Raised in Manchester and slowly making her way south, Liz moved to London in 2008 after completing a degree in Textile Design at Nottingham Trent University. She sold her illustrations as a sideline whilst working as a colour consultant and design manager, but realised there was potential to set up a successful design business of her own. Taking the plunge, and moving down to Sussex, has enabled Liz to grow Blank Inside into a thriving, vibrant illustration studio.
Liz works from her sunny, light-filled studio in an old brewery in Lewes. You can usually find her grooving along to Jon Hopkins as she works. She draws freehand in pencil and then paints her illustrations using watercolours, sometimes combining acrylic and gouache too. Blank Inside embodies Liz’s love of colour and Nature, and all of her products are created with a quirky sense of humour and desire to bring meaning to people’s lives. In her recent work Liz has been trying to find ways to bring light and colour to difficult feelings, to capture an emotion, express it with lightness and then bounce it back into people’s lives.
Underlying Liz’s work is a commitment to using sustainable materials and reducing the brand’s impact on the environment. She is also committed to slow-design and tries to use sustainable materials at each stage of the production process. Her collections use cornstarch biodegradable cellophane wrapping, recycled paper printed with vegetable inks, recycled standard envelopes and one entire range is created from renewable plant-fibre paper, such as bamboo, with envelopes made from recycled coffee cups. To unwind Liz loves to be in Nature or to practice Scaravelli yoga. This search for stillness and balance gives a deeper meaning to her work.
Combining technical artistic skills with a playful curiosity makes Blank Inside’s designs distinctive and immediately engaging. From a chameleon slinking up the page, to a starburst of neon blooms, each image is painstakingly created and is a work of art in its own right.