AN ARTIST has turned her love of nature and flora into a business creating beautiful, handmade wallpapers, which are already gaining international attention.
Fine art graduate Helen Morley designs and creates her stunning wallpapers at her home studio in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.
Having launched her business, Waybreads, just a few months ago, the artist has already had her work showcased in exhibitions; has been selected to sell on the coveted independent online retail site, notonthehighstreet.com; has sold her wallpapers to America and has signed a deal to distribute her designs in Japan.
Helen was inspired to create her distinctive and colourful designs by her time as a warden of nature reserves in her native Kent. Each of her designs feature the beauty of English flora and fauna with its plants, seeds, creatures and complex habitats.
She believes she’s one of only a handful of designers in the country making lino printed wallpaper. Her designs start with a country walk and images on paper before she cuts the pattern into lino. Helen built her own printing press and taught herself how to do repeat patterns.
Said Helen: “To me, every plant has a secret life. They create habitats and assemblages that speak of our ancestors, the history of the land, the endless cycle of birth and decay, and the great mystery that created us all. I think my work captures a little of that story, and brings it from the fields and woods into people’s homes.
“The lino printed wallpapers are painstakingly carved and printed on a press I coach built myself, and are ordered on demand. It’s a high end product and the thing I find exciting is that they can be personalised to people’s own interior design colour scheme, even if it’s metallic.
“It’s fantastic to be able to make a living from my creative interests.”
Helen’s launched Waybreads with support from Durham Creatives, the Business Durham-backed programme which provided practical workshops and mentoring for creative start-ups, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The programme has since finished.
“I went to most of the Durham Creatives workshops as I’d never run my own business before. I found the people there very encouraging and their advice on things such as social media is working already.”
Simon Goon, managing director of Business Durham, the economic development company for County Durham, said: “There are many creative entrepreneurs in the North East who are extremely talented but perhaps lack some of the more practical skills and networks needed to run a business. Hopefully Durham Creatives workshops have given Helen the confidence to take her business forward and thrive in interior design circles.”
Meryl Levington, a partner of Blue Sky Think, the enterprise development organisation which delivered the Durham Creatives programme, said: “Helen’s designs are truly beautiful and they are garnering huge attention from across the world. We’re delighted that the Durham Creatives programme helped her along her journey.”