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Fashion nottinghampost.com/fashion

Beautiful designs

Bright and boldprints and patternsare the trademark toBarinder Gahir’s silkcreations. LucyBudge speaks tothe designer abouther bloomingbusiness

Discover natural

Skin treats

fashionbloggerName: Georgia FarquharsonAge: 21Occupation: Nottingham TrentUniversity journalism student andfreelance writerBlog:www.welcometomyworldxo.comTwitter: @georgiafarq

“With the sun shining and springdefinitely upon us, it can be a trickytime to decide what to wear. If youchoose a coat you can end up beingtoo hot, but go out in just a T-shirtand you can immediately regret it.

“This skirt is fast becoming myultimate staple, because it covers thattricky transition from spring tosummer. The denim is bang on trend,and it’s so wearable, versatile andcould easily work for both day andnight if you styled it right. It’s an ASOSpurchase and cost £30. I wouldn’tusually spend so much on a skirt, butfor me this is a basic, which means Iwill definitely get my money’s worthout of it.

“As you can see I wore it withtights, but once the weather heats up,I can ditch the tights and team it withsandals and a crop top.

“I teamed the skirt with a black rollneck, another staple from my winterwardrobe that I will soon have toleave behind as the weather getswarmer. It was from Primark and costonly £6 – so a real bargain.

“I wore this outfit with a thickcardigan, which was a purchase fromTesco three years ago. Don’tunderestimate supermarkets; some oftheir clothes are really on trend and anabsolute bargain!”

What are youwearing? Tweetus your pictures@NottinghamPost

Outfit detailsCardigan: Tesco, £10Top: Primark, £6Skirt: ASOS, £30

FROM the potted flowers in her backgarden to ancient floral paintings,textile designer Barinder Gahir canfind inspiration from almost any-thing.

She is the creative talent behind thesilk prints and patterns at BarinderGahir Designs – which sells hand-made scarves, cushions, clutch bagsand canvases.

And the 47-year-old may have onlylaunched her freelance business in2009, but her colourful designs havesold around the world to brands in-cluding Coast, Lipsy, Ted Baker,DKNY and The White Company.

Barinder hand designs the prints,which can range from floral to trop-ical to Paisley, from her home studioin West Bridgford.

She says: “I focus on designingprints for silk scarves predominantlybut I can also do bespoke designs.

“I find inspiration from everywhereand anywhere. I love flowers andbotanicals. My designs are quite trop-ical at the moment.

“It all starts with some drawing,painting, photography or mark-mak-ing using things such as charcoal.From them I then design the prints. Ialso look at trends and catwalkshows.”

After thinking up a unique design, itis then sent to be printed on silk at theClothvsona digital printing firm,based in Annesley Woodhouse.

The printed fabrics are turned intocompleted products by Barinder her-self, who hand sews them into a rangeof scarves, clutch bags and cushions.

“My unique selling point is to bringbusiness to the local community andto Nottingham. I make sure to keepmy printing here,” says the designer.

“I think it’s important. I don’t wantto go abroad even though it’s cheap-er. There’s no carbon footprint thatway either.”

Many of Barinder’s products areavailable online atwww.barinderdesigns.co.uk as wellas stockists across the UK. This in-cludes Debbie Bryan, in St Mary’sGate, and Locally Produced For You,in West Bridgford, as well as shops inAshby-de-la-Zouch, Sleaford, Folk-stone and Harrogate.

Prices range from £80 for a large silkscarf, which is 1.75cm long and nearly43cm wide, to £30 for a smaller ver-sion, measuring in at one metre longby 25cm wide.

A silk printed clutch bag costs £35,with cushions ranging from £22 to£50.

But designing a new spring summerrange is a far cry from Barinder’s firstcareer in accounting and finance.

“I initially studied at BirminghamUniversity. I’ve always loved art butmy dad at the time told me I wouldn’tmake a living as an artist. I under-stood where he was coming from,”she says.

