When our Instagram feeds were mostly full of minimalist monochrome interior palettes, her colourful, playful world was a welcome antidote. Since then, Wilson’s inspiring art has adorned the pages of Elle Decoration, and other international magazines have raved about her colourful, joyful designs. But as is so often the case, it all started from a very different place.

– My plan was to move to Stockholm straight after school to train as an art director. But I got a project contract in a marketing department and stayed there for seven years. At the age of 24, I went on certified sick leave with fatigue syndrome. Around that time, I embarked on a journey towards a career change, although it took me a good few years to get there.

IInitially, Instagram was a crucial showroom for getting her artwork seen, but she also started creating a website alongside her day job. Demand for her works increased to the point that she could aim to make a living as a full-time artist.

– Becoming an artist was not something I planned on, but was all down to a series of coincidences. During my sick leave, it was a way for me to recuperate and block out everything else. It became a kind of sanctuary, and for a couple of years I spent all my spare time doing illustrations and learning new techniques. Given that I’m self-taught, it’s surreal to be able to say this is my profession.

But there’s more to account for how Wilson eventually became an artist and illustrator. Her childhood was spent on the outskirts of the textiles design city of Borås in Sweden, and she says that creativity was all part of her formative years.

– My mum was originally a pattern maker, and was always drawing, sewing and crafting in various media, so I was raised in that kind of creative setting.

Wilson’s characteristic motifs are instantly recognisable, her works almost exclusively portraying flower formations and other botanicals. Her palette is also reiterative, and has become one of the hallmarks of her art.

– For me, plants are catalysts in some way for happiness and contentment. I tend to revert to the same colours; a certain blue or a certain red. It’s often colour combinations I spot that first get my mind whirring. A lot of the inspiration comes to me from everyday life, but from the world of fashion too. That world always seemed more fun and appealed to me more than the world of interior design.

Over the past year, her design has become more retrospective, and she says that one of the colourways for her wallpaper pattern for Boråstapeter was drawn from her childhood.

– I rarely give much thought to my own style, as I see a strength in being able to embrace diverse styles. But I do know that I’ve become more nostalgic, and one of the colourways of my wallpaper for Boråstapeter is very reminiscent of the wallpaper we had in the kitchen when I was little. I don’t recall the exact pattern, but I do remember the colours.

That the inspiration for that wallpaper comes from the natural world appears to be a given. She explains that the pattern, which consists of meandering blooms, has been with her a long time, but was in a drawer, waiting for the right opportunity.

– I did the background for the pattern back in May 2020. It was a sketch I wanted to refine for ages, so when the commission came from Boråstapeter, it felt right to go with that one. I’ve always loved wallpaper, and can’t imagine a home without patterned walls. It’s also a product category I hold in the highest regard in terms of both the end product and the creative process that goes into it.

Wilson explains that curiosity drives her, and that she finds it difficult to do things in the same way all the time.

– So that means I tend to jump back and forth between a range of techniques. It’s important to me to have days just spent drawing, sketching or mindmapping ideas that aren’t connected to any particular project. I have tonnes of sketches, notes and illustrations stashed on my hard drives and in sketchbooks. In that state of mind, I won’t be visualising an end product as such, but when I get a design brief I can go back and usually find something to build on.