Behind the scenes
I’m Irene Linders, an
Illustrator & visual storyteller
I have a thing for things.
Chairs, lamps, peculiar objects, quiet corners, unexpected colour combinations, especially the ones with a little history and character. I tend to notice what is easily overlooked. These observations often find their way into my work, sometimes quite literally, sometimes transformed into something entirely new.
With a background in both illustration and design, I’ve spent over a decade turning ideas, stories and identities into distinctive visual worlds. Working across cultural, commercial and editorial contexts has taught me to consider not only what an image looks like, but what it needs to communicate, who it needs to speak to and where it needs to live. It’s where my experience as a designer and my instincts as an illustrator come together.
Away from a brief, inspiration often starts closer to home. Interiors, collected objects, art and architecture continually shape my visual language. I’m drawn to the craftsmanship of the past, from graphic details of the 1920s and ’30s to mid-century design, not to recreate nostalgia but to take those references somewhere new.
Sometimes an observation becomes an illustration. Other times it finds its way into a painting, print or photograph, or simply stays with me until it finds the right form.
For me, it all starts with looking.