Edited By Kay Hill
TO THE UNINITIATED, the word ‘collage’ still conjures up sticky toddlers gluing sweet wrappers on to sugar paper – an image that rather delights artist Kristjana S Williams. ‘I love saying that word collage,’ she says with a laugh. ‘I adore how unpretentious it is, even though it’s been a favourite of artists from Pablo Picasso to David Hockney.’
Unpretentious it may be, but this under-appreciated artform has taken Williams from leading workshops at the V&A to designing an album cover for Coldplay, and, most recently, designing for establishments almost as far apart as you could possibly get: Searcys Champagne Bar in Battersea Power Station and the German Embassy.
The Cambridge Graduate Hotel by SHH Architecture & Interiors. Image Credit: Amy Very
Her creations are a joyful riot of colour and pattern, richly inspired by nature in all its glory – butterflies and palm trees, blossoms and birds jostle for position with elements taken from Victorian engravings and historic maps. She suspects it was her upbringing in Reykjavik that led her to revel so enthusiastically in nature – growing up surrounded by the barren rocks and black sands of Iceland’s coast meant that nature was felt more by its absence than its presence. ‘There was hardly any vegetation, let alone palm trees and butterflies,’ she jokes.
Williams, 50, hasn’t always been able to express her creative side. ‘I simply didn’t understand how you could ever make money in the arts,’ she admits. Instead, her initial career choice was to study electronics, but after discovering that her multitude of talents didn’t include advanced maths, she transferred to surveying and moved to London. ‘Growing up in Iceland, you’re essentially on an island in the middle of nowhere – people looked towards America and London, and so I always felt I wanted to be out in the wider world.’
Kristjana S Williams’ creations are a joyful riot of colour and pattern. Image Credit: Amy Very
It was in London that she decided to take a part-time Art Foundation Course at the City Literary Institute in Fleet Street, alongside her day job. ‘I discovered that if you are creative, you can’t put it to one side for long; it just keeps drawing you in. In the back of my mind, I’d always wanted to go to Central St Martins, and I ended up going there to do a BA in graphic design and illustration – still a practical choice.’ The next seven years of her life were less practical (although, she maintains, the most valuable in terms of learning), as she set up and ran Beyond the Valley, a notfor- profit shop and gallery for young artists, designers and graduates. “It was a wonderful time of my life and I learnt so much from all the artists and designers that surrounded me there, but as my art matured I knew it was time to set up my own studio.’
Kristjana S Williams Studio opened in 2012 and soon gathered a following among luxurious brands and famous stores, captivated by designs that were nature-based and yet the dynamic opposite of demure chintz and languorous English roses. Her 2016 designs for Fortnum & Mason’s Christmas range, on everything from biscuit tins and tea cups to the famous windows, featured an exuberant parade of owls, roosters and macaws adorned with gems, headdresses and crowns. And when gin brand Tanqueray wanted a design for the packaging of its No. Ten cocktail gift set, Wiliams responded with branding that wove the outline of a bottle from the fruit and aromatic plants used in the gin’s production. While collage is what she is best known for, she also works in digital animation, ceramics, 3D paper sculptures and much more.
Williams’ Dali Draumaland – Sólsetur and Tanning Draumaland – Skyjum. Image Credit: Amy Very
Whether designing packaging or an entire gallery of artworks, Williams makes use of the same keen interest in botany, history, heritage and archival material, combined with a big dose of imagination. The three artworks she recently created for Searcys Champagne Bar drew on extensive research around the brand’s 175- year history, including its beginnings as a confectionery company, while for the German Embassy she created a collage made of flowers and insects painted by Maria Sibylla Merian in the late 17th century, a German naturalist and scientific illustrator and the first person to document the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly or moth. Her album design for Coldplay, A Head Full of Dreams: Live in Buenos Aires and Live in Sao Paulo, contains everything from a street sign from 268 Camden Road, where they had their first rehearsal, to Chris Martin’s calming vodka and cranberry juice tipple. Meanwhile, a collaboration with fashion designer Paul Smith saw her creating a series of artworks representing his boutiques around the world, linked together with a whimsical story of two timetravelling cats – that turn out to be based on real life Victorian explorers, botanical artist Marianne North and naturalist Isabella Bird.
Somehow, all this caught the eye of the Vatican Library. On a recent visit to Rome, Williams had the immense privilege of being invited to explore the vast archives of the Vatican Library, which holds a priceless collection of more than 150,000 manuscripts and 1.6 million books from as far back as the eighth century. ‘It was phenomenal, and so surreal to see those incredible libraries, especially areas that are normally behind closed doors, with corridors and shelves that seem to go on for miles.’ The team there has allowed her to use some of the materials for future artworks.
From an exhibition at fashion designer Paul Smith’s Albemarle Street store in London. Image Credit: Amy Very
In between the world travel, she has been helping others to discover their creativity by running collage workshops at the V&A. ‘It is so much fun. Everybody thinks they can’t create but with collage they can. I love seeing what people make – you have a feeling about what they are going to create but you are always wrong. They make three or four pieces and they have a style and a rhythm to them, it’s intriguing, and I’m passionate about helping people to take part in creativity. Collage is a very accessible medium; everybody is equally nervous in the beginning but they end up completely lost in it and enjoying the work.’
In troubled times, helping others to find their creativity is one way that helps Williams maintain the joy that is evident throughout her work. Another is bringing back to life some of the forgotten female voices of exploration. Her admiration for these ground-breaking women permeates her work, from The Tree of Exploration, also celebrating Isabella Bird and Marianne North, to a 3D installation for the 2023 Manchester Art Fair, with hexagonal frames dedicated to 21 female explorers, from journalist Nellie Bly’s record-breaking 1889 circumnavigation of the globe in 72 days, to grandmother of 23, Emma Gatewood, who hiked the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail alone in 1955. ‘Looking through old engravings, it was mainly men who were allowed to travel and record the world,’ Kristjana says, ‘so I like to focus on women explorers, alongside nature and water, as I see in those things endless hope and light that constantly inspires me.’
