Photo by We Heart Pictures
The Arabian Tent Company…
I LOVE the team over at Arabian Tent Company with their growing collection of amazing marquees and tents. One thing they are not afraid of, its the use of colour and I was lucky enough to create a Mr & Mrs Unique photo shoot using their new Latin American design, which was heavily inspired by Mexican and Argentinian influences.
Katherine, founder of Arabian Tents tells us more about the design and the marquees:
Katherine…
I love bright colours, and love creating interiors that will lifts your spirits when you enter them. Being a huge fan of South American fabrics, colours and designs combined with the popularity of street food instead of the standard sit-down meal, the fashion at events for bright pops of colour on white backgrounds, and the opportunity to theme it with delicious rum-based cocktails, I’m hoping the new Viva La Fiesta interior will really make parties go with a swing.
My best friend is Argentinian and on our recent road trip together, we found ourselves at a place called Salta which produces lots of tribal textiles with the most amazing patterns using natural dyes and bright colours which triggered the idea of a Frieda Kahlo style, South American interior.
Mr & Mrs Unique photo shoot- Photo by We Heart Pictures
Then, back home, I got together with a friend and designer – Rowenna Harrison – who studied screen printing at Saint Martin’s School of Art and has always been fascinated by Mexican culture. We were both excited about making something that was really current and wanted to use a really fresh colour palette and include Pantone’s colour of the year – Radiant Orchid.
(Viva la Fiesta colour palette)
Rowenna really understood the medium of screen-printing that we were working in as her jewellery is all printed on leather and very similar to the style I wanted to use.
(Rosita Bonita jewellery with South American influences)
We looked at loads of motifs, colour palettes and design elements which inspired us from flowers with interesting shapes to embroidery which we wanted to echo in the screen print.
(Some of the design inspirations and sketches used for the tent interior)
One design gave me the idea for the cushions and soft furnishings while another inspired the pompoms on the ceiling for the chandelier.
Plus we sourced some hand embroidered Mexican fabric from a new ethical Meixcan furnishings company ‘Montes and Clark’ to become the lamp shades, cushions and bedspreads for the Boudoir versions of the tent.
(Mexican hand embroidered fabric used as cushions, lampshades and bedspreads in the tents)
The first design the team came up with combined influences from many of these different elements put together with a new fresh twist but in the end it was just too busy. 
There were certain stylistic elements we were determined to keep like the white background with splashes of bright colour but in the end we pared it right back and went for a lace background with a bold flower design on top.
It was a journey that was well worth taking as we were forced to focus on the key elements of the design and discard anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary.
And at the end of it all, we couldn’t be more excited with the result!
Doesn’t it look smashing in its full glory! Cant wait to show you the rest of the images from the shoot, in our upcoming AW14 wedding magazine out at the end of the month!
In the meantime if you would like to find their directory listing with us, you can click here