Talented Are Pedalling For Yorkshire

[Vivian Zhang]

The Tour de France Grand Départ sets off from Leeds on Saturday 5th July, before winding through the Yorkshire countryside and historic towns. In honour of our love of cycling (a noble British pastime!) and Yorkshire (God's own county) Talented chief designer Julia Gash has created a tote bag range to celebrate the occasion entitled Pedalling for Yorkshire.

The range includes two striking designs that display the routes through Yorkshire's most iconic landmarks, including heritage treasures such as York Minster, Skipton Castle, Harewood House as well as more recent additions to the landscape including the Hepworth Art Gallery and Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre. Made in Fair Trade Certified factories in India and printed in Sheffield the sustainable canvas tote bag range incorporates the Talented trademark red, white and blue web handles and comes with a cute “I HEART YORKSHIRE” button badge.

Designed by Sheffielder Julia Gash, the prints are part of an international collection of Cityscapes, which combine her two passions: art and travel. The map like Cityscape prints fuse her two loves, depicting places around the world seen through her eyes and include far- flung places such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, San Diego and Seattle. Drawn in a naïve style, her interest in architectural detail and the shape and character of a building is an honest, playful and unique interpretation of the world we live in. Her drawings describe the character of a specific place, and within that, the individuality of a building, be it a Georgian Terrace with an ornate façade or a contemporary, modernist construction. 

Julia’s work as a print led designer came after a 15-year dormancy during which she has been running businesses in Sheffield. Her first Cityscapes however go back to her childhood when in the 1960s her father brought a second hand trailer tent. Her summer holidays were spent travelling around Europe with her family for several years. Ever keen to keep his 3 daughters occupied, Rex Gash made the drawing books from waste paper at his printing company, gave them fresh felt tip pens and told them to write about and draw the places they had visited each day. This was the true beginning of Julia’s Cityscape journey, which has now taken her back home to Yorkshire.

Julia says: “Cycling is on the up-and-up, with thousands of local commuters taking to their bikes on a daily basis. Getting sporty AND helping the environment? That's definitely up our street! We're really excited that such a widely-loved event is coming to Yorkshire, and I’m sure that our county will shine in the spotlight.”

The Pedalling for Yorkshire Tote Bags are priced at £12.00 and are available through selected Yorkshire stockists and Talented will also be selling the Yorkshire totes at a Popup Shop in the Moonko boutique in Sheffield (27 June – 12 July) as well as online through Doodle Bag.

Pedalling for Yorkshire prints are also available to buy at Easyart.com as framed prints or canvases – prices start at £19.95 for an unframed print.