Biologist blends passion for nature with fabric and wallpaper designs

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — An internationally award-winning designer from the United Kingdom is coming to Wilmington to share how she blends her passion of nature with creating designs used in textiles and wallpaper.

Susy Paisley was a renowned conservation biologist who found herself fascinated by Charles Darwin’s renderings of extinct, rare and endangered plants.

“I used to illustrate all of my field photos as a biologist and I begin to think… why can’t they be the tens of thousands of species that need conservation help, why can’t we share with them some love,” Paisley said.

This was a springboard for Paisley to launch her own company called Newton Paisley. She has since been the recipient of three top awards during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York.

As Paisley was launching her design career, she teamed up with Big Sky Design founder and principal interior designer Jennifer Kraner.

“We were introduced to Susy’s beautiful work and we’re so pleased to be able to showcase this at the Cameron Art Museum,” Kraner said. “Her work is fantastic and beyond ordinary, we just don’t see work like this everyday.”

Paisley says storytelling is what drives her passion for creating beautiful images from nature.

“I am an evangelical conservationist,” and she added, “I want people to find ways to connect with wild things, to find ways to be passionate about them.”

With a flair for color and design, Paisley said her design work allows her to bring the outdoors, indoors.

“When you have curtains you might spend thousands of hours just idly drinking your coffee and looking at a repeating pattern and if you know about those species I do a little field guide with all my designs so you can interact with and learn about all the different species,” she said.

For every meter of fabric Paisley sells, 100 meters of indigenous habitat are preserved through her company’s agreement with World Land Trust.

Paisley plans to share more of her conservation efforts during “An Evening with Suzy Paisley” at Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington.

“This is just going to be an amazing event to see a true one-of-a-kind artist and to learn more about her process and also how you can bring that into your home through interior design,” Kraner said.

The event will be held Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 6 – 8 p.m. and tickets range from $55-$80. Proceeds from the event will benefit the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust.