Discover the inspiration behind Skinny laMinx's mod designs

Heather Moore is the owner of popular Cape Town design company, Skinny laMinx.

The self-taught artist started her business in 2007 making papercuts and screenprints, and selling them on her online shop on Etsy. By 2012, Heather’s business had grown to the point where she decided to set up shop on Bree Street.

Her range of beautiful products includes tea towels, cushion covers, scarves and even adorable smock dresses. Her designs are individual, simple, clear and accessible, and seem to appeal to people all over the world who share her interest in the shapes, colours and styles inspired by mid-20th-century design.

I grew up with my three brothers in Florida Park, Jo’burg, and spent my time reading lots of books – when I wasn’t climbing trees. When I was 12 years old, our family moved to Pietermaritzburg, where I went to high school and university.

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The name Skinny laMinx comes from the nickname my husband (artist Paul Edmunds) and I gave our skinny little Siamese cat, Monkey.

My typical day starts at 5:30am with a cup of tea, after which I go for a run or I water the garden. After breakfast, I walk to my studio above the shop at 201 Bree Street, stopping in for a cup of coffee at Jason Bakery with my husband, and I’m at my desk by 8am, like a good little worker bee. My workday starts with meetings with the team, and then a lot of emails to answer. I’ll often spend time styling and photographing things for a blog post or for an online listing. If I’m lucky, I’ll get some time to work on some new designs too.

My inspiration comes from ordinary, everyday things like cactuses, teacups, staircases and vibracrete walls. I usually have a notebook with me, where I make sketches, and I take a lot of photographs of textures, details, juxtapositions and compositions that seem to give me ideas.

I would describe my style as simple, patterned, clean and clear – inspired by ordinary things.

My designs communicate my appreciation for the pared-back Modernist aesthetic that values simplicity in style and honesty of materials. I don’t like to think of my look as “retro”, as it is not attempting to ape style from the past.

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It has become very trendy to be supportive of the local design industry, which I find very exciting! For too long we looked to the northern hemisphere for what’s cool, but now we’re making up our own rules.

I hope that South African designers are becoming increasingly confident and self-assured, seeing themselves as global players with lots of interesting material to draw upon in their work.

One of my proudest achievements is a Foundation Phase reading series I co-wrote and illustrated in 2001 with two other authors, because of the long-term results this work has had. Kagiso Readers, published by Maskew Miller Longman, is an award-winning series of reading books, available in all 11 South African languages. Kids and teachers love them.