Meet the Contrado Artists #13: Colour – Bold and beautiful

Welcome to the 13th edition of Meet the Contrado Artists: Colour – Bold and Beautiful.

In the last edition of meet the artists, we took an in-depth look at painters. After being so impressed with the way they seemed to live and breathe their medium, we have decided to take a closer look into the use of colour. We are looking specifically into the use of bold colour pop, which gives a striking summery feel to designs.

Meet the Contrado Colourists

Every single Contrado Creative brings something new to the table. We will never stop being truly impressed with the talent we come across every single day. Join us this week while we explore the use of bold colours to make beautiful designs.

The Contrado Creatives

Gabriel Marques

Gabriel Marques has been designing his whole life. His passions began with illustration and Fantasy Art and have evolved over the years. Still feeding his original passion Gabriel prefers illustrations, albeit more complex and bold ones. He explores colours in an intricate way and allows his imagination to be the inspiration and drive for his work, never knowing what his piece is until it’s finished.

Gabriel Marques tells us that he, himself is the artist that is most influential to his work, and plans to launch his own small business with a number of products that feature his designs. When asked who he aims his designs at he told us he aimed them at people who were not afraid to be bold and experiment with his designs. He said:

“A colourful, smart and on the go person.”

Gabriel likes to draw different elements and have then all in pieces, as though he was constructing a jigsaw. Once the designing and the colouring is complete, he puts the pieces together until he has the finished artwork.

Marina Popska

Marina Popska was born and raised in Sofia, in Bulgaria. Her family are fourth-generation textile and fashion designers. From her great-grandfather building up a jersey and jacquard factory to her brother and sister graduating in textile/fashion and acting, Marina has an abundance of artistic talent around her. It comes as no surprise that she caught the creative bug at a very young age; she’s been involved with design and the arts for almost 25 years now.

She draws inspiration from the whole world around her as well as so many artists and designers that she struggled to keep the list to just a few. Some of her favourites are Auguste Rodin, John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, Andy Goldsworthy, Antoni Gaudí, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Gustav Klimt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dale Chihuly and François Boucher, however, the list is endless. Marina has no set style when it comes to her work, and enjoys experimenting in a wide variety of artistic fields, she says:

“We all change over the years when constantly experimenting and evolving.”

Marina likes to combine multiple mediums and techniques within a single piece, from hand drawing and collage to CAD and photography and even watercolours and oils. She doesn’t have a specific formula or set pattern when it comes to creating her work but rather embraces spontaneity to become highly bold and creative.

Kristen

Kristen at Fossdesign has been designing professionally since she left university in 2002 and has been freelance for the last five years or so. She says that she has always been a creative person, as is her mother, so creativity will have played a part in her life from a young age.

Kristen describes her style as using unconventional colour combinations, often with a good mix of pattern. She explains that her work has a slight mid-century feel to it, and says:

“I think my style has naturally evolved.”

Kristen says that a couple of her favourite and most influential designers are Britt Bass Turner, for her use of colour and composition, and Marimekko for their amazing patterns. As a Graphic Designer, most often her designs are started on her Mac from scratch. She loves the flat ‘2D’ look that she gets from doing it this way. She did tell us though that she does love to paint and draw, and will often digitise these to use as elements within her work.

Corina Hazlett

Corina Hazlett started designing only three years ago when she was approached by a company in America. She has had no formal fashion training and as a result, her style is that of experimentation. She uses a fusion of her own philosophies as well as her own art practice. Working as an Art Therapist, Corina told us that many people that she has met have inspired her designs. She says:

“I have used iconic role models in my stencils. The person that wears my garments should feel uplifted.”

Drawing her inspiration from designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli who lead the way, and more recently Victor & Rolf and Alexander McQueen, Corina loves artists who use clothing and style to explore connections between the art and fashion worlds. All of Corina’s work is hand-painted, sometimes with old wallpaper used within the background, and sometimes with a stencil on top. She favours acrylics and acrylic inks when taking her ideas and painting them.

Virpi Karjalainen

The sole Kuosittelija designer, Virpi Karjalainen studied in a textile school in Finland. This taught her how much passion she had for design, and how much passion she didn’t have for sewing and manufacturing. Virpi wanted to create beautiful surface patterns, rather than create garments completely from scratch. She says that her parents are talented; her father has the ability to build whatever he wants from scratch, and her mother can sew anything. She told us

“It’s a can-do attitude that I’ve inherited more than the talents itself.”

Virpi Karjalainen is drawn towards simple patterns that repeat. She loves the nod to the 80’s style and designs that are a little edgy with street-style modern tones. Originally using Photoshop and scanning her watercolours and chalk artwork, Virpi has evolved her style and now uses photography and Illustrator. She takes a photo of a shape she likes and then turns it into a pattern.

Fifikoussout

Fifikoussout has been designing for around five years. Starting with printing fabric and sewing clothes, Fifikoussout had an urge to create clothing with bold prints that couldn’t be found in stores.

We asked which artist or designer is most influential to Fifikoussout, and we were told:

“Honestly anyone who’s doing their own thing without trying to make it fit in a trend. Even if I don’t like the the result, I will always appreciate the genuine approach. “

Taking ideas straight from moments to design, Fifikoussout says putting them into action takes a lot of trial and error in front of the computer.

Contrado Creatives

We have a huge library of creators and designers, artists and illustrators and everything in between who have joined us since we set up #ContradoCreatives, our marketplace where you can browse and shop designs whilst supporting independent designers. Have a look and let us know what you think of them! If you fancy giving it a go yourself – sign up now!