Illustration by Roeqiya Fris
In an ideal world, we’d always be exploring a new city, or swimming in a new sea. For the times we’re not, we’re looking to these talented female travel illustrators to brighten up our living spaces with their fun, travel-inspired prints.
Three things we love here at Citizen Femme are travel, design, and supporting strong female voices. So it’s no wonder we’re itching to hang pieces from all of these female travel illustrators on our walls.
Lorna Thompson
Teal, mint and pink feature heavily in Lorna’s vibrant designs, many of which focus on UK towns and cities: St. Ives, Manchester, and Whitby, to name a few. With a degree in textiles and surface patterns, Lorna has worked with design studios for 19 years, but it was only when the pandemic hit that she started her own business, selling directly to the world. We love her designs so much that one of her international pieces – the Taj Mahal in India – adorns the guestroom walls of one of our team.
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Roeqiya Fris
Dutch-Egyptian artist, Roeqiya Fris, grew up on a diet of art, but it was a school trip to Paris, Florence, and Venice that really made her dream of pursuing it as a career. Her work leans into her experiences as a Western and Arab woman: it’s vibrant, colourful and always with a strong, feminine presence. Many of Roeqiya’s pieces never reveal an actual location, instead asking the viewer to use their imagination. But, no matter where in the world you think they depict, one thing is for sure: they do so with a spectacular riot of colours ready to spruce up any wall.
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Daniella Manini
Peruvian-born, California-based Daniella Manini’s signature print is a modern take on the vintage destination poster. This self-taught artist captures the very essence of a place using well-considered typography, alongside retro design and playful colours. The sea is a recurring inspiration to Daniella, and a common trait across many of her unique designs.
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Nolwenn Denis
Nolwenn’s travels, specifically Colombia, serve as visible inspiration to her designs – evident in the personality, bright colours, and attention to detail seen in her work. She’s passionate about sharing the world with others, and uses her art as a way of bringing people along on her global explorations.
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Joy Laforme
In keeping with the current change in seasons, we love these Joy Laforme autumn and winter collections. If you want to get your hands dirty (literally) take a look at her paint by numbers collection or, for something hands-on but less messy, browse her jigsaw puzzle designs. These would make a perfect Christmas gift for the problem-solving member of your circle.
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Betty Wu
After leaving the UK for Gran Canaria, Betty used her new life as inspiration for many of her illustrations, telling CF that she sees her drawings almost as a diary. Bold and powerful, her eye-catching pieces will add a touch of adventure to your living room walls. They’ll do the same to the bed and breakfast her and her husband are opening in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria later this year, too: she plans to hang her work across the property, serving as both hotel decoration and island inspiration for guests. Purchase via direct message on her Instagram account.
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Millie Illustrates
Another product of the lockdown, Millie began posting her work online in 2020, and has never looked back. With an army of loyal followers – her Instagram following has grown from just one thousand in June 2020 to almost 90,000 today – Millie specialises in landmark-led art, her prints spanning everywhere from Rome to Pisa and Positano, Marrakech to Dubai and Osaka. We’ll take one of everything.
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Zoë Ellison
For artwork that is more true-to-life yet still very much a window into other worlds, Zoe’s prints hit the mark. As well as location-based pieces, such as these from Istanbul, Paris, and Miami, Zoe likes to explore other themes including space, marine life, and food. Asked why she has such a passion for travel illustration, Zoe tells us that it’s a chance to transport people someplace else, and to give them a sense of atmosphere – in a very different way to that of photography.
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