Steffany loves

1.5.9 Steffany loves

Steffany Roup is a born and bred Capetonian. Her journey to beginning her jewellery label, Steffany Roup Design Studio was a natural progression. She studied Jewellery Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and was supplying small boutique stores before she completed her studies.

Steffany manufactures predominantly in silver and has recently begun experimenting with enamels. She has also recently begun designing and manufacturing leather good which include simple sandals and purses. Her inspiration is drawn from her surroundings:

“the sea, the clouds, plants and flowers. I'm also inspired by friends, fashion, books, dreams, crystals and random shapes” – Steffany Roup

This comes across very strongly in her work.

Steffany’s label is still small and although growing slowly she was recently invited to exhibit in her first Cape Town Design Indaba this year (2010). Steffany began her blog Steffany loves in June 2008, when she started her Etsy store, an online auction site focusing mainly on vintage trinkets and arts and crafts, as a means of marketing herself. In her own words she found it “an easier option to a website, (something I could set up and do myself) and as a way to communicate to people who are interested in what I do. It’s also a creative outlet- I can show things that inspire me, and get feedback.”

In my opinion Steffany loves adds much to this body of work. This blog is a great example of how a blog can be, as described by herself, ”a creative outlet”. Steffany herself is a shy and charming person. This comes across in her blog. In comparison to Eendag op n reendag, Steffany utilises images instead of words to convey her likes and inspirations. She has not filled in her profile information about herself whereas Marietjie Beeslaar from Skermunkil wrote an entire paragraph on herself and her likes.

The first post (posted on Monday June 21st 2010) I will discuss is entitled sophie bazin. This post is composed of two images, both of beadwork by artist Sophie Bazin. Steffany draws the attention of the reader to the texture, shape and colour of the beadwork. This is an interesting post as these colours can be found throughout Steffany’s own work. In a way she is using this post as a colour swatch, showing the colours she uses in her designs.

Another notable aspect of this post is her use of text. There is little text in this post, all of which is in lower case. This gives the post a calm, relaxed feel. Most of the posts on Steffany Loves are written lower case, thus allowing the images to become the main focus.

Example two (posted on Friday March 19th 2010), End of summer sale, is a very straight forward post. I have included this post to demonstrate again that it is helpful in the design world to start a blog to market one’s product, one’s designs and one’s self.