Fee Greening
The Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Harry Potter, Patti Smith and William Blake.
Hands, coral, shells, jewellery.
Luke Edward Hall as a desk mate and a guitarist as a boyfriend.
An idyllic cottage in Dorset.
Fee Greening is an illustrator with ancient influences and an eternal style. Her botanical drawings and fashion collaborations are all examples of her versatility and her multi-faceted creativity. She graduated at Central Saint Martin’s in London and she obtained a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art. Fee illustrated the In Bloom perfume campaign for Gucci, designed the merchandise for Florence + the Machine’s live show in Hyde Park and created the brand identity for their fan community book club. Fee has also created stunning wallpapers with the Common Room brand and collaborated with Martini, Sisley, Bally, Alexa Chung, Fortnum & Mason and other important brands.
Dear Fee, tell us how your inspirations from the ancient world are re-processed in your work. We know you have an obsession with William Blake, what is it about his art that excites you?
I’ve always been drawn to fantastical worlds and anything magical and mystical, I’m never one for actual reality. Growing up I was obsessed with Tolkien, so it wasn’t long before I discovered William Blake. I adore how his illustrations flow into one another like a dream.
Can you tell us about your relationship with art? Have you always thought that drawing would have been your form of expression or have you considered other artistic careers?
My star sign is Pisces, and a very Pisces trait is to have many different creative interests and so I find it hard to settle on one. Growing up I was equally enamoured by acting, fashion and art. I found it very hard to choose which one to pursue. I was studying fashion at Central Saint Martins when I realised I enjoyed drawing my designs far more than making them and so I specialised in illustration. I still have a keen interest in fashion, but I find it bizarre that acting was my main focus for so long since after years of drawing alone I have grown to be very shy.
What kind of technique do you use for your drawings? We know that unlike the speed of our contemporary world, your works require a lot of time and dedication, which makes them even more precious.
I draw my illustrations with dip pen and ink. It is a very time-consuming and delicate process, one false move or swish of my long hair across the page and a week’s work could be lost. So, I have to be in the right head space, I can’t be flustered or in a rush. I always listen to music or audiobooks and make my studio feel cosy with lamps and candles.
Tell us about your life in Dorset. How did you decide to move to the countryside and how do you experience your relationship with the city? Do you think you are more inspired when you live surrounded by nature?
I grew up by the sea in Devon and moved to London for art school and stayed for 12 years. I love London. It was the perfect place for me to be for those years, constantly meeting new people and discovering inspiring work. It was a wonderful time. But my partner and I had been craving a new adventure for a while and when a friend found us a cottage to rent near their home in coastal Dorset at the start of the first lockdown it was an opportunity we could not refuse. The cottage is out of a fairy-tale, thatched with a front door in the middle and set within the grounds of Lulworth Castle. The environment has been very influential on our work, my illustrations have always been inspired by nature, so it has been fantastic to immerse myself in the landscape. My partner is a musician and we’ve both found the countryside’s peace and quiet puts us in a calmer headspace to create. We travel up to London every couple of weeks for meetings, to see exhibitions, gigs and our friends. Then when we return we live quietly, working, walking and reading. I find it easier to be creative when I departmentalise my time like this, life felt a bit chaotic before we moved here. Dorset is a very special place, the landscape is brutal and wild and very empty compared to most coastal areas.
You created an ad hoc design for Orlando. Can you tell us about it?
I’ve always loved this poem since I was a child, but I really adored Terry Gilliam’s 1977 film based on it. I have always loved Monty Python, perhaps that is where I first started to love anything with a fantastical medieval aesthetic. I remember particularly liking the bedtime story set up to the opening and it’s use of teasing silhouette shadows and stirring sounds before the monsters reveal. I think thats probably what I was thinking about when I sketched this out.
Unveiling the Superba city, through 16th century palaces, hanging gardens, frescoes and historical boutiques.
Wilhelmina Skogh has been the first female manager of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm in 1901. Discover her story!
Dear reader, let me suggest you an experiment. Enter into a “conversation” with words, pictures and the power of music. This is Musword!
It’s called the Garden of Marvels, most probably because it never ceases to surprise its visitors.
They are called Cultivators and they are mazes to let us reflect on the power and the coexistence between Mankind and Nature.
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on January 10th, 2020, n° 02/2020
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