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By Danika Herrick on March 8, 2024
By Courtney Napier on February 12, 2024
Featuring Artist Kate Zaremba
As creatives, we often get to wear many hats as well as try new things and opportunities, making entrepreneurship an ever-evolving venture. Since 2013, Kate Zaremba, the artist behind the Kate Zaremba Company, has been a pattern designer successfully selling her work online, and recently decided to try a new thing and open a Spoonflower shop!
In this post, you’ll hear why the time was right for Kate to sell some of her designs on Spoonflower, what sparks her creativity and how she thinks pattern designing is creating a puzzle from scratch each and every day.
I’ve been printing fabrics with Spoonflower for years and years. It was time to open a shop for my textiles to truly THRIVE. I can’t wait to see how other makers and designers get creative with my patterns.
I found Spoonflower back in 2010 when I was first starting out designing textiles. It was the only company of its kind at the time, offering a service really only accessible to textile industry professionals and making it possible for ANYONE to easily upload their own artwork and print on fabric without crazy minimums. I was OVER THE MOON. Being able to see my drawings come to life as apparel and home decor was the most amazing experience and inspired so many more ideas for new projects and designs.
I always start by hand. I haven’t made the switch over to the tablet world, so my process is still very analog in that respect, which I like! I want my work to have my hand in it. I might draw, paint or use cut-up paper to create shapes in the first stages. I then scan the artwork into the computer and play with things digitally using Adobe® Photoshop® and Adobe® Illustrator®.
I really cannot wait to see what others make with my patterns. When I launched my business, my hope was that my drawings would become backdrops for people’s spaces, offering a little bit of joy and artful inspiration to their everyday life. For my patterns to be available in an array of textiles is really exciting to me.
The patterns in my shop or sort of a “Greatest Hits” collection in a way! Some of the designs date back to when I first started out. I don’t know if I have one single design aesthetic? I think overall you will see that my work is lively, colorful and sort of playfully sophisticated.
The things that inspire me are vast. Art history, nature, architecture—even just a color combination I set my eyes on can send me on a mission to create a pattern based around it. Pattern design is like creating a puzzle from scratch. It’s the process of taking all the shapes and colors I’ve made, then turning them into a puzzle that has had me hooked for so many years.
Kate Zaremba is an artist and illustrator specializing in wallpaper, textiles and ceramics. As a kid, she grew up on theatre sets and sound stages as a child actress performing in theater and television. This provided imaginary worlds for her to play, learn and discover, inspiring a career in the visual arts.
katezarembacompany.comWhen she’s not immersed in all-things content in her role at Spoonflower, Theresa currently spends evenings pursuing her Master’s degree at UNC Chapel Hill. She also makes time to watch and paint birds, sew her own clothes, garden, and eat pasta as often as possible in her home city of Durham, NC.
2 comments
These interviews are so interesting – I love finding out more about the artist’s behind the designs⭐️ Kate your bold and graphic work is fabulous. Your website has given me lots of ideas for development of my own. Thank you! Kate xo