On The Sofa With Susi Bellamy

Join us on the sofa with Susi Bellamy to hear how she combined art and furniture in collaboration with George Smith, and discover the beauty of her 2D marbled designs on George Smith pieces.

Q1. Hi Susi! We’ve noticed that there is a lot of texture throughout your work; please can you explain the significance of this, and how you maintain the integrity of the design when transferring it to materials?

The texture in my designs comes from the pattern. The deep pile of velvet can bring a rich quality to the design. All the designs come from my original marbled papers and crops or edits of my abstract artwork. By selecting a particular area of the artwork, I can create unique patterns that are like microcosms of the original art.

Q2. We would love to learn more about the transition from being a practising artist to coming up with the concept of “art for the sofa”. What inspired this shift in your creative focus, and how has it influenced your approach to design?

After completing my MA in fine art from Northumbria University, I established a studio in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle and began painting large abstract landscapes. I was painting on a large piece of plywood and was struggling with the size of the work, so I took it down to the woodwork studio downstairs and had it chopped into equal-sized squares. This sparked the idea of using the paintings as cushion designs. The idea of ‘art for the sofa’ was born, leading to their success at trade fairs, including getting picked up by Liberty and Heals. This success eventually led me to branch out into wallpaper and fabric, prompting me to approach George Smith.