Maxine Gordon meets a young designer who has the art of the doodle off to a T.

IN Carly Godwin's world, the eyes have it. Big boss-eyed, googly ones, that stand out on stalks, cartoon-like, as if to say 'Yikes!'.

These eyes are the common link in her collection of doodles featuring cows and pigs, caterpillars and bees as well as the occasional Martian.

The designs are simple: brightly-coloured creatures defined by a black outline.

She has called the collection 'Baga Spanerz' (go on, say it out loud), stemming from the fact the doodles were a lot uglier in their original form.

"Their faces were like a bag of spanners," explains the Haxby-based designer. "They all had ginger hair and were quite ugly to look at, but I changed them to make them look cuter."

The designs look fantastic on a plain-coloured T-shirt, but you can imagine them printed on any number of items from baby bibs to backpacks, hats to handbags, stationery to cups and saucers.

Carly, 20, can see the potential of them too and has not only patented her work but secured a trademark.

Next week her website goes live (www.bagaspanerz.co.uk), selling T-shirts. Meanwhile, Carly is liaising with select stores in York (Ark, Exit, Forever Changes) and similar independent stores in Leeds with a view to selling her goods there.

She is also launching a limited edition zip-up top in autumnal gold with a quirky seasonal design. For autumn 2005 it is a tree - with those trademark eyes. For winter, look out for hoodies with a penguin motif. Next spring there is a yellow chick and a red ladybird is lined up for summer.

Carly's plan is to produce just 100 of each seasonal top and sell them with an 'authenticity tag', following the fashion of top designers.

Working from an office in the Business Advice Centre at Fishergate, York, Carly says she is working round the clock to make Baga Spanerz a success.

"I haven't had a life for the past six months because I'm spending seven days a week doing this," she says.

But it's not a complaint. She wouldn't have it any other way. Two years ago she gave up a secretarial job in Telford, Shropshire, to move to York, where her mum Sandra had settled.

A keen writer of plays and poems, Carly studied performing arts and considered working as an actress. But these doodles got the better of her.

"These ideas were just in my head and wouldn't go away," she said. "So I put them on to the computer to see what they looked like. I could see immediately that they would work well on clothes, but would also be great on stationery and accessories. My idea was to create a brand, rather than just specialist clothing."

With help from the Business Advice Centre in York and grants from White Rose and the Prince's Trust, Carly has been able to turn her dream into a reality - literally taking her idea from the drawing board to the marketplace in the space of seven months.

The T-shirts will sell for £24.95, the limited edition tops for £40 and are aimed at the 16-30 age group, although Carly says people of all ages have shown interest in her designs.

"Parents seem to like them a lot, so I will be looking to some clothing for children," she said.

A guinea pig for future designs will be her nephew Jack who made his appearance into the world just a few weeks ago - just hours before Carly's first trade exhibition at the Merchant Adventurer's Hall in York.

"We got a call to say my sister Sasha had gone into labour back home, so mum and I dashed down to Telford to be with her," she said. "The baby was born just before four in the morning then we had to come back to York for the exhibition."

Happily, the response to her work was encouraging.

With her products about to go on sale, Carly says she feels excited about the prospect of seeing someone wearing one of her designs.

She said: "That will be amazing, to be walking down the street and see someone in one of my T-shirts."

Carly's T-shirts will be available on-line from November 1, visit www.bagaspanerz.co.uk

Updated: 16:42 Friday, October 28, 2005