Sally Harmon is the name behind the quirky handsomeness of Boris Thumbkin. Her collection of surface designs are eclectic and varied, reflecting the multiple influences of  mid century style, science, urban living and travel, folk art and religious iconography. There are also reinterpretations of Art Deco, Chinoiserie and the 70s. But despite the disparate inspirations there is a cohesive aesthetic, driven by Sally’s work as a papercut artist with a palette of strong hues. There is delicacy too, and while most of her designs are based on cuts, she also includes some rather fabulous and whimsical drawing.

 

boris thumbkin – springtime

 

I asked her how Boris Thumbkin came about. “My real name is already in use on ye olde internette. I took Russian in college; I love War and Peace & Rocky and Bullwinkle so ‘Boris’ seemed good, but just plain ‘Boris’ was taken (it’s a Swedish dark metal band). I’d been working on a ‘porridge cupboard’ of nursery rhymes so I chose ‘Thumbkin’.”

Sally has been making papercuts for years. She grew up in the ’70s, and says she was surrounded by “lots of Shrinky-Dinks, Wacky-packs and groovy princesses.” And if that’s not enough, she also lists some favourite artists – Agnes Denes, Kara Walker, Elsa Mora, Alexander Girard, Edward Gorey, Romare Bearden, Richard Scarry, Naiad Ensel and Barry Moser. All I can say is, inside Sally’s head is a busy, busy place!

With all this busy-ness, and over 347 designs on Spoonflower, perhaps it comes as a surprise that she describes herself as “a super-good procrastinator.”

 

boris thumbkin – mod farmhouse stripe

 

boris thumbkin – vertical red leaf stripes

 

One of her worst experiences was discovering that an attic she had carefully stored work and supplies in was leaky. She was devastated. It was not something she could overcome; “I had to throw it out.”

 

boris thumbkin – Suburban mosaic

There have been joys too. She describes one of her best experiences as when “In a fit of nepotism, my father asked me to do the covers for some of his books – the 9th, 10th &11th editions of A Handbook to Literature.” [They are gorgeous covers, and I am sure your father was very proud!]

boris thumbkin – chinoiserie mod 2

 

And her best piece of advice she’s found is the utterly wonderful Sister Corita Kent’s 10 Rules. I had never seen these before, but they completely struck a chord. My personal favourite is Rule 7 about work (similar to my own philosophy, “Keep going and you’ll get somewhere”)

Rule 7: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.

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You can find lots more of Sally’s designs on Spoonflower at Boris_Thumbkin.

And ~
O
nce upon a time, Sally worked as a pastry chef (as she says, “in a fancy hoo-haa restaurant”), and she still has a love for creating wonderful food – she has an extensive collection of great recipes on her blog that you really should check out!

With thanks to Sally for sharing her words and work here.