Q&A Series 1: Artist & CEO Charlotte O’Reilly
Studio Burntwood Q&A Series: Exploring the World of Interior Design
Welcome to the first edition of our Q&A series, where we delve into the minds of talented artists, suppliers, and inspirational individuals from the captivating world of interior design. In this series, we aim to highlight the passion, innovation, and creativity that drives these professionals to transform spaces into havens of beauty and functionality.
First up we have Charlotte O’Reilly, Artist and CEO of ‘Charlotte Jade’ which is an innovative, luxury brand that brings the beauty of the natural world to your interiors. Founded by artist Charlotte O’Reilly in 2015, Charlotte Jade offers an eye-catching and unique range of hand-drawn patterns that celebrate the enchanting flora and fauna living on our planet.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I start off the day by walking my dog Riley around the local park which is always a great time for me to gain inspiration and think about the day ahead and what needs to be done. I then make my way to my studio which is located in the countryside just outside London, so it’s another great source of inspiration and a very peaceful place to work. I will always start my day with outreaching, posting or researching on LinkedIn as I believe this is an incredibly useful tool to meet clients and also meet like minded creatives. I will then either be working on a creative, bespoke project for a client, drawing or designing or creating my own designs for the Charlotte Jade collection. I’m always trying to grow my product range too so I spend time trying to source new suppliers. Alongside this of course I’ll be keeping up to date with emails and enquiries and managing the not so exciting parts of running your own business for example, accounting!
What keeps you inspired?
Nature is my biggest source of inspiration and always will be! Sometimes I’ll just be walking along and i’ll see a new leaf shape or the way it’s growing is interesting and I’ll have to take a photograph so I can refer to it later for a design. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited a number of countries around the world and I always find it fascinating to see the different types of fauna and flora that each country has! I am constantly taking reference images on my iPhone so I can refer to them later for a design. I’m very inspired by certain colour combinations as well as these can be applied to my designs in a unique way.
What does creativity mean to you?
When I am creating new designs or patterns, I’m in my happy place! Creativity for me is my happiness. I have to pinch myself most days that I am able to draw and design as my career because it never really feels like ‘work’ to me. I’ve been very lucky to be able to combine my love of nature and passion for drawing within a business. I am able to create wild and wonderful patterns everyday and that brings me a lot of joy! The wilder they are the better, I always think anyways!
How do you see your work translating into the luxury interior design world specifically?
My designs are printed onto a whole range of luxury interior products, for example wallpaper, wall murals, cushions, upholstery fabrics, ceramic tiles etc, which can all be used within commercial or residential interior design projects. My designs are bold and vibrant and either make stunning stand out walls, beautiful upholstery pieces or cushions. My designs can be printed onto almost any product my client needs, so our patterns are very versatile and we can be very flexible with a clients brief.
What's next for you? Any exciting launches coming up?
Over the next few months, I will be continuing my partnership with Costa Coffee, where our bespoke wallpaper will be used within many more new and refurbished stores across the UK (so if you pop into one of their stores be sure to look out for our design!) We are also working with Pizza Express on their UK store refurbishments which is really exciting! We've created a bespoke design for Longleat Zoo which is launching in 2024 within their retail stores, so we are sampling lots of products at the moment which is extremely exciting seeing the collection come together! We are also working on new designs to expand the CJ collection alongside many other creative projects for our clients!
