We're thrilled to announce our second collaboration with Mélanie Johnsson, an illustrator from Margate. After introducing our first collab in 2022 featuring a playful series of notebooks, we've now expanded to create our first series of greeting cards, specially designed for Mother's Day and Father's Day. Learn more about Mélanie and her creative process below!

Introduce yourself…

I am Mel, an illustrator and designer based by the sea in Margate, in the UK. I love creating bold, bright, exciting designs.

Have you always been an illustrator, and if not, how did you get into the career you have now?

I studied graphic design but always drew on the side. My career started in graphic design and gradually (very organically) turned into doing illustration full time as that's what I love doing the most.

Where are you located and how does the city inspire you?

I am based in Margate, in the UK. I absolutely love living by the sea, it keeps me sane, energised and inspired. It's the best place to create and mingle with the creative community.

What’s your creative process? What tools do you use to create your images?

I love ideating and roughly sketching by hand in a notebook. I'll then always sketch digitally in Photoshop and create final illustrations in there as well. Doing this digitally means you can play around much more with shapes and colours, it makes it fun to experiment!

What are you mostly inspired by when creating work?

Nature, the Oceans and everyday life.

Do you WFH, or have a studio space?

I'm lucky to have a big studio space at home - so I get the best of both worlds!

What do you listen to when you make work?

I listen to a lot of podcasts when I'm drawing but when I need to focus, I'll put on music, usually folk or pop.

What is your dream collab?

A surf brand!

What is your favourite design you have created for our collab?

The new Mother's Day and Father's Day cards!