Designing A New Rainbow Collection, Silly Loaf Style
For the last few months I've been trying to redesign my rainbow collection. I have a lot of love for the old design; the stud earrings in particular kept me going through the first few months of Covid when all my stockists were forced to close and all my events were cancelled. If it wasn't for all you lovely people seeing some hope in the rainbow and buying this design from me, I wouldn't have been able to keep my business going.
Old style rainbow stud earrings (discontinued)
But recently with one thing and another I've really become aware of what my style is and I've really managed to get a hold of just being who I am without worrying what other people think. I definitely believe it's something that comes with age, but I've also been working really hard on my mental health.I've been quietly going through my shop and picking out the things that really bring me joy and filtering out the things that I don't think are me anymore. So when it came to my rainbow collection I knew I needed to keep it; I love everything rainbows symbolise - community, hope and LGBTQIA+ awareness as well as my own story that I haven't shared openly yet.
Old style rainbow dangle earrings (discontinued)
However I knew I needed it to be completely different, but how do you add a unique twist to a rainbow? I've been slowly phasing out outside manufacturing so I wanted to create these new rainbows entirely in house instead of sending out for them to be UV printed, but my experiments weren't providing that bold colour I was looking for.
Then I switched up my materials and started using this black, 100% recycled acrylic sheet and all of a sudden the colours jumped out at me with a neon joy that just oozed 80s disco... I love that feeling when you know you've created something straight from your soul.
And so the Neon Disco Rainbow collection was born: A statement earring, with a huge presence and a cute sun and raindrop at each side and a simple stud earring that still has a bit of an edge. I'm working on necklaces too, but that's a whole other process in itself!!
I love that is represents everything Silly Loaf stands for - boldness, trying something different, making life colourful and having fun with how we dress.
What do you think?
Sophie :)