Art & Cacao Project: Melissa North

Can you tell us something about yourself? Age? Hobbies? Upgrowing, studies, work? 😀

My name is Melissa and I’m a London based illustrator and silk-screen artist. I’m a lover of travel, wildlife, gardening, cooking and dancing the night away in London’s many amazing clubs. I grew up near the coastal town of Herne Bay in the South East of England and was lucky enough to live in a really nice spot between the sea and countryside. This exposure to nature has definitely influenced my hobbies and work inspirations as an adult.

Tell us about your passion for illustration and design…. How did it all start?

I studied illustration and visual communication at the University of Westminster. The course there was very broad and we were encouraged to experiment a lot. I learnt about making my own cameras and developing my own film. This led me on to playing around in the printroom and falling in love with screenprinting. I loved being able to combine photography, drawings, texture and colour through a hands-on process. This became my main way of working and after I graduated, I set up a studio space with screenprinting equipment in London with some of my course peers. We still work together in our studio space now nearly 10 years later!

Where do you get your inspiration from? Who/what inspires you?

My work is really inspired by the world around me. I love to travel and I’m super interested in biodiversity. The patterns found within nature and architecture always seem to find a way into my work. I love to use photography within my illustrations and most of my designs start off with a collage composition. The process of printing out my images, photocopying them and cutting them up is almost meditative for me and I love what new, surprising outcomes you can get from enlarging images at random on the photocopier. My studio space is super colourful with all the screenprinting that goes on there. One of my greatest joys is discovering new colour combinations through mixing my screenprinting ink by eye. I bring these colour palettes into my digital illustrations which is why they are so vibrant.

Tell us something about the image and the idea behind the image for Wild Child. How did you come to this design for Wild Child Cacao and what materials do you use?

I was really inspired by the link between Wild Child’s home in Amsterdam and the origins of the cacao in the Dominican Republic. I love the iconic shape of the gabled houses in Amsterdam along with the canal bridges, and this became the starting point for my design. I began by cutting up and collaging some photos of the buildings, along with hand-cut paper silhouettes and I started to see a fun pattern emerging. I of course had to highlight the cacao flower itself through some hand drawn illustrations and make them prominent throughout the piece, giving it a sunny feeling. Reading about how the tropical climate affects the cacao flavour in the Wild Child story made me want to bring in some of the other amazing flora and fauna that is endemic to the Dominican Republic, such as the Rosa De Bayahibe and the Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo. I wove these illustrations in between the collaged elements to evoke a sense of the two worlds colliding. There is also a little reference to cacao’s place within Aztec culture as a ceremonial drink with the Aztec inspired patterned graphic shapes. Finally, I finished off the piece by bringing in textures and colours inspired by the Dominican Republic’s tropical climate to give the piece an ‘island life’ type vibe.

How did you enjoy drinking cacao? 😀 What did you think of it?

I loved making and drinking the cacao, it felt like performing a little ritual in my studio. My design just flowed out of me after then. I felt super focused, but so energised and inspired at the same time. This may need to become a staple as part of my creative process from now on!