Aloha my cherrypies, I've been madly in love with the company Dupenny for a while now and if you check her illustrations out you'll completely understand why as they are out of this world. You can purchase her designs in so many different ways from mugs to tea towels but I have to say what I truly love about Dupenny is that you can get her cute retro pinup girls in wallpaper form! I seriously need her wallpaper in my life and with moving into a new flat soon you totally know it's on my wish list! So I was lucky enough to interview the amazingly talented Emily Dupen behind Dupenny for my lovely readers to find all about this fabulous company and the lady herself!
1. Your illustrations are amazing, what first got you interested in illustration?
At school I always loved creative subjects like Art, but Music was my passion and I wanted to be a singer. When I was 18 years old I lost all of my hearing and was diagnosed as profoundly deaf. I had to give up Music and chose to study Art instead. I was interested in interior design but my teacher said I’d get bored too easily and urged me to study illustration instead. It was still a relatively new subject at the time but I trusted his opinion, so I went to Brighton University to study for a degree in Illustration – a subject I knew nothing about!
2. You have turned a lot of your designs into wallpaper and fabrics, which I adore, how did you first come up with this idea?
For my final degree show at uni I was given a project about telephone boxes, and created my first ever wallpaper – Call Girls! At the time of my university project (2004) the wallpaper boom had only just began and I found it was all still too traditional for my liking. I wanted to create something new and fresh, but it took me a good 5 years to get my act together and find my niche.
At school I always loved creative subjects like Art, but Music was my passion and I wanted to be a singer. When I was 18 years old I lost all of my hearing and was diagnosed as profoundly deaf. I had to give up Music and chose to study Art instead. I was interested in interior design but my teacher said I’d get bored too easily and urged me to study illustration instead. It was still a relatively new subject at the time but I trusted his opinion, so I went to Brighton University to study for a degree in Illustration – a subject I knew nothing about!
2. You have turned a lot of your designs into wallpaper and fabrics, which I adore, how did you first come up with this idea?
For my final degree show at uni I was given a project about telephone boxes, and created my first ever wallpaper – Call Girls! At the time of my university project (2004) the wallpaper boom had only just began and I found it was all still too traditional for my liking. I wanted to create something new and fresh, but it took me a good 5 years to get my act together and find my niche.
3. Your designs obviously have vintage influences, have you always drawn with a vintage edge?
After uni I became fascinated with the Burlesque and Cabaret scene, which was getting really popular in London. I started performing as a burlesque artist in my spare time and did a lot of retro pin-up modeling. After 4 years of being stuck for ideas with my wallpapers, I finally decided to draw something I liked myself, in the hope that someone out there would like it too! So I created my Burlesque Wallpaper, 50s Housewives Wallpaper and Time For Tea Wallpaper in 2008/2009. These are still my bestsellers today! I chose a monochrome pallet because I wanted to create something bold and eye-catching to stand out from the crowd. I always loved the style and simplicity of Coco Chanel and I adore all the old black and white movies. There’s something very classic about monochrome. It’s timeless and it works with any color scheme. I only started adding color over the years because customers would request it. When I do add color to try to keep the shades retro to fit in with my themes.
4. Are you a lover of all things vintage yourself? And if so what do you love most about it?
Yes! I’m literally obsessed! One day back in 2006 my mum’s friend gave me bags of her old clothes that had been in her loft. Those bags of dresses changed my life and gave me so much confidence. I just can’t say no to a good 50s dress. People treat you differently when you dress like a lady. I started collecting vintage dresses, home-wares, music, and everything in between. I very rarely buy anything new, unless it looks like real vintage. Now I pretty much live and breathe vintage!
5. What are your plans for the future of your amazing company?
I’ve made some big changes to my business over the past year, so that I have more time to spend on illustration and creating new content. In May I’ll be launching my new collection in New York, including my Coney Island, Mermaids, Vogue, Mid-Century and Atomic Wallpapers. I then have some designs lined up for the men later in the year but I won’t reveal these themes yet! I’m also working on a Rockabilly Colouring Book set to launch this year. And I have a range of giftwares launching next month in collaboration with The Really Good Company. I also plan to buy a decent camera so I can start vlogging. No rest for the wicked!
6. You hail from the sea side town of Brighton, is there a big vintage scene there?
I feel really luck to live in Brighton because the vintage and retro scene is huge and there’s always cool stuff to do. I love the fact that I can dress up all retro and people just love it. And there’s usually a nice classic car parked somewhere to get a quick snap with! The only downside is that I still don’t own a classic car since I don’t have a garage and I live on Hove seafront so the salt would be no good for it. I do have a beach hut though, which I spent last summer ‘Dupenny-fying’!
7. You have won a lot of awards for your art, what you say is your biggest achievement so far?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to win awards, but they don’t necessarily pay the bills! At the end of the day I’m just another normal person with the usual problems, stuck paying far too much rent for my tiny flat and struggling to make ends meet! So far, my biggest achievement is the fact that I’ve worked my seamed stockings off for years through thick and thin and have somehow managed to carve a career for myself, which I am still trying to make sustainable for the future. When you’re self-employed doing this sort of thing, you never know what disasters or delights are coming next. It keeps me on my toes. I never get a chance to be bored. Nothing beats the fact that I’m working for myself and doing something I love.
I’ve made some big changes to my business over the past year, so that I have more time to spend on illustration and creating new content. In May I’ll be launching my new collection in New York, including my Coney Island, Mermaids, Vogue, Mid-Century and Atomic Wallpapers. I then have some designs lined up for the men later in the year but I won’t reveal these themes yet! I’m also working on a Rockabilly Colouring Book set to launch this year. And I have a range of giftwares launching next month in collaboration with The Really Good Company. I also plan to buy a decent camera so I can start vlogging. No rest for the wicked!
6. You hail from the sea side town of Brighton, is there a big vintage scene there?
I feel really luck to live in Brighton because the vintage and retro scene is huge and there’s always cool stuff to do. I love the fact that I can dress up all retro and people just love it. And there’s usually a nice classic car parked somewhere to get a quick snap with! The only downside is that I still don’t own a classic car since I don’t have a garage and I live on Hove seafront so the salt would be no good for it. I do have a beach hut though, which I spent last summer ‘Dupenny-fying’!
7. You have won a lot of awards for your art, what you say is your biggest achievement so far?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to win awards, but they don’t necessarily pay the bills! At the end of the day I’m just another normal person with the usual problems, stuck paying far too much rent for my tiny flat and struggling to make ends meet! So far, my biggest achievement is the fact that I’ve worked my seamed stockings off for years through thick and thin and have somehow managed to carve a career for myself, which I am still trying to make sustainable for the future. When you’re self-employed doing this sort of thing, you never know what disasters or delights are coming next. It keeps me on my toes. I never get a chance to be bored. Nothing beats the fact that I’m working for myself and doing something I love.
8. If your not drawing pin ups, what else do you love to draw?
I’ll draw absolutely anything, but my favourite has always been ladies for some reason. I just love the female form. I’m obsessed with people and characters, and character is all about what makes people different. I’m currently finishing off my Coney Island Wallpaper ready to launch in May. I’m having too much fun drawing all the sideshows!
If you'd like to have a gander at the website and duh who wouldnt the link is: http://www.dupenny.com/
Coco Von Vintage x
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