tutorial

By: Kate Davies Designs June 8, 2016July 21, 2016

Mel, Shetland, The book of haps, Tom, tutorialblocking, hap, hap board, hap stretcher, haps, Shetland, tutorial78 Comments

As you know, I photographed my Moder Dy design on a beautiful vintage hap stretcher that I borrowed from my friend Anne Eunson. In Shetland, such stretchers have been used for well over a century to block haps and shawls ready for sale, as well as for their knitters’ own domestic use. (washing and dressing…

Desmond’s mince pies

By: Kate Davies Designs December 5, 2015January 4, 2016

baking, featured, food, recipe, Tombaking, Christmas, cooking, food, mince pies, recipe, riciarelli77 Comments

For many years, I’ve had a quiet obsession with riciarelli, which I first came across, flavoured with orange flower water, in Betty’s tea rooms in York. Betty’s only seem to sell these wee macaroon-y treats in Spring for some reason, so I had to persuade Tom (who does not need much persuading where baking is…