Schoolhouse + Hygge & West: Meet the Artists Behind the Designs

When we started dreaming up our most recent collaboration with Schoolhouse, we knew they would have exacting standards when it came to selecting the artists to create the patterns that would carry their name. Part of what makes Schoolhouse such an iconic brand is their unwavering commitment to quality and an acutely refined sense of identity. So when they met with two Portland-based artists—Ola Supernat, Creative Director at Hygge & West, and Jennifer Stady, Creative Director/Owner of Laundry Studio—it was as if the stars had aligned. Both women have talent in spades, a finely tuned eye for detail, and endless creativity. Keep reading to learn a bit more about the artists behind the designs.

Ola Supernat

Tell us a bit about your background.

My background is in graphic design—primarily brand design. I entered the field a bit by accident. I was majoring in art, and graphic design was part of my curriculum. I was instantly drawn to its combination of aesthetic and purpose. Over the years, however, pattern design has become my passion.

Before I joined Hygge & West full time three years ago, I worked at a variety of design studios and advertising agencies from Minneapolis (where I met H&W co-founder Aimee) to Chicago to Portland (where I live now).

What inspired the patterns you created for this collection? What's your design process like once you come up with a concept?

My two different takes on wildflowers, Alpine Garden and Cascade Meadow, were inspired by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest that I’ve encountered on hikes over the years. Olive Grove is about creating an ultra-lush yet soothing scene where the layout draws on vintage wallpaper patterns, but with a modern touch.

For Alpine Garden, I started by loosely drawing flower forms in a repeat I had in mind (interspersed clumps of larger, smaller, denser, and airier flora). Then, I scanned in the sketch and redrew everything with my pen tablet so that I could tweak and move individual elements, as well as add new ones (for example, the grasses were added at the very end). Once I was happy with the overall forms, layout, and repeat, I printed out flower section by flower section and hand-drew everything again, this time knowing exactly what the art needed to look like to fit together well. I drew each flower three to five times… or thirty—I wanted to get them just right. After digitizing one more time, I added color blocking to several flowers and grasses for the Multi version of this pattern. Doing so on the computer allowed me to easily test which placement worked best on a large scale.

For Cascade Meadow, I started by creating a loose repeat on the computer with general flower shapes. I wanted the layout to feel graphic—playing with movement created by specific arrangements of flowers of different shapes and sizes. After narrowing down which types of plants will make it into the design, I painted the motifs (more than needed, just in case). Next, I digitized the art and worked out the final layout on the computer.

For Olive Grove, it was imperative that the underlying framework had a beautiful flow, so I started by figuring out the layout for the branches on the computer—that way I could easily preview what the pattern will look like once stepped out. Next, I drew the solid leaf and olive shapes and arranged them around the branches. Once I was happy with everything, I printed out the repeat very lightly and hand-painted over the shapes, adding shading to the leaves and branches. Then I digitized everything. Overall, there was lots of back and forth!

How does wallpaper—both the pattern and the color—affect the way we experience a space?

Wallpaper is so transformative! Based on pattern, color, and scale, it can go from calming to energizing to moody to playful. The same design in different colorways can evoke completely opposite feelings. What pattern should always do, though, is make you happy.

If you could use one of your patterns from this collection to create a dream space, what pattern would you select and what space would you create?

I’d use Alpine Garden Multi (Primary)—it’s so happy and bold yet airy—in a bedroom, so that I could wake up to cheery nature everyday, even during Portland’s rainy season.

Jennifer Stady

Tell us a bit about your background.

I am a slightly weird native Portlander. I followed my love for drawing, art, fashion, and design around the world to many schools and cities, not really sure which one I wanted to focus on or where I would land. When I discovered that I could draw, paint, and take photos, and that it could all work towards creating patterns, it felt like a perfect fit—and it still does. After University, I worked for some large apparel companies here in Portland, and in 2000 I started Laundry Studio. Since then it's been a great mixture of client work and creating patterns for our expanding pattern library. I also teach and mentor students at PSU and PNCA in art, design, and pattern design and absolutely love it.

What inspired the patterns you created for this collection? What’s your design process like once you come up with a concept?

These patterns were inspired by the power and simplicity of geometric shapes, mainly lines. I'm continually fascinated by the emotional connection that I can have with abstract marks and geometric elements. I often think about one of my favorite artists, Agnes Martin, and how a lot of her work communicated the spiritual effects of vertical and horizontal lines in such a simple and quiet way. After spending time with her paintings I really began to appreciate and explore the myriad ways that simple lines and shapes can communicate in profound ways.

At the beginning of a project like this, I sometimes think it's going to be easy because it's just lines, right? But then the decisions start. How thick? How straight? How far apart? Thick and thin or even? Crunched together or spaced out? For this project, I started with the concepts that I knew to be important from Schoolhouse and just started drawing. After a while I was in a groove and then able to look at them all and ask, "Do they work?" I created a lot of drawings, scanned the ones that resonated with the design brief, and started playing around with combining them in the computer in Adobe Illustrator. To me, it's really important to try all possible combinations in order to get the most unique and successful drawing, so I make quite a few drawings.

For Woven, once everyone was happy with the lines, more exploration took place to come up with the idea of the columns. Again, how thick and how regulated should they be? We all agreed that they should be fairly large with a minimal break between them so that they resemble an actual piece of woven fabric, rather than a solid mass of verticals and horizontals. The final work from my end was making sure that the lines in each of the columns were unique within the width of the wallpaper roll so that the same hand-drawn line would not show up in an overly repetitive way.

How does wallpaper–both the pattern and the color–affect the way we experience a space?

I grew up in a house that was almost entirely covered in different wallpaper patterns. I now have wallpaper here at the studio as well as in a few rooms at home, so I guess it's safe to say it runs in the family. I love how wallpaper mixes with the things around it, creating unexpected relationships and conversations between foreground and background, wall, art, furniture. It feels like a visual choir—a really beautiful combination of different styles, content, and histories.

If you could use one of your patterns from this collection to create a dream space, what pattern would you select and what space would you create?

I would put Match (Juniper) in my new basement karaoke room. Right now it's covered in red mylar curtains, but I think it could work together somehow and now I totally want to try it. Normally when I'm working on decorating a room, I start with something green and then, over time, I just can't help but add more and more warm oranges and reds. I have an old school map on the wall now that I think would look great on this paper as well. So maybe I will actually make this dream space a real place!