Our London lifestyle: Inspirations and beyond!

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you”

Hipster’s Paradise, our little homage to the beautiful people!

Here at YSD London, we gather inspiration and joy from every little thing. Be it a city commute or a trip to the seaside, our designs hope to encapsulate that moment in time spent realising there is fun to be found in even the most ordinary of days, as well as the special ones.

In our studio, whilst it’s a bit of a mess, we love having up things on our wall that inspire us, as well as a healthy stack of magazines and reference books on hand to flip through when we’re thinking of a new design.

Even our daily objects, like this lovely Paul Smith Anglepoise, can lend inspiration as well as practicality. We can definitely attest that the environment you work in can spark creativity, even at the most ordinary of times!

As you may remember from our previous blog about the process of coming up with Derby, we always look to the past for inspiration, drawing on our experiences, likes and hobbies not only as a company but as people.

One such culmination would come in the form of one of our earlier designs, ‘Wish You Were Here in London’ and its companion, ‘Hipster’s Paradise’.

Some of you may know the artist Miroslav Sasek, who is renowned for his picturebook series ‘This Is…’. His beautiful artwork and playful view of the people roaming the streets of various cities around the world really inspired us when deciding on colourways (and the all-important naming of them) as well as the beautifully intricate yet playful characterisation of not just the buildings in the city, but its residents too!

Of course, our love affair with London has been very long standing. Not only do we live and work here, so many of our friends and family do, too- so of course we had to create a little homage to one of our favourite cities in Wish You Were Here in London.

Being such an architecturally iconic city, with landmark buildings almost everywhere you go, we decided on a few to highlight- Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and Tower Bridge all feature prominently and proudly alongside the magnificent Big Ben! And the city’s most prominent residents- some happy little foxes and merry seagulls looking for their next meal- live happily alongside the iconic black cabs and red buses and move gently out of the way of the police horses as they do their daily patrols.

“London is a bad habit one hates to lose.”

The colourways, ‘Winter Morning’, ‘Summer Holiday’ and ‘Evening Fog’, are representative of the many different moods the city will have depending on when you are in it! A pale blue morning commute in the brisk winter sky, shielding yourself against the bitter cold with your favourite scarf; a golden skied afternoon basking in the sun, ice cream in hand with friends on the shores of the River Thames; or the slowly darkening city streets surrounding you as you’re closing up a relaxing evening out with a nightcap in your favourite (train station adjacent!) pub.

Of course we can’t talk about London without mentioning our very special little street, Royal Hill in Greenwich! It’s a little bit off the beaten path of Greenwich’s busy high street, and alongside us there’s a fabulous little cheese shop that supplies us with not just dairy and daily bread but also a delicious array of homemade treats, a traditional butchers selling a wonderful array of sausages, steaks and stocks, and a well stocked greengrocers (pictured) that sells not just farm fresh fruits and vegetables but a beautiful selection of flowers and locally produced jarred goods. We love being on the same street as these vibrant businesses and walking past them daily on the way to the studio adds a lovely freshness and moment of inspiration to our day!

We try to find a little bit of inspiration in everything we do.

Be it in our walks in the park, our trips into the city itself, or weekends spent digging through antique shops and marketplaces, there’s one thing we enjoy above all else- people watching!

Yukari’s past in the fashion industry and my own work in fashion illustration has certainly led us to enjoy an afternoon or two spent sitting with a coffee and looking at the people bustling past.

Our love of the myriad of people and personalities that live in London culminated in a special little design, Hipster’s Paradise. No need to explain where the name of that design comes from for you musically minded individuals- a play on the famous rap song ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ by Coolio! Of course you’re more likely to run into a tote-bag carrying, Carhaart clad creative than a group of rap artists driving lowriders down the brick lanes of Shoreditch!

Hipster’s Paradise was a real treat to design, not just because of its fun concept- a zoom in on the lives of those individuals who live in the city- but also because we could secretly put in our own friends and family! For those of you eagle eyed individuals, you may be able to spot myself and Yukari popping out for a stroll amongst some very lovely characters.

We’ve had clients use this not just on walls in their homes, but on the inside of walk in closets and the doors of coatrooms- what better way to get a bit of inspiration than to cast your eyes over these pinterest-worthy people?

You may notice that not only do we have a little crowd of beautiful people wearing their favourite outfits, the fashion forward dogs of London are also sporting their best jackets! We always love incorporating animals of some kind into all our designs if we can- who could resist, when we have so much inspiration to draw from with our own fab little dog, Teddy?

Our Teddy (as you can see) was certainly a very fashionable little man! He even had his own hat collection, alongside his extensive wardrobe of shirts, bandanas and even socks and shoes! His personal bespoke milliner- as every gentledog must have- lives in Tokyo and is a family friend of ours who used to live in London: the very talented Kei Kamogawa.

His favourite thing to do was put on his best stripy top and go for a walk in Greenwich Park at lunchtime. Not only could we pick up valuable styling tips from the fashionable residents of Greenwich, a vast collection of conkers and sticks from the resident oak trees were also amassed!

Speaking of trees, we also love to hide a bird or two in all of our designs, naturally- London especially being home to many different types of winged creatures, from the humble pigeon to the spicy little flocks of parakeets that have called parts of the city their home. How lucky we are to find our calling in a city with such vibrancy!

Whilst our own life in London may not always be quite as picturesque and exciting as the ones laid out in Sasek’s famous ‘This is London’ book, we certainly are enjoying our own twist on it. Whether its on the streets of our city in Wish You Were Here in London or reminiscing through the postcards sent to and from friends via London Paris New York, or even a bracing day out into the windswept coastlines of Britain through Shipping Forecast, we always find something new to enjoy!

We hope you will continue to look forward to our adventures in and around London- and beyond!