We chat to Emily Burns, designer, collaborator and friend to Cecily Cane…

Tell us about you.

I’m Emily, Originally from the Coast of North Yorkshire, I left the small seaside town to study a degree in fashion marketing and start my dream of a creative career.

I got my first break into the fashion industry after winning creative marketing award at Graduate fashion week. I started as an eager junior designer and worked for over a decade up to Senior baby and nursery designer at John Lewis. Managing teams and working across multi tasking across category areas was fast paced yet exciting, working from start to finish of the whole design process. I got to travel to some amazing countries for inspiration and to visit suppliers. I loved being a part of such an iconic British brand. Career highlights have been seeing princess Charlotte wearing my cardigan design for her official 2nd birthday photo and designs featured in vogue.com .

After covid my husband and I took the leap, left London and moved to France, he played rugby professionally, so I enjoyed way too many croissants, got by on my very basic French, and gave birth to our little girl Abbie Clementine. We have now recently moved to Northern Ireland and have been freelancing across a range of creative projects.

You’ve known Sukey for a long time. How did you get involved in Cecily Cane? How has it been to work together on the Cecily Cane brand?

Yes Sukey and I first met at university studying fashion marketing together. We instantly clicked and shared similar passion for design.
Having years of experience designing for the children market, it seemed like a natural collaboration to design a print for such an uplifting brand like Cecily cane. We shared inspiration and bounced ideas for the print direction. It was great to work alongside someone with clear vision and brand identity. It’s been a lovely creative project to work on.

Where did your inspiration for the star-print wrapping come from? How did you start?

I always begin with a good old hand sketch, using inks, pen and pencil. Creating loose quick patterns and shapes that can be scanned in and worked into digitally. I love the sketchy effects you can achieve vs working directly onto the computer. Stars felt like a great motif to use, lending to the ‘winter’ brief. Using minimal colour and adding in the ‘Cecily Cane’ type face complimented the strong brand packaging which I felt was key. The final print adds another level of surprise and joy to the gift opening experience.