I would like to design and print bespoke wallpaper panels, which work in isolation or as part of a narrative of an interior space. Translating elements of the interior, such as chairs, lamps, cookers, washing machines, furniture etc. alongside more abstract patterns, I plan to make a confident and contemporary statement through wallpaper.

Translating my drawings onto wallpaper, I can begin to explore how the panels will work as a continuous design and as individual pieces, creating an imaginative, intriguing and unusual space. The use of space is fundamental, where I can experiment and play with scale and placement of objects. Areas of textured colour and surface, exploring mark making and pattern will contrast with the line drawings on top. I plan to screen print my drawings onto both digitally and hand printed backgrounds, and hand finish designs with elements of collage and stitching. Currently, I am researching companies where I can get panels of wallpaper digitally printed. The ongoing sketchbook research of drawing and collecting images to feed into my designs is an essential part of the project. The end result will be a wallpaper collection of thoughtful domestic compositions, juxtaposed together, suggesting an idiosyncratic narrative. 

Since graduating from my textile degree, I have spent five years exhibiting and selling mixed media paintings and undertaking illustration commissions, working primarily as a self employed artist. The work was large scale, where collections of domestic objects lived in patterned, emotive colour. Paint, collage, inks and oil pastels were layered on top of each other to create rich textures and surfaces. I have always been interested in domestic spaces and interiors and have done space specific paintings. However, I felt the work had become predictable, limited and ‘safe’ and I no longer found it absorbing or challenging. I felt ‘stuck’ and needed a new direction to move forward with my ideas. Simplifying my subject matter and concentrating on the single theme of a chair, I started investigating what it is that interests me. I have been working on a much larger scale and breaking out of the picture frame onto wallpaper. It has reawakened my passion in drawing, use of space and mark making, and opened up an exciting, endless world of observing and recording pattern. I’m so enthused by the multitude of possibilities and feel I’m at the beginning of a new direction in my creative career. 

'Love story in a chocolate shop'