How Spoonflower Helps Women Artists Become Business Owners

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2023, we turn to five women in our artist community who have found success on Spoonflower. From gaining confidence in their design skills, to building a business or even landing their dream job, these artists share how Spoonflower is powering their creative careers.

Janine Lecour is an Atlanta-based digital pattern designer who loves to design vibrantly colored and exuberant patterns. Mixing bold pattern motifs with eye-catching color palettes, she strives to create a whimsical art experience. Something that gives the viewer a sense of joy and optimism. 

They helped by highlighting my work and me as an artist. Exposure is a critical part of growing your business, but gaining confidence in your style is just as important. My confidence as an artist grew because of the spotlights I was a part of through Spoonflower. I became confident in knowing that I could create good, marketable patterns. This has allowed me to find my voice, experiment and grow my business in different design markets. 

Kate Rhees is a professional accountant turned eye-candy maker. Without any formal art training, she learned everything she knows from a Skillshare membership and her library card. Kate has licensed her art around the world to many amazing companies large and small. 

I used Spoonflower’s weekly Design Challenges as my “homework,” and although I never thought I could earn a living, I thought I could at least use Spoonflower as my portfolio site. Slowly but surely, my portfolio grew (and, side bonus—I gained a community of amazing Spoonflower artist friends!).  

My sales started increasing every month. I received my first of many outside licensing deals, and I was so busy with design requests, I didn’t have time for non-design work. I had to say goodbye to accounting. Leaving a great paying, stable job with amazing benefits was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but one of the best. I would never be where I am in my life without Spoonflower.

The fabulously quirky Mount Vic and Me (est. 2013) is the brains of Kara Cooper, a designer and illustrator living in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The studio shop resides in a 100-year-old shop in the Blue Mountains—a mash of colour, textures, retro fun and nostalgia. Kara’s work is all about the unique beauty of the Australian bush, flora and fauna, as well as her range of political and feminist designs featured across art tea towels, t-shirts, socks, greeting cards, sneakers, skirts, mugs, cushions, upholstered vintage chairs, wallpaper and fabrics. 

What started with just me sewing tea towels using fabric purchased from Spoonflower has now grown into a fabulous studio shop with staff, wholesale customers across Australia and our online store.  

We work with a fabulous sewing manufacturer who holds the Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation and recently started sewing with Country Women’s Association in regional New South Wales. All fabric for these endeavors comes from Spoonflower, Linen Cotton Canvas for tea towels, Celosia Velvet^TM for upholstered upcycled armchairs and Organic Cotton Sateen for our skirts. Nothing is wasted, any leftover fabric is turned into surprise fabric packs, or my daughter will make scrunchies to sell in the studio shop.  

My favourite milestone to date is that I’ve recently hit 3000 fabric and wallpaper designs. This is HUGE! 

Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Linda has six years of experience working in textiles for fashion as well as home and interiors. She currently works at Danica Brands full time as a surface designer and continues to create fun Spoonflower designs in her spare time. 

Spoonflower has played a big part in my career. I currently work full time as an in-house surface designer at my dream company, Danica. I am one of five surface designers on our team and get the opportunity to design across a wide variety of products for five brands and some big clients I wouldn’t have had access to on my own.  

I feel fortunate to be able to make a living doing what I love! This wasn’t always the case, I have worked in a total of four companies; it wasn’t always great. That was why I started my Spoonflower shop—I wasn’t being fulfilled creatively, and Spoonflower had all the right ingredients! Weekly on-trend Design Challenges that would help me build my portfolio and a platform that would provide immediate feedback on my work.

Spoonflower also enabled me to photograph actual products and swatches for my portfolio without the cost of manufacturing samples the traditional route—all that with the bonus of potential passive income and a paying structure similar to licensing. Spoonflower is very respectful of artists and never claims ownership of any of the art! I participated in every challenge for almost a year to build my portfolio.  

An unexpected bonus that came was the close-knit community of artists on Spoonflower, some I have met in person and others I have spoken with for years now online. I never expected to meet so many like-minded people, but it all makes sense as it is often hard to meet other local surface designers—most companies only hire one or two at a time. Plus, the more I am in this industry, the more I realize how many design companies visit Spoonflower too! My first-ever licensing client also came from the platform! 

Anna Denes is the artist behind DenesAnnaDesign. First and foremost, she’s a wife and a mother to three beautiful children. She studied fashion design at university and is a self-taught surface pattern designer. 

I worked in the fashion industry for a couple of years in London after I finished university. When I was expecting my first baby, I wanted to move back home to Transylvania to the countryside. In 2018, I learned how to create repeat patterns when my first baby boy was a few months old. Shortly after, I discovered Spoonflower and uploaded my first designs to the platform.  

I was still learning and experimenting with designs. It took me quite some time until I was able to create patterns that I was proud of. I enjoyed designing patterns for my clothes, my home and my kids. My Spoonflower shop slowly started to get a little bit of attention at the end of 2020 so I decided to really focus on my shop in 2021. I love participating in the challenges, as I love the themes and it helps to expand my portfolio a lot.  

I’m really grateful to be able to sell my designs on the Spoonflower platform and to earn an income while I’m home with my kids. Last year I gave birth to my third baby and I had a few months where I had little work done but I still earned a nice income regardless. It’s definitely life changing. I’m grateful that I was able to build a career from the comfort of my home, next to my kids. I love to create patterns but it’s kind of a necessity as well. Creating patterns is how I recharge myself.  

Can’t get enough of these creative women? Place an order with Spoonflower this March to receive one of five limited edition International Women’s Day stickers designed by these artists, while supplies last.