At work with: Natalia Bagniewska

This month's 'At work with', we meet the wonderful Natalia Bagniewska - artist and designer. We speak to Natalia about her career so far, her joyful creations, sustainable working and what she enjoyed most about working with us on our limited edition Valentine's Day print.

Natalia Bagniewska is a London based artist and designer known best for her colourful, playful prints which are now sold with the likes of Liberty, Glassette, Cissy Wears and Homeplace, as well as on her own website. Natalia’s work is full of joy and playfulness and is the perfect blend of fine art and graphic design, producing pieces that sit beautifully in any style of home or space.

We worked with Natalia on a very special project to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year. She created a beautiful, limited edition print, inspired by the story and scent of our much loved Moon candle, which was included with all orders on the run up to Valentine’s Day.

We visited Natalia at her home studio to talk about her career path, sustainable working, how she blends her artistic and graphic design skills together, and what she enjoyed most about collaborating with us on this project.

Your prints have become so successful this past year – how did you develop your own style of work that worked for you?

Well, firstly, thank you, that’s so kind. I’ve always known what I like and trusted my own style and instincts when it came to art, but I never knew how to channel it. When I started drawing more seriously (about 3 years ago), I decided to listen to those instincts and just draw what I love, which is anything colourful, playful and fun. I tend to find that the less I think about it and really draw for fun rather than for business, the more it resonates with people.

Can you tell us a little about your career journey so far?

I have always loved creativity (a cliche, I know!) but for a long time I wasn’t sure how to channel it. I worked in magazines; on both fashion and picture desks but was always more interested in how the whole magazine looked rather than specifically what was in it. I decided to retrain as a graphic designer and it was this that really opened my eyes to the world of art and illustration in a way I hadn’t been before. I quickly became a freelance designer after graduating and haven’t looked back since. I love working for myself, I feel so lucky to be able to do so. It gives me some time to develop and work on my style and personal projects. I now understand that I am not a fine artist and I am not a purest graphic designer either – I sit somewhere in the middle. I love typography, layouts, colour and structure, but I am not a perfectionist and I love both design and art that verge on childish, loose and romantic.

Your work is colourful and playful and holds a sense of positivity – is there a particular message that you want to convey through each piece?

Again, thank you! That means a lot. The only thing I have always wanted to be is accessible, unpretentious and like you say, positive and happy. I am drawn to things that simply look nice and make me feel good and I know a lot of people feel the same way. So all I hope for is that my artwork brings some joy to people’s lives.

What was your creative process in creating our Valentine’s Day print?

I knew instinctively that I wanted it to be feminine, romantic and sultry (just like the gorgeous scent!) I was drawn to the idea that the rose turns to face the moon in the dead of night, almost their own love affair whilst we all sleep. It sort of flowed from there. It was only after having drawn it that I read the quote on the candle box (classic me, I often dive in and do the research after, cardinal sin!) – “Blooming under the light of the moon, nocturnal roses unfold at midnight” and I was glad my instincts were right in this instance.

How do you practice sustainability with your work?

I try to work only with people (printers mainly) that have an environmental message; Print.Work, based in Leeds for example. I have also eradicated plastic from my packaging as much as possible. I’m conscious of who I collaborate with, and attempt to only work with brands that are trying to make changes. I think there’s so much to learn though, and I am always trying to do a little bit better, I really believe in small changes making a big difference.

Are you planning to celebrate Valentine’s Day in any way this year?

I floated the idea to my partner; we have a young baby and my parents have sweetly said we should do something on Valentine’s evening and they will babysit. We’ll see, but something tells me we will be way too tired to bother this year. Perhaps we will just light our Moon candle and watch a great rom-com.

What can we expect from you for the rest of 2022?

My aim is to work across some different mediums; I have some fun fabric based projects coming up, and I would like to paint more. I’m also interested in focusing more on wedding stationery. I love doing it as it’s such a perfect marriage (excuse the pun) of typography and illustration. I think people are getting more creative and brazen with their wedding choices, and it’s great to be a part of that.

What is it about the scent of our Moon Candle that draws you to it?

It’s so sexy and is the perfect scent to wind down with after a tiring day.

Shop Moon.

Follow Natalia on Instagram:
@nb_natal_b

Visit Natalia’s Website:
nataliabagniewska.com

– Images by Liz Seabrook