Reminiscent of the sumptuous gradient florals and geometrics from the heyday of European Art Deco design, these designs from Marta Rusin {aka Kociara} have found their inspiration in the work of Tamara Lempicka and mid-century modern.
kociara – bugs
Marta’s bookshelves are full of pattern collections and illustration, and while she enjoys experimenting with different aesthetics and describes herself as ‘pretty eclectic’, there is a definite thread running through much of her work in her choice of shapes and colours, which centre around the flowing lines of deco and nouveau, in cool, muted blues and lilacs.
Mainly working digitally with a help of a Wacom pen and tablet, she uses Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, and occasionally Corel Painter. “I love the freedom the software gives me – the fact that I can correct mistakes with a click of a mouse (pen) rather than start over again as the case may be with natural media. I do doodle on paper, but for some reason mainly female faces and figures…”
“Sometimes I set out with a clear idea of what I want to illustrate and compile a mood board, but usually the process is quite organic and the ideas crystalize while I work. In the future I plan to start doing more work using my pencil sketches and start producing a bit more of placement artwork rather than repeating patterns which I have been mainly concentrating on so far.”
kociara – decocircles
Marta loved drawing from a young age, and later, when she learned that it was possible to digitally print fabric she thought it would be fun to have clothes with her own designs printed on.
In about 2010 she started looking into the idea of running a service that would allow people to upload their designs and have them printed on fabric and made into garments, scarves, pillows etc, but after much consideration decided that the result would be too expensive for the customer and the production time too long. She put the idea aside. “Many such services have sprung up since, and I guess time will show if this can be a viable business for them. In the meantime though as part of my research into that area I discovered Spoonflower and I thought the site looked interesting.”
kociara – decorose
After stalling for a while, she took the plunge and in January 2012 started entering the weekly contests. She soon built up a portfolio of patterns; she now has a library of more than 300 different designs (not including different colourways). Marta also enters her designs in contests on various other sites, as well as selling products via Society6.
She still has a ‘real’ job as a layout designer/artworker in publishing sector, where she has been working for the last 10 years. “I would love to be able to work on surface designs all day long as this brings me so much joy that it does not feel like work at all, but unfortunately at this point I still need to have another career. I have recently started working for a children’ s book publisher and they publish tons of high quality illustrated fiction and picture books. I must say it is also enjoyable to work on these titles, I am inspired every day as the illustrations are often stunning. It is a great environment to be in too, but my day job lacks the creative aspect that I enjoy most.”
kociara – nasturtia
kociara – tulip
Her early story is a familiar one. “As a child I was quite shy, and my artistic expressions were not encouraged at home. I come from a family that put emphasis on academic achievements and anything to do with arts or crafts was dismissed as ‘not serious’. I practically abandoned art for many years though my exercise books were full of doodled female faces. Some of these drawings were taken by friends, and one of them recently sent me photos of the ones she has kept among her school memorabilia. I was very touched that she has had them for so many years.”
“It was only when I was already in my late twenties and living in London that I decided to pursue my interest in illustration, but still never even thinking that it could turn into something more than just a hobby. It’s only fairly recently I have plucked up the courage to show my work.”
Now her work has been placed in the top ten for several of Spoonflower’s contests, and two of her designs have been printed on scarves by a Germany based company Front Row Society. She also managed to get to the semi finals of Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search this year. Marta says it’s this type of encouragement that is always so thrilling for her, and keeps her going.
kociara – doodles
Despite being surrounded by so much fabric, Marta confesses that she hasn’t used an iron in about the last 8 years. She laughs, “I have been told off a few times by fellow designers on Spoonflower that my pictures of swatches that I post are badly creased…. I might have to invest in an ironing board in future just for the purpose.”
Her very best piece of advice is, “Never say never!”
You can find more of Marta’s work on her Spoonflower site Kociara, on Society6, and on her blog