Celebration Europe will be kicking off in just a few days, and amongst the exhibitor list is the incredibly talented Emma J Shipley! She will have her range of Star Wars scarves and accessories available for sale at the convention, as well as a new poster print – and even giveaways! If you’re attending Celebration, be sure to stop by her booth N413 to check out her range.
Inspired by Star Wars, graphic artist Emma J Shipley painstakingly draws each design by hand in pencil in London, fusing highly skilled draftsmanship with a subversive imagination. The Star Wars inspired luxury designs features Darth Vader morphing into the Death Star, with stormtroopers, TIE fighters, the Millennium Falcon and X‐wings.
Designer Emma J Shipley will be doing live drawing at the show, giving away coloured pencil drawings of favourite Star Wars icons and vehicles.
Celebration Europe exhibitor list – Emma J Shipley (booth N413)
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Emma J Shipley has created a brand new poster size print of her artwork exclusively for Celebration Europe. The full colour prints are limited edition of 500 only, and are signed and numbered. Each day, Emma will also be doing live drawings at her booth each day, giving away free coloured pencil drawings of Star Wars vehicles and Stormtroopers. Finally, Emma will be giving away one of her gorgeous Darth Vader cotton blend scarves (in white), worth £180.00!
If you can’t attend Celebration Europe, you can of course still buy the Emma J Shipley x Star Wars scarves online – they can ship worldwide! There are two colour variants to choose from (white or black), available in two fabric options – fine wool or cotton blend. The cotton blend scarves measure 100cm x 120cm, the wool scarves measure 140cm x 140cm, and the long wool scarf measures 65cm x 190cm.
The large luxurious sizes of these scarves give you so many styling options for wearing – I particularly love the ‘belted cape’ style, as demonstrated on Instagram here.
- Darth Vader fine wool scarf (white) – £295.00 each
- Darth Vader fine wool scarf (black) – £295.00 each
- Darth Vader cotton blend scarf (white) – £180.00 each
- Darth Vader cotton blend scarf (black) – £180.00 each
- Darth Vader long wool scarf – £225.00 each
I recently had the incredible opportunity to ask Emma J Shipley a few questions about her amazing Star Wars scarves, her artwork, and her favourite Star Wars fashion. Read on for the full interview and photos –
How long have you been a Star Wars fan?
I was a big fan of the original saga films when I was growing up – I can’t remember how old I was when I saw the first one but I must have been really young. We had them all on video and I’d watch them over and over again with my older brother! My favourite was Return of the Jedi.
Do you have a favourite Star Wars character?
I absolutely loved Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker in the original films. I’m also a big fan of The Force Awakens and love the new characters. I think Rey is an amazing protagonist and Kylo Ren is such a great villain.
What inspired you to design and create Star Wars scarves?
I was already working with Disney on a Tinker Bell collection a couple of years ago, and when they mentioned that the new Star Wars film would be coming out in 2015 and asked if I would I like to do something for it, I jumped at the chance!
How did you decide which Star Wars characters/elements to feature in your design?
I had so many ideas but had to narrow it down to create a strong design. Lucasfilm let me access their incredible archive of original material – sketches, concept artwork, storyboards and photos from the original sets. I knew from quite early on that I wanted to focus on Darth Vader as he is such a strong character with a unique and striking image. But I couldn’t resist adding in lots of vehicles from the films and a whole host of Stormtroopers. For the background of the design I created a digital montage of space and planets that were taken from the original film stills.
Did you work on any other concepts before deciding on your final design?
I had a few other ideas – in particular a concept focusing more the the Light Side, set on Endor with droids, Ewoks, Luke and Leia. I’d still love to pursue that one so watch this space!
How long did it take you to create your amazing Star Wars artwork?
I think it was about two weeks work on the drawing. But there was a lot of research and thinking time before even getting to that point, and then the digital work of colouring and creating the space montage background afterwards. After that the scarves, ties and pocket squares are printed onto the finest fabrics in Italy and finished by hand.
How did you find out actress Daisy Ridley had been spotted wearing one of your Star Wars scarves?
I saw it on Instagram – one of her fan accounts @daisyridleystyle had spotted her wearing it arriving for the premiere in Japan and tracked me down! I was so excited when I first saw it – she was the best possible person to wear it!
Do you have any particular favourite Star Wars fashion items/brands?
I have an Eleven Paris Star Wars sweatshirt which I love – it has artwork from one of the original Japanese film posters which I’m a big fan of. Also Rejina Pyo created a bespoke dress out of one of my scarves, for me to wear to the Force Awakens premiere in London – she creates beautiful pieces but I think that was the first Star Wars item she’d worked on!
You also decorated a custom BB-8 for the Force For Change exhibition and charity auction – what inspired your design?
I wanted to create an alternate universe version of BB-8 – but there was also some Endor inspiration in there, as if BB-8 had evolved on a forest world and merged with its surroundings.
Can you hint if you have any plans for a future Star Wars collection?
There’s such a huge wealth of inspiration to be found in the world of Star Wars – it’s certainly not something I’d rule out and I’d love to expand it with new products as well as new designs.
Many thanks to Emma J Shipley for answering my questions. Sadly I’m not able to attend Celebration Europe – I would desperately love to see her amazing artwork and scarves in person! Her luxurious Star Wars scarves make a fantastic addition to any wardrobe, a versatile and functional accessory that works with any style.
Photos sourced from and belong to Emma J Shipley.
