Paper Fashion: an exclusive interview with the Artist Katie Rodgers

“I find ballerinas incredible. How they appear weightless, beautiful, fragile almost, yet at the same time they are incredibly strong athletes who go through so much to become this graceful being for the few moments they glide across a stage.”

That of Katie Rodgers is mind always in movement, constantly looking for new inspirations for the future. An artist with a delicate soul, Katie has been living in the Big Apple for years, and despite the frenetic city life, she has managed to create her own small space in which to paint and find inspiration in the tranquility of her small garden.

This month, Latest Magazine had the opportunity to interview her and be inspired by her ideas on art and design and by the many collaborations and initiatives she has worked on. Driven by an intense passion for fashion and its endless possibilities of interpretation through painting, Katie has made of her blog Paper Fashion a real job, arriving to collaborate with some great names of the world of luxury, including Cartier and Estée Lauder. In this interview, we will understand what led her to the creation of Paper Fashion.

all images courtesy of Katie Rodgers @paperfashion

In her interesting way of narrating, Katie tells us about herself, speaking about her passion for fashion and nature, which has always accompanied her since her childhood in Georgia, and then talking about her most recent projects, like creating a line of art supplies for painting, her interest in new technological innovations and a mission that has always been the engine of her art: being able to inspire people and encourage them to create, regardless of what their passion is, being aware that giving a form to our creative ideas is always good.

How did everything start?Can you tell us more about your blog Paper Fashion and its development until today?

I’ve been painting my whole life! But, like many people do, I chose to pursue Industrial Design because I feared art wasn’t practical – and I’m a bit analytical and loved the idea of problem solving as a designer. I got a job in design after I graduated, but still felt this urge to continue painting (which I had still done throughout college). I began painting every single day – with a focus on fashion – obsessively. In 2009, I made a website called Paper Fashion, simply to store the paintings on, but it went on to become something of it’s own. I began to receive work inquiries all the time, and eventually decided to quit my job 2.5 years later. From then until now I have been pursuing work as an artist full time.

By admiring your work, it seems clear that you put nature at the core of your artistic and creative process. From your fashion drawings it seems that even the dresses come out of something natural and soft, like flowers or plants. Can you tell us a little bit more about the combination of nature and fashion in your works?

I grew up on a dirt road in Georgia (USA) and was always surrounded by nature and animals. My brothers and I would hang out in the woods and fields where we lived, and I always loved it so much. It has always stayed with me, even now living in New York City. At the same time, fashion was so foreign to me growing up. It felt distant and like something I would really only see in movies or books – so I was drawn to it. I knew nothing about it. I was curious about the mysteriously beautiful gowns I’d see here and there. So somewhere in my head those two worlds merged together.