“Stop and listen — Nature is a great teacher. Live simply.”
— Takashi Amano
I’m Julia, a Polish artist graphic and surface pattern designer based in Portugal. I create hand-painted patterns and prints for interiors, textiles and everyday objects.
My work begins with painting and drawing by hand, where I explore colour, form and composition before developing the artwork into patterns and collections.
Manifest
Look closely
I deeply believe that my designs can achieve what I want them to achieve only through close observation of nature and by creating in response to its principles.
Direct contact with nature. The kilometres I have walked. Time spent under a tree, by a river, in a meadow. The memory of wind on my face. The texture of a leaf. The smell of a forest in summer and in winter.
Feel deeply
Experiencing colours changing from sunrise to sunset. Watching the colours of shadows. Birds moving through the treetops. A lizard warming itself in the sun.
All of these things, together and separately, evoke particular feelings and emotions. They can lift our mood or disturb our sense of calm. They can soothe us, help us focus, or, on the contrary, fill us with excitement and wonder.
Create from it
I don’t follow trends or study forecasts of what will sell. I study the relationship between nature and our emotions — how particular light, colour, scale and texture affect the way we feel.
For me, the experience comes first. Cultural meaning and symbolism are another layer of a design; they may be present, or they may not. But the starting point is always the pure experience of being in nature.