About!
I'm Michelle Walker, an illustrator and surface pattern designer working from my studio in Sheffield, UK. Everything I make is drawn by hand — pencil, ink, paint and cut paper and nothing at any stage is AI-generated. The making stays visible in the finished work: the paper grain, the pencil marks, the cut edges.
Most of it begins outdoors. The woods, meadows and coastline near me, drawn on location from what's actually there rather than from photographs, foraged grasses carried home to the studio, a bird watched long enough to get the bill right. My eye was shaped by living across the world, from Australia to London and now the English countryside, and I think that's part of why I look at this landscape as closely as I do.
I believe a pattern should tell a story, so my collections are built as whole worlds rather than motifs, nature-led, story-driven and gender-neutral, warm and earthy rather than pink-and-blue. Each one comes as a complete range: a hero print, coordinates, blenders and developed colourways, ready for production.
I work with brands and licensees across nursery, children's products, stationery, gift and premium wallpaper, and I'm happy to adapt palettes or formats to suit a program.
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Michelle x
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