DaWanda Backstage

In today’s interview with a DaWanda seller, we have the pleasure of meeting the lovely Isabella, proprietress of the IsabellasArt store. Isabella’s beautifully detailed pen and ink illustrations bring to life a magical world of mermaids and witches, ice cream palaces and crazy rocket girls, and are available as prints and original artworks, as well as being the basis for amazing shadow puppets and more. Check out her shop, then read her fascinating interview to get a glimpse behind the scenes:

Please tell us a bit about yourself:
I’m a young, Dutch, artist, illustrator, writer and hope to become a film maker as well. The basis of all my work lies in Folklore, which plays a very important, almost guiding role in my life. The stories I read and hear from others are translated into my work and used as inspiration.

Besides this I always run ‘little projects’ such as story-telling, making dolls and jewelry. Furthermore I like to visit old churches, graveyards, libraries, botanical gardens, local farm markets where you can find all sorts of delicious food, and I am very fond of puppet theatres and campfire stories.

How did you discover that you have creative tendencies?
I guess I have always known that someday I would start my own bussiness, selling hand-made goods. I have been making things whole my life, so it was a very natural thing to do. But when I started to receive those lovely comments and messages from my customers I really knew this was what I wanted to do.

Where do you find your inspiration?
Most of my inspiration comes from books. I just love folklore, mythology, legends and fairytales. Almost all of my works are based upon a story of some kind, sometimes this is a story I have read and other times it is a story I made up myself.

Do you have any role models/inspirations in the area of Design? If so, who and why?
I do not have a specific role model but I do admire designers who stay true to their own style and who find it more important to develop their style then to make money with it (I do not want to say making money with your work is a bad thing, but the work itself should always come in the first place). I think this “rule” is very important as your style is what makes the difference between being One of a million or One out of a million.

How did you come up with the ideas for the products in your DaWanda shop?
Well, I was already drawing for a long time. When I found out about DaWanda I thought I could give it a try and sell prints, as I saw many other artists were doing it as well. After a while I started to create other products such as my shadow puppets. As I am a silhouette artist it was a small step for me to start making them. I have always dreamed of having my own shadow theatre some day so the learning process of making and selling my shadow puppets on Dawanda first is a great experience. This way I can see which characters are well recieved and which style people like. It allows me in the meantime to develop my own style.

It is funny, as I remember setting out by only selling my drawings. Soon after, I started to create journals, jewellery, puppets etc. I guess Dawanda has been a big inspiration for me. I do not think I would have created such a wide array of products if I would not have started selling them on the internet. Being surrounded by so many talented people just gives you a lot of inspiration.

Please give us a brief summary of your creative process?
Like I mentioned before everything starts with a story. This could be a fairytale I would like to illustrate, a character which has caught my attention or a scene which I just made up myself. From those stories I create some images in my mind. Sometimes a character ends up as a shadow puppet, at other times they form the inspiration for a drawing. I never make sketches or anything like them. I have the odd habit to write everything down which should be represented in the drawing or puppet. Every once in while I leaf through my journal, pick one of the many ideas and then start working on it.

What characterises your products/your style?
That is hard to say about your own work, but I guess it is the “good old time”-feeling of my work. I often hear from various people, my drawings look as if they came out of an old, dusty, fairytale-book. My shadow puppets are based upon those old Victorian paper-toys and my amulets look as if they have been dug up recently after being buried in the ground for hundreds of years.

What do you want to achieve in the future as a Designer/Creative?
I have many, many goals. Too many to realize probably :) But my main goal will always be to improve my work, things can always be better.

What role does DaWanda play in your daily creative life?
Dawanda is important to me, it inspires me, being surrounded by so many talented people. Besides this inspiration Dawanda has been a big help for me to build up confidence in my artistic abilities. I received so many lovely comments, which helped me through those early times when I was unsure about my work as an artist.

How has your life changed since you opened your DaWanda shop?
Well, I run my own business now! I will not say this is only because of Dawanda but it definitley helped a lot spreading my name and making sales.

Please give us the names of three of your favourite shops on DaWanda:
vocisconnesse
yystudio
ElfenzARTes

P.S. If you’d like to be considered for one of our Monday seller interviews, then please send a filled-out questionnaire to azra[at]dawanda[dot]com