Nathalie Lete’s art isn’t restricted just to pen and paper. Rather, her work involves a happy mixture of techniques and mediums and includes anything from illustrating and painting to textile and ceramics.
Born in 1964, she lives and works in Paris, where she produces children’s books, knitted and stuffed toys, glass pictures, patterned dishes, but also postcards, ceramic sculptures, silkscreen printed t-shirts, rugs, and jewels in limited editions (both for herself and for commissions).
Inspired by her travels around the world, Lete admits she’s also fond of vintage toys and old engravings, as well as the natural world. “I feel glad and happy to be able to inspire kids,” she once remarked in an interview with the Little Citizens Boutique blog. “I was myself very inspired by a couple of women I knew when I was a kid, and I wanted to be like them… so it is very important to be inspired by someone and to have a goal.”
Indeed, her work has a naive quality to it that appeals to both children and adults, and amongst her clients, you can even find some celebrities. “I don’t really know who my buyers are, because I sell only some few products by myself,” she says, “but I know that Tim Burton bought one of my rugs, also the boss of Laduree has one in his office and Charlotte Gainsbourg has also one rug.”
But though her work is playful, Lete admits she doesn’t actually design for kids. “I design and some products suit kids, but it is not my first goal,” she explains. According to her, her way of working is exactly the same if the product is meant for a kid or an adult.
Follow her Instagram page for more:
