With a style entirely her own, the renowned 30-year-old British illustrator Katie Scott works from her studio in northern London creating stunning illustrations turning into wallpaper, posters and books. With her richness in detail, Katie displays her endless fascination with fauna and flora in her classic, yet modern artworks.
A marvellous world of inspiration
That moment when things just feel right. When you cannot explain why you love or are drawn to something. That is the feeling we had looking at illustrations by Katie Scott first time. We fell in love with her distinctive style and mysterious universe and knew we wanted to learn more about her.
A sunny spring afternoon back we had a chat with Katie and a peek into her flat in London. We were curious to find out what inspires her on a daily basis.
“What inspires me the most is the natural world, either from documentary, books or gardens. But I am also inspired by the art that has come from our human thirst for understanding and decoding the natural world. To me, diatoms are wondrous, but Ernst Haeckel's drawings of diatoms are equally amazing,” she says and continues:
“I love the libraries that I have access to in London, the Wellcome Collection and the Natural History Museum. When I am at a loss creatively, I go there and immerse myself in exhibits, dioramas or old paintings dating back hundreds of years.”
“What inspires me the most is the natural world, either from documentary, books or gardens.”
From poster to wallpaper
As wallpaper is where it all started for ferm LIVING, it felt natural to start up a dialogue on a collaboration and bring Katie’s illustrations to life on walls. Up until then, Katie had worked on single patterns for posters and books, so working on a repeat pattern for wallpapers were new to her:
“These were my first wallpaper designs, so there was a little learning curve for me, working out how to make a perfect repeat. I had done pattern work before, but never something that would be sent to the engravers and where the artwork had to be seamless. I had wanted to learn how to do it properly for a long time,” she tells and sketching out the process:
“My initial sketch for each design was extremely rough and just blocking out the area of each animal or tree etc. Then I researched the particular species that I thought would work well for that space, trying to make sure there was diversity in shape and size. No matter how good the initial sketch felt, I learned that there was always a lot of flexibility needed to make changes right up until the end, to get the balance perfect in the design,” she explains and ends:
“It was all worth it. It has been so much fun to do projects like these that are a bit unexpected. Also, I really appreciate the fact that the wallpaper is adequately printed and in such good quality.”
“I love the libraries that I have access to in London, the Wellcome Collection and the Natural History Museum.
I go there and immerse myself
in exhibits, dioramas or old paintings dating back
hundreds of years.”
When working with design and illustrations, it can sometimes be tricky to know when an artwork is done. Often it is a feeling, that cannot necessarily be put into words, but simply just have to be felt.
“My favourite drawings are the ones that have felt no good right up until the moment something is tweaked, and then it all clicks into place. I think I am quite good at judging that very moment and stopping there,” she reveals.
Katie’s debut as a wallpaper illustrator ended up with a range of stunning wallpaper designs that will give a breathtaking look in any room of your home.
Each wallpaper is printed on FCS-certified non-woven paper, which means you will get a more durable paper blend with minimal disruption or damage to the environment.
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