Summer Solstice

From Paintbrush To Print

There is something special about seeing a print begin with paint on paper and eventually become part of a finished garment.

Summer Solstice, our exclusive print for the first drop of Celestine Spring Summer 2026-27, was created in collaboration with Australian print designer Julie Harrison of Pattern Play Studio.

Julie and I have worked together a number of times over the years, and I always love seeing where her creative process takes us. For Summer Solstice, we wanted something joyful and abundant — a celebration of colour, flowers and the feeling of an Australian summer garden in full bloom.

A Painterly Beginning

Summer Solstice began by hand.

Julie painted each flower, leaf and botanical element individually onto watercolour paper using a combination of gouache and watercolour. Those original brushstrokes are still visible in the finished design, giving the print its wonderfully painterly quality — loose, expressive and beautifully imperfect.

“When I started the design of this print, I was imagining a sweet-smelling garden in full bloom — a mixture of flowers and leaves nestled together in abundance.”
— Julie Harrison, Pattern Play Studio

Once dry, Julie scanned the individual paintings and brought them into the digital world. Working in Photoshop, she added delicate marks, lines and texture before arranging each botanical element individually to build the final composition.

It’s this combination of traditional painting and digital design that gives Summer Solstice so much character. Look closely and you can still see the watery edges of the paint, little brush marks and hand-drawn details amongst the flowers.

From Individual Flowers to a Garden

Julie describes the next stage as a process of finding balance and harmony — moving each flower and leaf until the composition feels just right.

The result is an abundant garden scattered across a rich blue ground, filled with vivid pinks, fresh greens, cornflower blues and touches of orange and yellow.

There is a wonderful spontaneity to it. Nothing feels too perfect or too ordered. Instead, the flowers seem to tumble into one another, just as they might in a garden at the height of summer.

“I love how this print evolved and working with ella & sunday is always a positively affirming and creative process.”
— Julie

Bringing Summer Solstice to Life

Once the artwork was complete, my part of the process began — deciding how this beautiful print would translate into clothing.

For Drop One, I chose to print Summer Solstice across organic cotton poplin and organic cotton elastane drill, allowing us to explore the same artwork in very different silhouettes.

The crisp, lightweight organic cotton poplin brings the colour and painterly detail beautifully to dresses, while the organic cotton elastane drill gives the print a little more structure.

I love seeing how the print comes to life across each piece, while still holding onto that joyful, painterly feel.

And perhaps that is my favourite part of collaborating with Julie: watching something that began as individual painted flowers on her studio table become fabric, and then finally become clothing that will head out into the world and become part of someone else's story.