LINN WOLD
It all started when…
The story
Linn grew up in a small town in Norway, called Elverum. She spent her days as a little girl drawing or singing karaoke and playing on her keyboard. Already in elementary school her teacher told her that she could be an artist, just like the famous Edward Munch who grew up in the same area. This was definitely not in any dreams of Linn at that time, she wanted to be a vet or a cashier.
As the years went by, Linn got more and more interested in art. She chose the course Arts and Crafts in high school, and she loved every minute of it. At that time she realised that she wanted to work with something creative. The people around her told her it was pretty much impossible to live off of drawing. So she decided to choose a safer way after high school.
Linn spent a couple of years in Florence learning the Italian language and art history, and then she studied graphic design at the Norwegian School of Creative Studies in Oslo. She also spent a year in Milan to study Art Direction. After a few years back in Oslo with assorted jobs and freelance work as a designer, she decided to move back to Elverum with her family and focus entirely on her own business.
Using social media, especially Instagram, her art suddenly reached out to a lot of people. Now Linn’s prints are available through selected retailers all over the world, and the entire collection is also available online.
The Process
Linn Wold prints are created using a digital Wacom drawing tablet to draw and produce each print. The creative process begins long before she starts working on the actual piece. Hours and hours on Pinterest, reading interior magazines and browsing Instagram, makes her head filled up with inspiration for what to do next. Which colours to use, what items to draw, which faces to create. Each print is printed with ink on high quality matte paper, signed by hand and wrapped in paper tube packaging.
Describe yourself and your work to us?
My name is Linn and I am 30 years old and currently living in a small town named Elverum in Norway. I live together with my young daughter (three years old), fiancee and two Frenchies named Bella and Bobby Brown.
I am spending my days working as a full time artist and owner/part owner of two companies, Linn Wold AS and Skrå AS (our print house). If I where to describe myself I would say I am exactly how non creatives think creative people are. Messy, most productive at night hours, mostly late, I easily forget things and I am too creative for my own good sometimes. I always have a ton of projects going on, but because of my way too critical eye for details and that I get bored too easily, there are too many projects never reaching the finish line.
My designs are mostly reflections of myself and what I find interesting at the time creating them. Mostly based on powerful women, nature, interior and trending colors, animals, all in whimsical compositions.
How did it all begin?
I’ve always been interested in art and I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. However, I never really thought it being possible to make a living out of, so I started a career as a graphic designer.
After doing that for a few years, I realized it gave me absolutely nothing to design things out of my control that other people payed me to design. (I handle criticism of what I create really badly as well) So the solution was to start a career creating what I wanted to create, and make people buy that instead. And lucky me, and thanks to social medias, it worked like a charm!
What is one of your proudest moments in your career?
The last years have been so so busy that I’ve never really got the chance to take a few step backs to have a look at what I’ve actually accomplished. It is so easy to get caught up in every day work and being all - it could end tomorrow.
However, it would be how I got through my first year starting my businesses and designs. Back in 2016, when stores started to notice my prints, I ran the entire business from my living room, printing and cutting all prints myself, customer service, doing art, being my own marketing manager AND handling a newborn that never slept longer than 20 minutes. I am still not sure how I actually pulled that year off!
What are you working on right now?
I am currently working on a Nordic theme in my prints, and doing some newbies for the upcoming art fair in Sydney that we are attending in March. And also Circle Art, our newest line of products.
What advice do you have for emerging artists?
Do. not. ever. relax. haha. There is really no time for that, being an emerging artist. To be able to survive as a full time artist you need to stay relevant, there are thousands of thousands of other artists ready to take your spot if you don’t. But of course, besides that, have fun! Cause even though I work a lot, I love my job so much that I don’t see it as work, and I am having so much fun every single day. And though it sounds like a cliche, the most important part; Fake it until you make it.