Why Octopus ?

I can´t say that it is typical of me to think “ I need to print octopuses on dresses”

This is what happened..

I was scrolling through social media and I saw it...it was a lightbulb moment- YES!

2020, I was desperate to make something that made me laugh- we were heading into winter and I thought about the beach; about sunshine; light and wanted/needed a whimsical diversion from reality. I could “ see” it on the 7dress and imagined creating a seascape in my shop in the middle of the pandemic.

This octopus is a classic image from the19th century. I found a company that sent me a high resolution file of the image. Then I chose striped material as a background for the image because there is always something nautical about stripes.

The octopus has come to represent collaboration and networking for me.

It is a wonderful symbol for different parties working together.

It started as I contacted Dylan. He and Maria have a screen printing and customization business called Many Tentacles.https://www.manytentacles.com/ . They moved into the space I had in the Haus Schwarzenberg before I moved into the Stein strasse. It feels a bit like a full circle, going back to the space I had for 20 years, to print.

The octopus has linked Many Tentacles, my shop business , my pattern business and my colleague Tino´s business http://www.tinokoenig.de/ .

Tino helps me with my shop´s production and is a wonderful maker.

When Suzy from instagram´s sewing_in_spain contacted me about sponsoring the annual #sewtogetherforsummer, I decided to give away a printed octopus.

It was an impulse and the winners are very happy with their prize.

Then, Katrin from Frankfurt wrote to me asking whether I was selling the fabric with a printed octopus on it.

This is a completely reasonable question. My Instagram feed had shown the 7dress, the Kim, and the Gino tee- all of them featuring the print.

I like Katrin, I thought why not? I asked Dylan and he agreed to print.

A little announcement on Instagram had an astonishing response.

Dylan and I printed over 20 octopuses for customers and my special orders.

The octopus is on its way to several corners of Germany ,Norway, the UK and the States

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This is really exciting!

I realized that in the excitement, I had forgotten to print a customer order from my shop… so there will be another print run.

I will put the octopus print up on the website to help me organise the logistics.

The octopus screen print will have to be ordered separately;

https://stokx-patterns.com/products/octopus-screen-print

The fabric can be ordered in 50cm units,

however we need at least 1m for the Octopus screen print.

https://stokx-patterns.com/products/octopus-stripe-fabric

When we have over 10 orders, we can mix up the ink and do a print run.

The octopus are hand printed; they measure approximately 60cm in width and height.

Each one is a bit different . I aim to print each one in the middle of the first metre at a slight angle. This way it can be used the “ right way “ or the other way up.

As I was packing the ordered octopus; I sometimes included a printed Kim pattern, a 7dress or a Gino pattern that the customer had ordered and thought that one of my goals, to have my styles ethically made in different countries, was reachable.

Please know that when you buy an octopus you are supporting at least 2 small businesses. I hope to offer octopus to other small business to sell as a way out of the difficult times small businesses have suffered.

It gives me a great sense of connection that others want an octopus too.

Thank you for that,

Greetings,

Lindy

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