New Partner - Halina (Luggage)

May 20, 2019

One of my most exciting recent collaborations was the launch of my luggage collection with Halina at the end on 2018. To celebrate our partnership Halina are kindly currently giving away a Vicky Yorke Urban Jungle Cat carry-on case to one lucky winner in the USA or Europe. (Find out more here.) So I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to tell you a little more about the collection and my inspiration behind it!

My 'Urban Jungle' collection features cats and dogs, as well pretty meadow flowers! While I do like dogs, I am most definitely a cat lover and this collection was initially inspired by watching my beautiful kitty moving around our garden with the serenity and grace of her wild big cat relatives - Our garden is definitely her jungle! She got very involved in the drawing process too, rolling all over my paper as I sketched - I think this was her seal of approval!

All of my designs always begin with hand sketches. I usually start in pencil and then work back over the drawings with black ink.

After sketching out the cats I decided to draw some dogs to add balance to the collection. What you can't see here is that I originally drew hats and bow ties to adorn these pooches. I still love this idea, but decided as the collection progressed that the accessories might be too much for these patterns so I will bank that idea for another day!

I wanted to use the flowers in my garden as inspiration for the 'jungle' around the cats and dogs, so also sketched these intricate and packed together floral motifs.

My husband is desperate for a dog and I’m sure it’s going to happen at some point... When we do get one it will be a Border Terrier because they are super-cute! (I love how they look really old even when they are puppies!) I like them so much I’ve included one in my dogs print. You can see him sketched in the top left-hand corner of the sketchbook page above and then fully coloured in the final print below.

After sketching, all of my drawings are transferred to the computer for editing, digital colouring and to be turned into repeat prints perfect for adding to products such as Halina's luggage. 'Urban Jungle' is available in a number of different colourways, but I was delighted that Halina chose my original dark blue ground for the dogs and light blue ground for the cats!

As you can see these patterns work beautifully combined with the shapes of Halina's stylish luggage.

The cases are available as a set of three or they can be purchased individually. Available sizes are the 20" carry-on case - perfect for a short trip when you don't want to check your luggage into the hold, a medium case which is 24" and a large case at 28", which are ideal for checked luggage for longer trips.

All of the cases have the following features:

Durable lightweight Polyblend material
Polished art in rich and vibrant colours
Bold colour lining
Gold zipper detail
Ergonomic Gel Grip Handle
Light Weight Trolley
Glide-Tech single wheel multidirectional 360 degree provides smooth and stable motion
A fully zippered Panel creates a second compartment to keep your possessions organised
Compression straps and clasp are easy to use and keep your personal items secure
HALINA Luggage also offers a "World Wide 10 year Cloud Protection*” warranty

This project has combined 3 of my absolute favourite things - cats, patterns and travel! I’m in love with the gold styling by Halina, which perfectly picks up on my original concept for this range ( - It's so great when a manufacturer is completely in tune with my design vision!)

The detail on the cases is just gorgeous with gold coloured trims on the handles, zips and pulls.

As mentioned above, each case also features my ‘circles’ complimentary print as lining fabric on the inside.

What I really love about Halina is that every detail of these cases has been considered to make them both practical and stylish. My favourite detail however has to be my logo stamped in gold coloured metal above the words 'Designed in England'...

(I'll never need luggage tags again!!!)

Even the packaging has been designed with such beautiful attention to detail with the use of a layered swing tag.

I love how you can see my patterns just peeking through the cutout Halina logo! And then the swing tag can be opened up to reveal either the cat or dog patterns plus a brief biography of me, which can be separated from the rest of the swing tag to keep if you'd like :-)