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Hi Emily! Please tell us a bit about yourself?  
My name is Emily Isabella and I grew up in Wisconsin on 40 acres – half of it was a wildflower prairie and the other half was forest. I studied textile design and fibers in school and afterwards I moved to Brooklyn, NY.  Now I live 100 miles north of NYC in the Hudson Valley. It reminds me of where I grew up, but I can quickly access the city. The best of both worlds! In terms of work, I split my time up equally between textile design and illustration.

What inspired you to begin your artistic career?  
My parents are both artists and my grandfather was too.  When I was little, I would have gallery openings in the hall of my house. In high school, I had a few businesses; a fabric dying business, a mural painting business and even a house cleaning service. Attending art school was an obvious choice and my whole family supported my decision. I went to college with the intention of starting my design business immediately after graduating and that is what I did!

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What do you do when you’re not using your creative brain?  
I love to dance! I take ballet classes still but I am always interested in learning other forms of dance.

Do you have any favourite artists out there?  
Hard question! If I had to pick – Current: Akira Minagawa – a brilliant textile designer.  Past: Vuillard – I love how he always seems to add a spot of pink or a pop of red to his paintings.

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Who’s your personal style icon and why?  
A confident, no-nonsense woman who isn’t afraid to express herself. Kind of like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music but wearing high-waisted pants and styled by Shirley Kurata.

Do you have a favourite piece of artwork?  
If I HAD to name one, it would be Calder’s circus. I saw it for the first time at the Whitney and nearly had a heart attack. I went back three more times that month.

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Any exciting projects in the pipeline?
Yes, I am in the middle of a couple super fun book projects, due out Spring 2015! I am also putting the finishing touches on my fourth nursery fabric collection for Birch Fabrics. This pig print is part of that collection!   8) How do you see yourself in five years time? Right now, my husband and I are looking for a piece of land to start a simple little homestead. I hope we find it by then! Also, I hope to be illustrating children’s books and designing more wallpaper and fabric.

Click here to visit Emily Isabella’s online portfolio.