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Asta Barrington

@astabarrington

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Surface pattern designer / illustrator licensing hand drawn artwork to brands
Represented by @tantaustudio
All images/art Copyright ©Asta Barrington

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Hello! I have big news I have been sitting on for months but can reveal today that
⭐️I now have an agent! ⭐️

I have signed up for representation with @tantaustudio, Margo Tantau’s new illustration/surface pattern design agency!

I’m really excited for the new opportunities that working with Margo and her team will create. It’s been months of sifting through contracts and sorting out the muddle of my artwork files and uploading them to the TS database. I haven’t finished sifting through them yet - I have so much more to do. I originally thought I was OK without an agent as I’ve become more savvy at understanding contracts (as much as I hate them) and I’m already trying to spin all the plates with the parenting / work balance, like lots of people...what I didn’t realise was how much artwork I have that no art director has seen yet. I have patterns, greeting card designs, Instagram challenge drawings, wallpaper ideas, etc so I wonder what products they might end up on? You can see some examples on the second slide..

I’m so delighted and proud to be a part of this agency. Are you familiar with Margo? Many artists and designers know her from her teaching @makeartthatsells online courses or her popular @windowsillchats podcasts and she’s been active as an art director/designer for many years. I have always admired Margo’s warm way of interacting with people and her vast design knowledge since taking her Home Decor MATS classes quite a few years ago. I’ve also worked with her when she art directed my Floor Flair vinyl rugs license for Studio M so I’m confident we understand each other well.

The other great thing about working with this agency is that I am free to explore other licensing opportunities if they arise (so long as they don’t come through TS) plus I’ll continue to work with my existing clients separately.

Do check out the Tantau Studio’s fresh and shiny new website, it’s a feast for the eyes! And thank you, Margo, for believing I have what it takes ❤️
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#astabarrington #tantaustudio #illustrationagency #surfacepatterndesigner #puzzledesigner #greetingcarddesigner #stationerydesigner #homedecordesigner #artlicensing #licensingartist by @astabarrington

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a year ago

✨Tantau Studio is One!✨
A whole year has passed since Margo Tantau launched her illustration agency @tantaustudio and I feel very fortunate to be in her roster of artists. It’s a very well run and friendly agency - we have monthly zoom meetings with artists far and wide, an organised Slack interface for the agency members to communicate within, an impressive portfolio system for art directors to browse and some really great contacts in the address book to work with. So far I’ve worked on diverse projects from silk scarves and puzzles to book covers and a fabric collection, and even though it’s based in the US I’ve met Margo twice in the UK in the past year. Thank you and Happy Tantau Day, Margo @mtantau, Christina @chrssy3b Mandi @champagnefabulousllc and Deb for always being so great to work with 💙💙

#tantaustudioartist #artlicensing #licensedartist #greetingcarddesigner #handlettering by @astabarrington

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2 months ago

🍋New lemon thank you notecards for @shopdenik 🍋
I received samples of these juicy new greeting cards through the post the other day from US stationery company Denik, and the colour is exactly like my artwork. They have a really pleasing soft touch matt finish and the paper weight is substantial. Right now Denik are wholesaling them to shops via @faire_wholesale - see my stories/Denik highlight for a direct link (https://www.faire.com/product/p_wp65cvnugs)

#greetingcarddesigner #artlicensing #licensedartist #stationerydesigner #tantaustudioartist @tantaustudio by @astabarrington

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2 months ago

I've just remembered that today is a respectably mature Round-number Birthday for my dear friend and fellow @tantaustudio artist @therealkathwaxman - so Kath, I'm sending you a virtual birthday card and hope you have a lovely day 💙 (and anyone else if it happens to be your birthday as well).

This is one of my current @halfpennypostage greeting cards, featuring tactile spot-gloss embossed letters and fun loving lightweight dogs

#tantaustudioartist #greetingcarddesigner #artlicensing #licensingartist by @astabarrington

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3 months ago

A little Christmas in July from the studio. 🎄

Holiday artwork starts early around here, and we are loving this sneak peek of the 12 Days of Christmas collection from Asta Barrington.

Asta has such a wonderful way of taking an idea and building a whole little world around it. Each piece feels like something you want to pick up, turn over, and open — gingerbread kits, snow globes, candles, wreaths, winter creatures, and so many festive details tucked inside.

Beautiful, fun, and full of Asta’s imagination.

Artwork by Asta Barrington, represented by Tantau Studio.

