In this interview, Susie discusses her background, inspiration and her typical day, and talks about her collaborations with Chronicle Books and iPop.

When, and how, did you first decide you wanted to be an illustrator  and artist?
I’ve always been creative, and I’ve always drawn/painted, but it wasn’t until the college application process that I realized there was nothing I would rather do in life. Before the college application process, I never felt challenged into making a decision that would affect the rest of my life like that!

Where did you study, and what is your art background?
I studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and earned my BA in Illustration. In my youth, I also formally trained at Interlochen in Michigan in drawing.

What inspires you the most?
Nature never ceases to amaze me with its complexity, sweetness, patterns and colors. I find constant inspiration from the outdoors. I also find a lot of inspiration in my own memory – moments I remember from childhood, fascinations of my youth, etc.

What is your studio space like?
It’s overflowing! I work from a studio space here in my home. Between the t-shirts, paper goods and all the other products I create and sell, and all my paint supplies, paintings and shipping materials, there’s hardly room for a person in there

What is a typical working day like for you?
My work days vary tremendously based on the project I’m working on at the moment. For example, if I’m working on an art show, I’ll spend the entire day painting and preparing for that. If I’m working on an illustration project for a magazine or publisher, I might be scanning and photoshopping a final painting throughout the day in between returning client emails and faxing contracts. If I’m shipping orders to my customers, I might be writing notes and sending emails and packing goodies into envelopes… Some days I spend the whole day just trying to catch up with email, other days working entirely in my sketchbook. Every day is different, which is part of what I love about my life as an artist Most days involve a good dose of caffeine in the morning and some combination of the activities above…I usually spend about 15 hours a day at work!

How do you approach each new project?
I like to treat each project as a problem that I can solve! It becomes a sort of game for me…understanding the limitations and parameters, and then brainstorming how to best make use of those constraints. Coming up with new ideas is one of my favorite parts of being an artist.

Which projects are you most proud of?
My Bon Voyage Travel Journal is something I’m most proud of. It’s an idea I had while on my honeymoon last year, and I spent the following months creating the artwork for it. It came together exactly as I dreamed it would, and I’m so proud of the end result. I’m also very proud of solo art shows I’ve had, such as “The Wild Life” in Los Angeles in 2008. It’s a lot of fun and work bringing so much art conceptually together in one room for an event, and installation requires so much planning that it’s a thrill when it all works out.

Are you planning any more collaborations with Chronicle and/or Ipop  in the future?
Yes! I have a pocket agenda for 2012 with Chronicle due for release later this summer, and I’m so excited about it! It’s called the Clockwork Agenda. I just released a new magnet collection with iPop as well!  I love working with both Chronicle and iPop & hope to continue growing my collection with them both!

A note to our readers:

If you’re as smitten as we are with Susie’s cute as a button creatures, check out these cute stationery items, featuring Susie’s work.

I’ve already bought the Italia one for my friend who loves anything to do with Italy and put it in a clip frame for her. I’m also thinking of buying a couple to stick behind some shelves at home to make them a bit more interesting, and my partner also really wants either the world map one or the England one to hang in a frame (map-themed room, anyone?!).

Also, the new ABC Gift Wrap would be perfect for a child’s room or nursery, as would any of the maps.

Which one do you like best? I’m finding it really hard to choose…

ABC Decorative Wrap

Vintage Ephemera

Plan of London

Italia

British Isles

Paris Ephemera

Fleur Ephemera

Bird Ephemera

The New Rubber Stamps now available online

The set of 3 pocket Notebooks are also available.  These very pretty, and beautifully designed notebooks (featuring one lined, one plain and one with squared paper) are great to carry around with you (even if you have a tiny handbag!).  Or, if you like the pictures too much to use them (as happens with me a lot!) then just leave them on your desk or office space to look at…It’s still a notebook if you just want to look at it, right?!

We think the London one might take off in a big way, but the Paris, New York, Maps and Flora & Fauna designs are just as eye-catching.

The front of one of the London notebooks, and the sleeves of some of the others.  See, even the sleeves are pretty!

The Paris, London and World Map Set of 3 Notebooks

My favourite though has to be the Flora and Fauna range – I love the animal and flower stamps that you get in the Rubber Stamps as they are amazingly detailed.  The notebooks are also very pretty, and are obviously a perfect match for the rubber stamps.  If you’re less a fan of the bold, graphic images that come with the city notebooks then these are perfect for you.  The muted colours, soft lines and drawings certainly give them a whimsical element, but that is what makes them so unique.

The Set of 3 Flora & Fauna Notebooks, and the Rubber Stamps

A selection of some of the Orla Kiely Stationery.  Find the rest of the collection here.

The address book and a pocket notebook with the ballpoint pen, all in the signature Orla Kiely Multi Stem print.

