Elle Holian's Tiger Earl Grey Caddy

Rhian Beynon's Tropical Afternoon Tea Caddy is part of our Limited Edition Designer Caddy range. Rhian created the design for our 2014 Design a Tea Caddy competition and the creation came to life this year. You can buy Rhian's caddy online here or in selected Whittard of Chelsea stores.

We met with Rhian last week and asked her to answer a few questions about her beautiful design. We also indulged in a Tea Tasting Experience at our Regent Street St James store, where the winners tasted a variety of teas accompanied by the perfect sweet treat. Read more to find out about Rhian's inspiration behing the design..

Hi Elle, can you tell us a little about your background in art and design?
When I entered the competition I was a graphic design student at Falmouth University. I have since graduated and I'm a junior designer at Bluemarlin.

What inspired and influenced your tea caddy design and illustration?
I was inspired by old botanical drawings of plants focusing on ingredients used in tea and I found it really interesting to see what these ingredients actually looked like. I knew I wanted to do a floral design but wanted it to have a modern twist. When I saw Taxi studios Tiger that came to Tea installation in one of your stores I thought it made sense to bring a tiger into the mix in a subtle way then I just sketched out how to bring these ideas together.

Which media did you use to create the design?
I did some initial sketches and then used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop combined to enhance my drawings and construct my design. I would say it took me around a week to complete the design.