Brighton wallpaper designer takes inspiration from nature

In what way do you choose to express yourself? Through the clothes you wear, how you style your hair or maybe even the bands you listen to?

Perhaps, but for Brighton based Lee Fieldman she feels that people do it in another way too.

'I love wallpaper,' she says. 'People can use clothes to express themselves but I think you can do the same with wallpaper. 'Walking into a room and seeing a feature wall is just stunning. But then wallpaper just seems to speak to me, I could sit for hours online just looking at different designs.'

Lee originally completed a degree in textile design where she found she had a passion for home furnishings.

'After I graduated I got an internship in Milan for a wallpaper company,' she explains. 'It involved getting briefs, and then designing and manufacturing wallpaper for other companies.

'It was good but could sometimes be very restrictive.'

While working in Italy Lee gained a lot of experience and saw how the business worked.

'It got to the point when I just wanted to do my own collections and create my own brand so I decided to leave, which has given me the chance to discover my own style,' reveals Lee.

'However, I did start discovering this a little bit in Milan. You could always tell the designs I had worked on for clients as my style was very bohemian, colourful and floral, but I was still working to a brief so creating what the client wanted.'

With designs featuring clouds and flowers it is obvious where Lee draws inspiration.

'Nature,' she replies. 'The tranquillity of the sea, branches, grass, flowers, everything really.

'I have hard drives with thousands of pictures saved on them and whenever I go out for walks I always take my camera with me.'

Working on a computer, Lee sometimes paints her backgrounds before adding detail in.

'I feel more comfortable working digitally,' she explains. 'I think you just get used to working in a particular way.

'The roses I painted and then enhanced on a computer, painting does scare me sometimes but only because I am so used to a computer.'

Still fairly new in the business, Lee is currently working through Tektura Wallcoverings, which gives her the opportunity to work under her own name while building up the brand. This also means she is able to work with other people.

'I enjoy collaborating with people,' she reveals. 'My fiancé Roi Klifi makes wooden furniture at Robinson House Studio.

'I am working with him creating a print featuring wood which will be used on his furniture, it isn't something I have done before as I just work in wallpaper but it has been really interesting.'

And that is just one of many concepts she is working on.

'I am working from project to project at the moment so I am really busy,' she smiles. 'There is a Brighton artist called Brady Allen who does beautiful watercolour paintings.

'We are looking to do something for spring/summer as there is a trade show in New York which we are aiming for.

'I am also currently working with a Hong Kong company on travel accessories and producing geometric prints for them, which is looking like it will be picked up by a high street chain.'

Although Lee is keeping herself busy there is one goal set firmly in her mind.

'I would love to be stocked in Liberty,' she reveals. 'Or somewhere like that.

'Once I  have finished the projects I am working on I am going to look at expanding my brand.'

Lee reveals that she calls Israel home, where her Israeli mother and Scottish father now live.

'It is so beautiful with the Mediterranean sea and the deserts, it is very different in Brighton,' she adds, before explaining she had not visited Brighton before deciding to make it her new home.

'I wanted somewhere close to London but I'm not really a city girl,' explains Lee. 'I love nature and living in Brighton means I can go and walk my dog on the beach, then do some work and have some peace and quiet.'

The saying might be '˜as exciting as watching paint dry' but after talking to Lee the thought of watching wallpaper is quite appealing.