9 Days of Prints | Inside the Collection

The original “6 Days of Prints” started last year when the design team was brainstorming ideas of how we could do something special and unexpected for our customers. Offering a variety of unique and special edition designs during the holidays felt like the perfect way to mix up the shopping season. After it was such a success, we took the opportunity to expand it to nine days this year and fulfill some of our fans' requests. Over the years we’ve gotten a lot of print suggestions for cardinals, gnomes, and so much more - so it’s really fun to make some of those dreams come true for these limited releases! Rather than a comprehensive collection of designs that coordinate together, these prints are unexpected one-offs that we anticipate will sell out within the day.

"On the design team we all had a lot of favorites that we wanted to re-release or do in new colors, or some we kept trying to push but never quite made sense in our seasonal debuts. I’ve always wanted to do When Pigs Fly but couldn’t find a place in the collections, and the same goes for the Cheese Plate pattern. We did a limited run of it with Anthropologie and I never had a chance to get one - so I’m excited to snag one of those!" - Founder Amy

Most of our design decisions are made about a year in advance, so right now we’re in the process of brainstorming and creating the prints for next year. We love gathering inspiration from shoppers’ requests on social media, notes to our Customer Service Manager Katie, and even tips from the team to come up with themes and ideas. After many discussions, comparing the prints, and voting on what our shoppers will love the most, we will finalize our buys around six months in advance. 

"We really wanted to give shoppers a mix of classic archived prints and totally new ones as well. We love offering variety in the prints and make sure to get some of their favorite and most requested critters in there as well. My favorite would probably be Gnome Garden as I love the vibrancy of the colors on the dark ground." - VP of Merchandising Jackie

"For this design, we wanted to create something simple and whimsical that showcased both the cute little winged pigs but also gave the pajamas an overall feeling of fluffy clouds. Funny enough, we’ve been trying to add this pig-themed print to our collection for a long time now. I love this print so much, and actually created it almost two years ago now. For one reason or another it kept getting shuffled around and put back in the archive for a rainy day when other prints took priority or it didn’t feel cohesive with our seasonal collections. But we finally found a place for it in our 9 Days of Print celebration! I have a lot of personal connections to pigs. They’re some of the sweetest, smartest and funniest animals at the animal sanctuary where I volunteer (Chenoa Manor), and I especially love visiting a spotted pig named Shirley who spends her days rooting around the pastures. Pigs also remind me of my partner, Jonathan - as a child he was obsessed with pigs, and had a collection of pig memorabilia. We watched the positively unhinged sequel “Babe: Pig in the City” on one of our first dates, and bonded over our shared love of the weird bar game “Pigs” where you roll tiny pig figurines like dice and win points based on how they land." - Print Designer Christiane

Painted little vignettes of tasty treats are always really fun, and the finished layouts filled with lush, over-the-top table spreads always make the team smile. As a cheese board and bread basket fanatic, creating a fromagerie print was a no-brainer for Print Designer Christiane. She included some of her personal favorites (gouda, cheddar, croissants), as well as their colorful accouterments of rosemary, olives, and grapes.

"Treetop Cardinal was partially inspired by my partner’s mom. She loves cardinals - when she sees one, she likes to think they’re her loved ones who have passed by stopping by to say hello. She’s also a big quilter, and is currently working on making a quilt out of lots of different William Morris patterns, including the masterpiece Strawberry Thief. With this print, I wanted to create a festive, winter floral that gave a nod to Morris’s mirrored and intricately interwoven layouts, but from a new perspective. The cardinals and bittersweet berries offer a pop of bright red, and are nestled among flowers and leaves inspired by Linton Roses. Known more specifically as Helleborus, these are some of my favorite perennials because they bloom in the winter into the early spring." - Print Designer Christiane

"Puffins are such sweet, silly little birds. We’ve had a few people request puffin prints over the years, and I was excited to finally get the chance to create this pattern! When I was in college, I actually studied abroad for six months in Scotland at the Glasgow School of Art. After finishing the term, my parents met me and we rented a car and spent a couple weeks taking a road trip all across the country. We met so many friendly people and saw SO many gorgeous places, but one of the highlights was definitely taking a boat trip out to the Isle of May, off the coast just north of Edinburgh. The Isle of May is a nature preserve famous for its nesting Puffins, Terns, and Guillemots. We were lucky enough to take a day trip there to see some of the wildlife up close. It was both amazing and hilarious - when we got off the boat, we had to hold sticks or umbrellas to keep the Arctic Terns from dive-bombing and hitting our heads (apparently they target the highest point of a threat, so holding something up above your head helps give them a decoy to attack). We then hiked across the island to the outer cliffs, where we watched hundreds of Puffins flying and sitting along the rocky outcroppings. Between their colorfully painted faces and silly, awkward way of flying and landing, I was infatuated.

In creating this print, I wanted to not only include some of the stone formations where they congregate but also add in some of the hardy wildflowers that grow in completely unexpected crevices." - Print Designer Christiane

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5. Sincerely, Amy | Debuting the 2024 Holiday Shop