A set of 6 pencils.  So cute!!

The Orla Kiely stationery collection is designed to be fun, colourful and yet perfectly functional.  The stationery is made to a high standard, and the canvas address book and notebooks make them lovely and tactile.  Her Multi Stem pattern features in a variety of colours, as does the iconic Abacus Flowers pattern as well.  All in all, the collection already has us hooked here in the office!  We love the colours Orla Kiely uses in her patterns, and as I have already said, the simplicity of the styles make them instant classics.

You can shop the full range on our website.

Leuchtturm, also known as Leuchtturm1917 from the year it was founded (Leuchtturm, incidentally, means ‘lighthouse’ in German), are a Hamburg based company specialising in the production of high quality stationery.  What really makes these notebooks stand out is the attention to detail in each product, their motto is ‘details make all the difference’, so they’ve really thought about how each person is going to use the notebook, and what is needed to make the experience that much better.  The numbered pages is one thing which stands out as one of the best details, as is the contents page at the start of the book (perfect for budding authors and writers!).  You can therefore index your pages and keep track of what you write, and where you write it.

The pen loop is an additional product which is unique to Leuchtturm, and in our opinion absolutely genius!  One of us here in the Papernation office already uses one of the pen loops, and says that it is very sturdy, with no chance of it peeling off at all.  Useful for those of us with Mary Poppins bags that seem to swallow up pens…I know I could do with one!

So who here has already got a Leuchtturm?  What do you think of the paper quality, and do you find the page numbering useful?  Would be great to hear some feedback from you as to how you use yours, whether you use fountain pens and any other general love for the Leuchtturms!

If you haven’t already thought about your new diary for 2011, it’s time to get your skates on as we’re selling out fast.  We’ve got a great range of diaries available, and we’ve picked 5 of our favourites to showcase here.

1. Anne Taintor Engagement Diary ,2. Blue Dog 2011 Engagement Diary, 3. Cavallini 2011 Diary – Flora Bird, 4. storage.it Diary 2011 – A5 Pink, 5. Listography 2011 Weekly Diary

We thought we’d offer up some inspiration for some cool gifts to get for men this Christmas…

1. Debrett’s Gentleman’s Diary
2. Underground Magnetic Bottle Opener
3. For The Zoo Penguins Memo Block
4. Chocolate Roma Lussa Leather Journal
5. Pocket IQ Test
6. Gorilla Eraser
7. Lamy AL-Star Fountain Pen

Do you yearn for a dog, but don’t have the time or the space for one? Would life be just a little bit richer with a new (canine) best friend?  Well,look no further – Port-A-Pug has arrived!

For anyone who wants a dog without all the time-consuming bits, the smelly bits, the licking-your-face bits….Port-A-Pug is the perfect solution.

Adorable, loyal, house-trained and always ready for walkies whenever you want, Port-A-Pug is the ideal pet for modern lifestyles!

Port-A-Pug comes flat-packed for easy 2-minute assembly.  Buy one today and start walking your new pooch with pride.

Buy Port-A-Pug at Papernation now

We’re so thrilled to be introducing a range of gorgeous Japanese papers to our store. They’ll be arriving online over the next two days, and we are sure you’re going to love them.  Whether you use them for high-end bookbinding or art projects or for card-making and crafts, they ooze sophistication, craftsmanship and all-round loveliness.

We’ll be adding lots of information here on our blog about these gorgeous Chiyogami and Katazome-shi papers, as well as craft projects and ideas. If you make something using any of these lovely papers and you’d like to show it off, just email us some pictures – we’d love to share your creations here on the blog!

In order to select our initial range of papers, we headed up to Worcestershire yesterday, to meet paper expert Will McCracken at his Japanese Paper warehouse.  Hopefully these photos can show a little of the magic that was on display there!

The papers are so beautiful, they look almost like bolts of amazing kimono fabrics, stored on the shelves like this!

The photo above shows some of the designs we selected for our initial range.

We couldn’t finish this blog entry without showing you the adorable Harry and Macy, who work at the Japanese Paper warehouse.  Macy is the one with the pink collar.

There are six different cover designs and the diaries have everything you need to keep organised throughout the year.  They’re a handy pocket size,  10cm x 15cm (4″x6″) and have a hardback cover and elastic closure band.  There’s a page for personal stuff, name, address, email, etc, monthly planner pages, pages for notes, names and addresses section and maps of the London underground, New York subway and Paris RATP system.  The diary pages are in a week to view format with a separate Saturday and Sunday rather than the usual shared space, which is handy if you have a busy weekend schedule.

The six designs are:  Keep Calm and Carry On, Flora & Fauna, World Map, Paris, Travels and Flora Bird.

View all the diaries here

Oh yes, and and the full range of calendars should be arriving in our warehouse next week.