Flowers, animals, plants, mushrooms, fruits and veggies... nature is the main inspiration behind my whimsical and dreamy world and is featured in all my illustrations and patterns.
I’m an illustrator and surface designer from Milan, Italy. My studio is currently based in this city, but sometimes I enjoy the digital nomad life. Traveling is my favorite way to gather inspirations for my illustrations. I take pictures of the flora I find and then create my drawings once I’m back in my studio. All my illustrations are hand-drawn with colored pencils, scanned onto my laptop, and arranged into patterns and illustrations using Affinity.
I’m a self taught illustrator who discovered an unexpected love for drawing flowers during a difficult period in my teenager years. While studying fashion design, I was introduced to the world of patterns and surface design, and immediately saw many possible applications of my floral illustrations. After a brief experience in the fashion industry, when I lost my job because of COVID, I took this as an opportunity to take the leap and to build my career around my art.
I founded my own brand in 2021 and, between my travels, I’ve seen my artworks featured on wallpapers, home decor, greeting cards and fabrics. I’ve worked with small businesses, independent clients and large brands through licensing or commissions. Every day, I feel so grateful to do what I love for a living and to bring joy, healing and beauty to many people through my art. That’s why I call it the expression of my inner garden: it represents my feelings, dreams, memories and emotions. And that’s exactly what I’m aiming to: to help people to grow their own inner garden.
About Cecilia
CLIENTS
My Story
02
Discovering patterns
& surface design
Drawing flowers with my pencils was just an hobby, but when I enrolled at fashion school in Milan, after finishing high school in 2012, I realized it could be much more. I began studying pattern and surface design, and immediately saw millions of possibilities for my hand-drawn sketches. Soon I started arranged my illustrations into complex patterns with Photoshop (although today I use Affinity), and something clicked.
After school, I found a job as a print & pattern designer for a womenswear brand in 2015, until I was fired during COVID. I was tasked with creating a wide range of types of prints (only in a few occasions I created patterns with my flowers), but they were featured during New York Fashion Week and on popular tv series.
06
Following flowers across the world
As soon as the world reopened, I got back at traveling again, each time bringing back with me new inspirations for new collections. My art got more meaningful, heartfelt and personal over time: I've loved nature and explorations since I was very little, and making art became a way to tell stories. From my travels. From my childhood memories.
My portfolio grew into featuring all the wonders of the natural world that leaves me in awe.
01
Drawing as a therapy
During my teenager years, I was going through a very difficult time. I was suggested drawing as a sort of therapy, and it changed my life in a way I would have never expected. Drawing soon became my safe place, where I could keep bad thoughts at bay.
I was soon gifted books about botanical illustration, sketchbooks and set of pencils, and learnt by myself how to draw different species of florals: lush tropicals, tiny wildflowers, colorful garden flowers. This daily practice helped me reconnecting not only with the world around me - it pushed me to get better to be able to see the flowers out there - but also with myself. Drawing flowers allowed me to find time for myself and nurture my inner garden - as I love calling my inner world: my emotions, feelings, dreams and memories.
05
Growing your inner garden
Other travels soon followed and new collections began to bloom. Then, in 2020, the world stopped, and I found myself without a job, before being formally fired at the end the year after. Stuck at home, I worked on my creative career like never before, and soon got my first freelance gigs and licensing agreements. I finally began seeing my art on products, and my artworks were exhibited in art shows in Italy and United Kingdom. I also began teaching botanical illustrations workshops and hosting digital courses, and opened my studio in Milan.
I could finally live my dream, even if it didn't pay my bills at all. But I never felt such a peace of mind before pursuing my creative career and sharing my art with the world. I just feel that this is my calling: to help you to grow your inner garden, bringing joy, comfort and beauty to your daily life and your home, whatever with heartfelt artworks featured on your favorite products or with a relaxing drawing workshop.
03
Exploring gardens
I always felt out of place in the fashion world. I never felt I belonged there and, just a few months after I began working in the fashion industry, I was already looking for freelance opportunities and trying to build my own brand. I realized that drawing flowers and seeing them on products was my dream - making art wasn't only an hobby anymore. I launched my website, joined social media, participated to exhibitions and markets, and began pitching my art.
But the biggest shift happened while I was doing a short course about textile design in London in 2017. My tutor urged me to go out there, to explore gardens and parks, and to take my own pictures of flowers to use as references for my creations. I couldn't believe I've never thought about it before. The next day I was already exploring a botanical garden, and pursued this practice even once back in Milan. I began drawing only flowers and plants I encountered, and my art soon became always more personal.
04
Traveling to Asia for the first time
Soon I realized that exploring the gardens around me wasn't enough anymore. I felt the need to see more of them, encounter species I've never seen before, and draw them. That's why, in the summer of 2018, I booked an art retreat to Bali. I never traveled so far and was scared to death, yet on that island I discovered something unexpected. I explored temples and gardens with my sketchbook and pencils, and took tons of pictures of the bold and big tropical flowers I found. However, what surprised me was the deep connection I felt with the island, how I felt deeply immersed into its colors, noises, fragrances, people.
Once back at home in Milan, I began drawing the flowers I saw in Bali, but this time something changed. I explored with colors, compositions in a way I've never done before. My art grew into something more colorful, heartfelt and personal. I soon began creating collections of patterns and illustration inspired by this journey. And to plan the next one.