Yes, yes! My hand is up – I adore flowers too. When I look at Laura Mysak’s work, I can feel that same admiration for these beautiful and delicate things; her floral-filled surface designs are heady with gorgeousness. Big roses, tulips and irises are transformed through watercolour into soft, rich wallpaper and fabric designs to envelop yourself in.
Laura says she draws inspiration from historical sources and traditional botanical illustration. She always starts with a handpainting, and finishes her work digitally: “Sometimes the design can stay quite close to the original handpainting and sometimes I work into it on screen adding and subtracting, picking out the strongest elements.”
Although she only started freelancing her own designs less than 12 months ago, this is not Laura’s first encounter with surface design. In 2002 she graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design with a First Class Honours in Printed Textiles, then went on to complete an Masters in Textiles at Winchester School of Art. Then, after almost a decade of industry experience working in CAD design studios for the British fashion market, she decided “it was about time I tried something for myself.”
“I have always been excited about creating original surface pattern designs. Since college I’ve worked on honing my style, and I’ve come to realise what I’m good at, what I should stay away from and where I’d like to see my work progressing. Having worked in commercial design studios producing work that fits current trends I was itching to create my own unique look, something which makes me proud of the journey I’ve taken to get here.”
Her journey continues. I first came across her work on Spoonflower, with beautiful, sketchy and stylised designs shown above, such as Fifties Rose; her recent work, like Multi Poppy, demonstrates a shift to more botanically accurate images, yet the whole is overlaid with a linear detail, giving it a contemporary edge while retaining its essential femininity.
You can find more of Laura’s work on Spoonflower here, on her blog here, and on her own website, www.lauramysak.co.uk