Featured Artist Daniel Mackie

Using his experience as a professional illustrator, British artist Daniel Mackie has started his own card and print company, The DM Collection.

 

 

My designs are animals with their habitat depicted within them. They are watercolour paintings, but a lot of people are surprised that they are because of my unconventional use of the medium.

 

 

The overall flavor of the collection is decorative. I try to keep the composition of each creature as simple as possible. I have taken a cue from the Art Deco Movement to keep the shape of the design simple and elegant. The interior of each design is very much influenced by Japanese Prints, The Arts and Crafts Movement, and the work of Henri Matisse.

 

 

Animals of all kinds feature in folklore. I include a factoid on the back of each card about that particular creature, such as the one on the back of the Hedgehog Card.

 

 

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing” is a quote by ancient Greek poet Archilochus. It may mean that the fox, for all his cunning, is defeated by the hedgehog’s one defence.

 

 

I launched the card collection at a trade show in London (Top Drawer) in January 2013, since then I have exhibited at 5 other trade shows and have been picking up lots of stockists across the UK. The DM Collection also has a number of overseas distributors including France, Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania and Australia.

 

 

The range is steadily growing and currently has 35 designs in total.

 

 

I am looking into producing notebooks and journals as these seem to me a good fit for expanding my product range. I have had some silk lampshades made using some of my repeating patterns, but these are still in the as research and development department!

Daniel Mackie invites you to follow him on Facebook and Twitter.