“Years later it was my husband whotold me to take up my passion for art.I then went to New College Not-tingham for a foundation course inart and design.

“I thought that would cure me but itdidn’t. I then got a place at Lough-borough University studying textiledesign.”

After graduating in 2009, Barinderbegan working at the Acorn textiledesign studio, in the city centre, be-fore launching her self-named com-pany in 2013.

She now designs a spring/summerand autumn/winter range every year,as well as continuing with populardesigns that are regularly requestedby customers.

Her latest collection is inspired byPaisley, mixing the pattern with

In printEmma’s range of skincareproducts are made withnatural ingredients.

Emma McLean, of NewsteadVillage has launched SerenityLiving selling soaps, bathbombs, bath melts and bodybutters.

Enjoy a bit of me-time with hints of raspberry,coconut, cucumber and lavender. Lucy Budgediscovers the organic soaps and skincare atNottingham-based business Serenity Living

Barinder Gahir is a fashion designer based in Nottingham who specialises in printed silk scarves.PICTURES: MARK LEE.

THERE’S nothing better thanrelaxing in a hot, steaming bathafter a long day at work – so adda touch of luxury with a scen-ted bath bomb or soap roll.

Whether you fancy a hint oflavender, rose oil, raspberry orcoconut, the bath and skincareproducts at Serenity Living arededicated to your special mo-ments of pampering.

Behind the natural and or-ganic soaps and bars is EmmaMcLean, of Newstead Village.

The 24-year-old works full-time as a Nottingham estateagent but in her spare time canbe found busily wrapping upthe sweet smelling soaps fromher home office.

She says: “At Serenity Living Isell soaps, bath bombs, bathmelts and body butters.

“Some of the products melt inyour hands. They all make youfeel nice and are good for theskin because they’re natural.”

The beauty expert has onlybeen running Serenity Livingsince January but is slowlybuilding up her product range,which is available online.

Prices range from £3 for alavender bath melt, to £3.75 fora raspberry soap roll and £3.50

for a cucumber and bergamotbath bomb.

Emma first discovered herlove for organic products afterstudying beauty therapy atClarendon College.

“I originally wanted to workin beauty but I then got into thenatural side of it all,” she said.

“I started looking at theproducts I was using andwhether they could be morenatural. I always wanted to do

something with skincare.“It’s all about essential oils

and how they make you feel.”Emma sources her products

from a company in Yorkshirewhich makes them by handusing natural ingredients, withEmma claiming that “certainproducts are 100 per cent es-sential oil with just a hint ofblending products”.

She admits her favouriteproduct has to be the rose bodybutter. “It’s quite relaxing andit gives you a bit of time topamper yourself rather thanjust rushing to get ready.”

But it’s not all about spend-ing a long time soaking in thetub, the raspberry soap roll canbe used every day as an al-ternative to shower gel.

She now has big plans for thebusiness including a men’srange, a mother and babyrange and even make-up.

Emma adds: “In the future Iwant to do ranges for everyone– a one-stop shop. I’d evenbranch out into cleaningproducts, as well as candlesand incense.”■ To view the Serenity Livingproducts visit www.serenityliv-ing.co.uk.

bright colours including blues andyellows.

“I only like to produce three scarvesin each design and they all have nicenames. If people want a particulardesign though I can make up others.

“I like the idea of keeping it freshand thinking of new ideas.

She adds: “When I’m designingtime seems to stop. I just love it.”■ To view Barinder’s full collection,go to www.barinderdesigns.co.uk.

‘’I find inspiration fromeverywhere and anywhere. Ilove flowers and botanicals.My designs are quite tropicalat the moment.

Barinder Gahir

Barinder finds inspiration for her designs from hersurroundings.

Barinder creates a collection specifically for spring/summer andautumn/winter, as well as bespoke designs.

Barinder Gahir’ssilk creations havebeen sold aroundthe globe to brandsincluding Coast,Lipsy, Ted Baker,DKNY and TheWhite Company.