Q&A with Shweta Mistry

1. Tell us more about yourself and your practice

I am Shweta a British Indian artist/designer and lead a design studio, Shweta Mistry; creating wallpaper, fabrics and interior accessories. Our designs are created from hand painted artwork, using rare pigments with global historic significance and heritage painting techniques. Cutting edge digital technologies are used to transform the artworks into exclusive products. All our wallpapers and fabrics are made in the UK to the highest quality specifications catering for individual clients as well as high end interior designers and boutique hoteliers. The studio also creates bespoke designs for commercial and residential projects. Our principals of exclusive designs, quality and integrity are key into every creation.

2. How did you develop your style?

I did not go consciously about developing my style, it comes with time I suppose. It was my admiration for Indian Miniature Painting techniques and the heritage pigments which lead to do this style that has come along the way. In particularly, when I came across Victoria Finlay’s book: 'Color: A Natural History of the Palette'. I was fascinated by the history of pigments and its global heritage. My curiosity from one thing to another has lead me to the style you see today. I'm also academically trained in oil painting, water colours and acrylics and I've practised in those mediums for may years in my former years! May be it is all about learning and unlearning.

3. What inspires you and influences your designs?

I am inspired by nature and enchanted by history. That is a starting point of any design I create. Having an art and research background plays an under current to all the designs.

4. What’s your process when creating new designs?

All my designs are created from my hand painted artworks using meticulous painting techniques and heritage pigments. I rarely paint an artwork with a design in mind, I let the creative flow take control of the initial process of the creation. I just start an artwork with what my eyes are drawn to at that time. When I'm designing, the artworks are handpicked and then arranged in a particular way to create a design. Sometimes, I would start playing around with a particular artwork from my archive however it would not work practically in a design which will end up as a product so there is a lot of back and forth in the process, keeping in mind the end use.

5. How did you get involved in the Daytrippers! project?

I was approached by Local Heroes led by Stacey Hunter which is a curatorial design studio based in Edinburgh. Stacey had briefly described the project and it struck a cord with me because it involved nature and conserving the local beasties. And, moreover with V&A Dundee, I absolute admire the architecture concept and design of the building since its opening and it plays a great role in bringing art and design to the forefront. It has been my pleasure to work with Stacey and her team and V&A Dundee.

6. How did you draw inspiration for your seed mix design?

I began with researching into the origin of the flowers and it turns out that it attracts some rare butterflies therefore I was very much sure in the beginning that I will be painting the butterflies too and the seed box is called - Butterfly Mix. However, will see how it will fit in the final design of the packaging because it is a lot to fit in the layout on a small box which was beautifully done by Martin Baillie Studio.

I have very much drawn to the nuances of nature in the Indian miniature painting however for this particular project I was drawn towards Mughal floral paintings of the 18th, 17th century India. Particularly, the Clive Album at, The Victoria Albert Museum, Kensington which I have seen previously in person and is a beautiful piece of history, on my visit. My fascination with the Mughal emperor Akbar was in awe of the European botanical illustrations, resulting in commissioning his own artists to blend European realism with Mughal fantasy giving birth to a unique Mughal style.

While painting the flowers for the 'Little Butterflies' seed mix box, I have used historical pigments with world heritage and meticulous brush techniques that are used historical in creating paintings at that time.

7. What would be your dream project?

I do have many dream projects however would share one in particular. My dream project would be creating products and designs from some of the objects I admire as well as Mughal and Indian Miniature paintings at the Victoria Albert Museum and collaborate with them in doing so.