Lotta Nieminen entered her first design competition at age twelve. And she won. She won by creating an entire fashion magazine, complete with photoshoots and lengthy articles about the Spice Girls. Lotta has studied at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki (her home city) and RISD, and she lives and works in Manhattan. While her graphic design tends toward smart minimalism, Lotta’s illustration is layered with textures and forms, beautifully combining abstract or utilitarian shapes with interesting details. Her use of color is refreshing, considered and at times even whimsical…I can’t stop looking at her lovely work. And so, talking with us today is Ms. Lotta Nieminen.
1. Describe your work in five words.
Textured, detailed, colorful, timeless, geometric
2. Who are your creative heroes?
Ever since I was little, I’ve always watched my mother paint and draw. She would sit down and draw with me and my sister for hours when we came home from school. I still go to her for advice if I’m stuck with a piece, and still value her opinion above many others, even though we’re in very different creative fields (she’s a fine artist and stage designer).
3. What are you reading?
I just finished Just Kids by Patti Smith and loved every page of it. I got it as a going-away present from my father, a big Patti Smith fan, when I moved to New York a year ago – yes, that’s how long it took me to settle down enough to get back to reading again.
4. Why do you think illustration is important?
From my personal point of view, it’s the balance it brings to my graphic design work. I’ve always thought my illustrations to be very different and apart from my design work. Still, the thinking process remains the same, as well as a like for a certain color palette and attention to detail. For a long time I felt like graphic design was my stronger area, but always knew there were some things and moods I could only express by illustrating. To me they serve different, equally important purposes. Working with illustrations is a nice change if I get designer’s block with graphic design – and vice versa.
5. What can you tell us about your process and your working environment?
I work daytime as a graphic designer in the New York -based design studio RoAndCo, so my illustrating has now been taking place on evenings and weekends. At the moment, my apartment on the Lower East Side and the surrounding coffee shops serve as my studio when illustrating.
6. What’s inspiring you right now?
I just saw two incredibly inspirational exhibitions. The Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Metropolitan museum encourages a creative of any field to push their thinking further and challenge oneself. I’ve been a huge fan of Maira Kalman’s work ever since being passed her book The Principles of Uncertainty by a friend. Seeing her amazing use of color live at her exhibition at the Jewish Museum inspired me to immediately revisit my color palettes and have even more fun with them.
7. Has moving to the States influenced your work, your thinking?
I think the States started to influence my creative work ever since my first week studying at the Rhode Island School of Design as an exchange student in 2007. It helped me see my work and visual heritage more objectively and appreciate the things I did differently. I’ve always found it extremely important to take completely different new influences while working within and with a different culture – applies to work and life in general.
8. Any advice for future illustrators/designers?
This is a classic, but to me one of the most valid things I’ve learned: what you have in your portfolio is what you’re going to be commissioned to do. A couple of years ago I developed a fixation: I wanted to illustrate buildings. I came up with a personal project involving a cityscape, published it on my website, and soon after landed my first building-related illustration commission – nowadays, it’s what my portfolio mainly consists of.
Last year, Lotta received an ADC Young Guns 8 award alongside Print Magazine’s New Visual Artist Award. Her work has been featured in Communication Arts, Grain Edit and Drawn, among others. (These is just the U.S.-based recognition.) You can see more of her portfolio online and she periodically Tweets. (I have my fingers crossed for an online shop.) Lotta, thanks so much for talking with us. Your work is superb.