Emily Faccini
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Inspired by textile traditions and decorative patterns from both Western and Eastern cultures, artist and illustrator Emily Faccini creates watercolour drawings and prints with engaging detail.
Of French and English descent, Emily Faccini grew up strongly influenced by her maternal grandparents’ interest in art and collecting, surrounded by homes filled with softly coloured textiles, artworks, and pottery. Since studying art, graphics, and illustration at Central Saint Martins, Emily has divided her time between England and France. She works extensively as an illustrator for the publishing industry as well as for creative brands, and has held solo exhibitions across europe.
Emily's first encounters with crafts
Formed by the influence of her maternal grandparents, who took great delight in objects of cultural and aesthetic beauty, Emily shared in their appreciation—from the simplicity of a small Greek chopping board to the freshness of a spring primrose, and the shimmering gold of a Byzantine ceiling. From a young age, she also began collecting antique books on textiles, nurturing an early fascination with pattern and material culture.
"Having lived all over Europe after the 2nd World War, they introduced my sister and I to Paris and Venice. They took us to the ballet, opera, exhibitions and gave me books on Matisse and Ghika, nurturing all things visual."
Since receiving her BA and MA studying art, graphics and illustration at Central Saint Martins, Emily has worked extensively as an artist, illustrator and map-maker.
Email maintains an attentiveness to the details of the natural world and craft traditions. Her influences range from archival aesthetics, cartography, and typography to fashion, architecture, and the visual arts, shaped through ongoing visits to exhibitions, architectural sites, and cultural institutions. She draws inspiration from diverse artistic periods and cultures — from the precision of Renaissance painting to the colour sensibilities of Impressionism, and the fluid, water-based inks of Japanese woodblock printing — spanning artistic and craft traditions across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Through her practice, she meditates on the particular, translating close observation into illustrated notes.
Her home forms the backdrop to her artistic practice, a workdesk overflowing with pencils, pens, brushes, and colouring instruments collected from near and far. Before beginning the making of patterns destined for textile, Emily spends hours immersed in her archive of inspiration, circling through 18th-century American, French, English, and Japanese weaves and indigo textiles.
Her layered compositions combine translucent watercolour and opaque gouache, applied with both flat and fan brushes.