Todays etsy interview is with Sarah Betz, aka
Little Cube.
Sarah is an illustrator and designer who creates beautiful patterns and illustrations for children.
Based in Paris, she created Little Cube back in 2001, and opened her etsy shop last year, selling art prints and postcards, perfect for your little ones nurseries and bedrooms.
Away from her etsy shop, Sarah has worked on projects with Paperless Post, Cloud9 and Plumeti,
and licenses her designs for use on wallpaper, fabric, decor, fashion and more.
Busy lady right?
So, lets get to know a bit about Sarah shall we?
Grab that cuppa...
1. Can you tell us a bit about you and your background...
Hello, I am Sarah, a children's illustrator from Germany, living and working from Paris.
I have always loved to be creative during childhood - I had the chance to grow up close to nature and my Mum used to take us for long walks to discover the forest.
We brought our little treasures like nuts or leaves from the walks and created cards or fantasy creatures from them at home.
I also remember that I loved to write and illustrate magazines for children and sketch little plans of how I would decorate my home or draw what I could plant in the garden.
I have actually studied Graphic Design but then later decided to pursue my dream of creating illustrations for the kid's market.
After my studies I thought of going either to Amsterdam or Paris and I landed in Paris where I began working for a French company designing wall stickers and more for children.
Now I am freelancing full-time and am lucky to license and sell my designs to various companies all over the world.
2. Tell us about a typical day for you...
There is not really a typical day for me, it depends if I have meetings on the projects I work on... but I am not so much of a morning person,
so I use mornings to organize, answer mails, make lists etc
and then start designing later during the day.
If I have the time, I love to draw in the evenings as I can completely concentrate then.
Also, I like to go out and walk around or go to one of the lovely Parisian markets for my lunch break.
3. Can you give us an insight into your creative process?
If I work on a commissioned project, I begin to do research, make mood boards and sketch from hand and then later re-work everything in Illustrator or sometimes Photoshop.
If I work on self-initiated designs for my catalogue,
I love to think about the possible product first.
Will it be pattern for home decor or a placement print, will it be used in a stationery product?
From then I think about colours, themes and start sketching.
4. Where did the name ‘Little Cube’ come from and is there a particular thought/ meaning behind it?
Actually, the husband of a friend of mine came up with the idea for the name, I didn't want to use my own name and when Martin proposed "Little Cube" as a name I thought it fitted well, it reminded me of the cubes we played with as kids and I liked the idea of having a cube as a symbol for playing.
5. Who are some of your favourite illustrators/designers and what do you like about them?
I love Shinzi Katoh for his cute, retro characters and sweet and playful patterns.
And Anna Walkers illustrations,
the atmosphere and colours of her images and I enjoy looking at her process,
how she develops her characters and stories.
6. You’ve only recently opened your etsy shop…what is your favourite item listed?
And what kind of products can we expect to see in the future?
There are actually two, The Cat Print and the Animal Alphabet are my favourites.
I am currently thinking of adding stickers to the shop.
Maybe pin's, let's see!
7. What are your top three blogs?
loveprintstudio
babyccinokids
and then, not a blog, but I love being on pInterest!
8. Where do you find inspiration and what are you currently passionate about or fascinated by and how is it influencing your work?
Paris was, and still is one of my biggest sources for inspiration, I can't stop looking at all the little scenes happening on the streets and we have a lot of cute shops for kids here and inspiring libraries.
You can discuss your process and final sets with fellow students and it's such a great way to come up with new designs for your portfolio.
9. How would you describe your work/ style?
Cute, simple and poetic.
10. What makes you laugh?
My brother's dog, my friends and Chandler from Friends! :-)
11. What's your guilty pleasure?
Long sleep-ins on the weekends and I spend a lot of money for food, but I don't feel very guilty about it ;-)
12. What’s the most rewarding thing about being a designer/illustrator?
Being able to do something I love every day!
And the excitement when I have finished a new design and feel all happy about it!
(all images above copyright of Sarah Betz/ Little Cube)
A big thank you to Sarah for giving us an insight into her world.
You can follow Sarah/ Little Cube here...
x x x
