Emma Morgan has always loved putting pen (and pencil) to paper.
After finishing a fine art degree at Monash University, she went on to study Interior Design at RMIT. But midway through her first year she landed a solo show at Red Gallery in Fitzroy featuring her animal drawings, which carved a natural path into illustrative work.
“I really started to grow my 'brand' from 2015 — but with no real plan in mind, it was a hobby that got out of control!” Emma says.
“I love animals so much and would draw them all the time. From there I started to create art prints and homewares that celebrated wildlife, which I care for so much, but also kept it artist-grade, boutique and accessible.”
After an unofficial business mentorship working for friend and owner of Dromana-based homewares brand Lumiere Art + Co, Emma Cleine, she was ready to go out on her own.
“She really helped and encouraged me when I first started,” Emma says. “I learnt a lot from her about all aspects of running a creative homewares business, so I was pretty confident when I went on to run mine!”
Emma describes her work as ”versatile, contemporary artwork for animal lovers” and her online store is filled with a menagerie of archival, limited edition fine art prints, stationery, and made-to-order cushion and throws. She sews the textiles herself and now prints the majority of her artworks at her studio base inside Commonfolk (where you’ll find a large-scale wall mural of a botanical koala she created in lockdown 1.0).
“I love that my job gives me an outlet to create things I enjoy, that helps raise awareness for lots of different kinds of wildlife, and makes other people really happy as well,” she says. “It's so heartwarming.”
Inspired by Victorian-style illustrations and etchings, she favours fine-liners to replicate intricately detailed line work, but adds a modern twist by “floating” the flora and fauna subjects in the centre of the paper and keeping the palette minimal, while embracing colour and quirkiness in her homewares.
Emma’s next collection of artworks and textiles, a range of floral art prints, will drop late October and fans of her work can look forward to planned ‘drink & draw’ workshops at Commonfolk HQ in the not-too-distant future.
