An interview with designer Briony Boulton

The latest designer to join the Anouk design team is Briony Boulton, a multi-talented designer with experience in comic art, jewellery and...(wait for it)... environmental geology! Of course, she also has a fantastic range of wedding invitations available through our online store.

If you don't already know, the designs we offer at Anouk Invitations are all created by talented local artists. When you buy from us you're supporting these artists, so we encourage you to get to know the

people who design your stationery. I got the chance to chat to Briony about herself, comic art, DIY weddings, and the future of wedding stationery in the interview that follows.

It sounds like you've been making art as long as you can remember! What's your earliest artistic memory?

You know, it’s hard to remember not wanting to draw, create or make something. A couple of my earliest memories of drawing and being creative were at kindergarten, I remember drawing a picture of Ned Kelly, a typical 3 year old stick figure impression, but my mum totally loved it, and has kept it all these

years.

So have you always been an artist?

I've actually just recently left a professional career as an environmental geologist. I was involved in investigating, monitoring and remediating contaminated soil and groundwater on industrial

sites such as factories and service stations (a far cry from anything creative!). After 6 years, I realized that it wasn’t for me, and that the little artist inside me was not going to rest until it was free!

That's great news for us! So getting back to weddings and invitations, are there any trends you're noticing?

I’ve noticed a lot of what is available for invitations at the moment is simple, elegant and classic.

Do you think anything's missing, or could be done differently when it comes to the wedding stationery that's generally available?

I don’t think there is a lot out there to cater for everyone’s personality. I’d like to see more fun, bright and abstract designs for those who want to add a bit of flair to their special day. I think weddings in general have changed a lot over the years from their traditional origins and therefore wedding stationary should also change and adapt to match the whimsical and creative ways in which people these days are getting married, and I think Anouk is really starting to fill that void.

You've obviously thought a bit about all this wedding stuff. Are you married

yourself?

Yes! We tied the knot in November last year and it was the most thrilling experience! Apart from the most torrential ra

in we’ve had in years (after all, we’re in a drought!) the day progressed flawlessly and it really didn’t matter that it was raining. We got married at a small chapel at a local reception venue on a large property with beautiful scenery. It was the perfect backdrop and fortunately the rain cleared up long enough for us to get our photographs taken! We honeymooned in gorgeous Fiji and then went on a camping adventure through the high

country of Victoria and southern NSW.

So your wedding planning paid off and it all went smoothly in the end - that's great! So I want to ask you... apparently we're going through a recessio

n at the moment - do you think this is a good opportunity for engaged couples to get creative with their wedding planning, maybe do a bit of DIY and save money at the same time? Do you have any tips or suggestions how they can do this?

I wanted to be hands on for my wedding, and I chose to DIY a number of things, not only to save money, but to give me a sense of ownership and pride over t

he details of my wedding. I went for a bit of a vintage theme, so I handmade all my wedding invitations, name tags and order of service, printing onto an art nouveau style vellum and attaching it to a golden brown card, which accented the bridesmaid’s colour.

With the cost of flowers I definitely thought about buying loose flowers and putting them together myself, but didn’t really want that added stress on the day and opted for a florist to do it! I did however, make a posie of imitation flowers to throw, similar to the real ones in my bouquet, so that I didn’t have to get an extra bouquet for throwing, and so that the lovely lady who caught the bouquet, would have something to keep forever.

I also shopped around for bridal shoes for a long time, trying to find something that I liked that was not hugely expensive and in the end, I couldn’t find what I was after so I bought a pair of standard (non-bridal!) shoes and added a bit of bling to them myself. I saved hundreds of dollars, and got the shoe I wanted. I was also very fortunate that my mum has spent years cake decorating, as she was able to make and decorate our wedding cake for us. I think people can definitely DIY a lot when it comes to weddings, especially if they think outside the square a little and realize they do not have to just be limited to what is available.

It seems written correspondence is becoming a thing of the past as we do more and more communication online. Wedding stationery seems to be resisting this trend, but do you think people might start emailing their wedding invitations instead of printing and mailing them?

I have been the recipient of an emailed wedding invitation in the past, and it made sense for the couple who sent it, as they were overseas and had friends from all over the globe attending. I do think though that there is something special about opening up a hard copy posted invitation, and call me old fashioned, but I think you lose some of the charm and importance when you email something. People tend to me more casual and forgetful about opening and replying to an email than having a hardcopy invitation in front of them, and for something as important as a wedding, it is critical that you get the RSVPs back and that no one forgets the date!

So getting back to your artistic style... I love your black and white ink work that has that comic-book look. Are you a comics fan?

I do love comics. Having done a short course in comic art a few years ago, I can appreciate how much time and skill goes into creating a comic strip, graphic novel or animation and would one day love to embark on a graphic novel myself. I love the balance of light and shade, and how a dimensional image can be drawn using only a black pen, accentuating shadows and leaving just the right amount of white in the right places to give the appearance of light. As you can imagine, I have been influenced by all the classic stuff, X-Men, Wonder Woman, Superman etc and anything by Frank Miller (creator of Sin City & 300) whose comics are not only skillfully drawn but also have a darker side.

So will we be seeing some comic-style wedding invitations from you?

I would absolutely love to do some comic inspired invitations. Hmm… actually I think that will be next on the agenda!

Looking forward to it! I love your Pink Butterflies design too - I don't think we have anything like that in our collection yet.

Thanks. I guess the inspiration for that design came from the wedding trend of releasing butterflies during the ceremony. I felt that butterflies were a lovely image for a marriage, symbolizing new beginnings, good fortune and joy. It is said that the butterflies that are released carry forth the good news of your love and commitment for each other, so I decided to take that message and translate it into an invitation depicting butterflies flying, whilst giving it a more modern, funky edge. I decided to do a soft pink and brown color palette to give the sense of romance without being too over the top!

Thanks Briony!

Thanks for asking me, I feel quite honoured to be featured on your blog!