Frances Nutt is a London based illustrator creating patterns worked in pencil, ink, watercolour, photography and collage. Mixing in-camera photographic effects with ink and watercolour drawings layered together into a highly decorative, romantic rococco essence. Frances Nutt specializes in visual narratives for magazines, book and record covers and Fine Art Prints.
Her images are sometimes accompanied by the poems she wrote to lead her into the feeling of the story.
Telling tales from the soul of the city.
Many of her illustrations are featured on her collections of mens silk scarfs and pocket hankerchiefs based on the history and symbology of place and its decoration. London, New York, Paris. Currently available in bespoke tailors in Savile Row and Soho. www.francesnutt.co.uk
Studied History of Art and English Literature. Thesis on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and her mother Mary Wollstencraft – themes of gender, politics, transformation, resurrection, botany and gardens informs her symbolic style.
“My strong interest in story, symbolism and history, contemporary culture, craft and aesthetics is woven into my work, inspired by Spitalfields silk weavers, designs in the V & A, Macclesfield silk museum, MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp…feeling the narrative everywhere I walk.”
She learnt on the job. Experience has honed her skills over a lifetime as a commercial artist following in the workers education tradition rather than with an established art school training. Studying English Literature and History of Art at Manchester University in late 70s. Starting at the drawing board and in the darkroom of a graphic design company, using rotring pen and scalpel. She was a partner in a screen-printing business in Manchester with Matthew Rich now of MARS Print Studio , making posters for nightclubs including the Beach Club, the Russell Club, Band on the Wall and the Hacienda. Proud to print the Right to Work jackets for the Unemployment March from the North to London in 1981. With Artist Valentina Vicario she helped to restore Nautilus Press and Paper Mill in Ladbroke Grove making and dying paper and learning all stages of making a book and how to make etchings.
Frances has designed covers and layout for City Limits Magazine, Womens Voice, British Journal of Photography, Everywoman, Film Review, Interiors Magazine, International Textiles, Fashion Forecast, Fashion Weekly
More recently she studied botanical drawing at Capel Manor College in Regents Park with Angeline De Meester ( www.contemporarybotanicart.com ) and Photography and Etching at Kensington and Chelsea Adult Education College. Working as a freelance graphic and web designer as well as the Textile Librarian at Interior Designers Carden Cunietti ( www.Carden-Cunietti.com )
Frances Nutt London launched at Best of Britannia in October 2016 making illustrated silks for gentlemen’s accessories. Digitally printed onto silk twill in RA Smart’s Macclesfield mill and fashioned into luxurious 100% silk scarves and pocket hankerchiefs. Sold through seasonal fairs – Handmade in Chelsea, The Chelsea Physic Garden Christmas Fair, MADE Marylebone, Candid Arts, the Library Club, Portobello Market and through her online shop www.francesnutt.co.uk She is also stocked by Sean O Flynn Bespoke Shirtmaker, Savile Row W1 and Mark Powell Bespoke Tailor.
Frances’ strong interest in story and history, contemporary culture, craft and aesthetics is woven into her work, inspired by the heritage still centred around Macclesfield. Spending hours of enjoyable study researching the Spitalfields silk weavers designs in the V & A, Macclesfield silk museum, MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp and everywhere she walks.
Each image in her collection is inspired by the feeling of place. The textiles become practical, collectible artworks you can wear, weaving a new level of narrative into a simple stroll.…telling tales of the soul of the city. Moments of everyday, everywhere beauty are translated into pattern and visual storytelling to enhance and adorn the appearance of the discerning dandy.
References include London’s National Theatre, the iconic Chelsea Hotel NYC and the 1960s architectural interior ceiling of the Curzon Cinema, Mayfair. The Ladbroke Grove gasworks are emotional evocations of her local neighbourhood. “Oxford St Xmas Tartan” is a repeat pattern of Selfridge’s Xmas windows. “Empire” is made using the architectural features of Hackney Empire and “Hampstead Heath” is based on a twilight photo taken on a walk with an old friend. Whittington is a collage telling the tale of Dick Whittington and his cat – recognisable as the mosaic discovered in the side entrance to Peter Jones, Sloane Square. The Frances Nutt London Garden Collection explores Hatton Garden, Kensington Gardens, Covent Garden, Meanwhile Gardens and many more.
Inspired by William Hogarth, Gustave Dore, Jean Cocteau, Lila de Nobili, Christian Berard, David Downton, Édouard Vuillard, Peter Ackroyd, Hilary Mantel, Walt Whitman, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Anna Maria Garthwaite, Dries Van Noten, Nan Goldin, Sandy Powell, Patti Smith, Florine Stettheimer, Jean Paul Belmondo, Halston, Elsa Peretti, Mary Shelley, William Blake, Marie Laurencin, Marvin Gaye, Richard Ashcroft, Peter Saville, MARS Print Studio, Tomato Studio, United Visual Artists (UVA), William Kentridge, Marlene Dumas, Peter Doig, Isabel Toledo.