Often when I speak to illustrators/designers, I realize a lot of their style is inspired by travel. I was excited to get in touch with Scottish-origin surface pattern designer Suisse Linton, who now lives in Sweden.

Susse’s works spans across animal prints, florals, home patters and the seaside. My favorites are the tropical and nature patterns. The unique Susse cat also dots a lot of her works and is loved by many of her well-wishers. “The Susse cat is a lucky charm for me and people seem to love that character the most,” says Susse.

Susse was kind enough to send me two lovely journals. So excited to carry these chic journals in my bag . They’re lightweight and very neatly hand-stitched.

She sent me one of her calendars too, where each month reflects her adventures around the world. I love how she depicted Halloween in New York, and the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. Since its April, the illustration on London sits happily on my desk. Love the red buses and black taxis in her illustration!

Here’s a little Q&A session that I had with her, which let me in into her journey.

Where do you live and why did you choose to live near a forest?

I live in a small town in the south of Sweden called Älmhult. It is a famous town in Sweden. It is the birthplace of IKEA and their design offices are based here in the town.

My husband was asked to join IKEA last year and offered a job working with the catalogue department.  We were living in central London, a stone throw away from trendy Shoreditch. We thought it was a great opportunity to live a different family life style.

We bought an old original 1960’s house in Älmhult, which is near a forest (the equivalent to a local park here).  We have lots of wildlife on our doorstep. It is quite normal to find a fawn sitting in your garden or even rabbits!

My son can play alone with local kids in the park and my husband has a five-minute commute by bicycle to work. I have a really big home studio space. These are things that aren’t really accessible in London. It has really changed our family lifestyle.

Can you tell me a little about yourself, where are you from, where have you lived?

I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and grew up there. I decided to study a degree in printed textiles and fashion at Edinburgh College of Art.  I then spent a year at Winchester School of Art, Southampton to complete my postgraduate research diploma in textiles.

I started to make work connections with London design studios. I moved back to Scotland briefly but after a year of going back and fourth for freelance work to London, I ended up moving to London.  I spent many years in London and it really feels like my home place. I met my husband in London and he is from New Zealand.

He had the opportunity to work in Sydney, Australia so we decided to move there and we started our little family there, and my son was born. We spent 5 great years there, and then moved back to London. Now here we are in Sweden.

Who is your favorite illustrator/designer?

Oh I have many: Alexander Girard, Vera Neumann and Lucienne Day. My favourite modern designers are Donna Wilson and Japanese designer Minä Perhonen.  I think I am attracted to all these designers as they all have a very artistic vision that translates into lovely everyday products.

Which is your favorite city in the world?

I love Tokyo. For everything is like a work of art from a train ticket to food to the mix of old and modern buildings.

What inspires your designs? 

Sketchbooks are really important to my creative process. Just playing and experimenting is a really important process to generate new ideas. I am really influenced by colour and vintage books.

What has been one of your most prized works?

I used to have a handbag label, where I created a range of fashion accessories for the Shiseido make- up brand in Tokyo.

Why did you choose to be a surface pattern designer? 

When I was in Art College, I thought I would be a painter and the painting department where keen for me to join the department.

I loved the textile department and it was quite a new thing to create surface patterns (pre-computer digital textiles). It is a very artist free medium to work in. I love that your design can just change the most boring of objects into some thing beautiful to enjoy.

You can view Susse’s style at www.sussecollection

{Photos by My Red Palette. One photograph is artist’s own}

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