#ChristmasInJuly #ArtLicensing #HolidayIllustration by @astabarrington

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3 months ago

Seaweed Wallpaper on @happywall_com :
While I'm on the subject of my Happywall murals and wallpaper for beach houses and coastal homes here's another design which features my hand drawn seaweed, an idea I had while designing products for the @makeartthatsells Home Decor course a few years ago (taught by Margo Tantau who is now my agent @tantaustudio). This tonal hand drawn botanical style seaweed wallpaper is now available from Happywall in two large scales - large and extra large. There are 10 colour variations in both scales ranging from bright cobalt blue and mossy greens and aqua to paler subtle and neutral versions - see all summarised in the last slide. Not sure which one I would choose but the bright blue first version is my most popular at the moment..
There's currently 15% off Happywall for another day and global shipping is free - you'll find this collection in the happywall.com search bar if you type SEAWEED BOTANICAL (I'll add a direct link to my Stories/Happywall highlight too)
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#tantaustudio #licensedartist #homeinteriorideas #walltreatment #accentwall by @astabarrington

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4 months ago

If you can't go to the beach, bring it to your home! It's been beyond boiling hot here in Bath this week and all I've wanted to do is float in a sea like these images. Lovely town, no beach 🥵. These colourful textured seascapes are available on @happywall as mural wallpaper printed to any size and are ideal for beach houses or coastal inspired interiors for that laid back summer vibe. There are three versions of my original drawing - a versatile soft blue seascape mural, impactful bright turquoise tropical seascape and a stormy grey blue ocean version. I actually have nearly 100 designs on Happywall as colourful wallpaper and murals now so you're very welcome to take a look - global delivery is free and this weekend there is 15% off sitewide as well 🙌 (link in my bio or search for Asta Barrington on happywall.com)
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Image 1 &2 Design names: COBALT TROPICAL SEASCAPE WALLPAPER

3 & 4: TROPICAL SEASCAPE WALLPAPER

5 & 6: SOFT BLUE TROPICAL SEASCAPE WALLPAPER

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@tantaustudio #tantaustudioartist #artlicensing #licensedartist #surfacepatterndesign #homeinteriordesign by @astabarrington

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4 months ago

✨Silk Scarf Artwork Commission for Salesianum School, Delaware✨
Earlier this year I worked on a really enjoyable project through my agent @tantaustudio. The brief was to design artwork for a large silk scarf for Salesianum School, a Catholic boy’s school in the US. The scarf would be a donor gift for their patrons and I was given the challenge of a two week deadline to complete the artwork. The brief was extensive but well written - thankfully, as Catholic symbolism isn’t my area of expertise! They had a specific colour palette, references to three particular historical key people, lots of other relevant Catholic symbols and references to the school itself. Swipe to see the insert card that describes all this much better than I can…
You can see how I sketched out the layout in the final slide, using symmetry in Procreate to make it all cohesive - once this was approved I redrew and coloured the artwork and gave them colour options to choose from. Many many thanks to Lori Hilferty at Salesianum School for the commission and sending me a sample, and also to Tina Tellya for pointing her in the direction of Tantau Studio. I’d love to design more printed scarves so if you’re an art director of a company that would love to commission a bespoke design please do get in touch with me or the friendly folk at @tantaustudio
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Second image is a @creatsyofficial mockup (because they are the best) and all the rest are my photos of the real scarf, digitally printed by @lostpattern.nyc
#artlicensing #licensingartist #surfacepatterndesigner #tantaustudioartist #tantaustudio by @astabarrington

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4 months ago

This birthday card designed for celebrating a fabulous person is currently available in Trader Joe's stores across the United States. Inspired by my in house muse and colleague who is indeed effortlessly fabulous but less of a diva (swipe to see). Cats, lettering, faceted gems and bright colour are all in my design comfort zone so I loved drawing this one. The last photo shows this card and my raccoon birthday card at the Upper East Side TJs in New York as spotted by my husband @andrewwicks 📸 who kindly made a beeline to the store yesterday for me since we are TJ-less here in the UK. What a fab range of cards they sell!

#artlicensing #tantaustudioartist #greetingcarddesigner @tantaustudio by @astabarrington

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5 months ago

✨New quilting fabric collection: Calliope for @clothworkswa ✨
I've designed my first fabric collection for American quilting fabric company Clothworks. I've been wanting to work with a quilting company for ages as I love designing repeat patterns so I am very excited about this!

Strongly inspired by the busy maximalism of heritage Arts and Crafts wallpapers but coloured in my cheerful palette of teals, corals and pale pinks, the patterns include exotic birds perching amongst decorative florals and swirling foliage and stipple textures. The scale of the patterns is relatively small as the fabric is designed for quilt making though of course the cotton fabric will have endless uses. Clothworks have some lovely interpretations of how to put the collection together as quilts (scroll to see) - I can't wait to see the fabrics in real life and do some sewing of my own.

My designs are now available to preview on the Clothworks website, with the collection arriving in shops late January/early February 2027.

Big thanks to my agent @tantaustudio for making this happen 🧡

#artlicensing #quiltingfabric #surfacepatterndesigner #tantaustudoartist #licensingartist by @astabarrington

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5 months ago

Book cover illustration commission: Queen's Eve Act 1 by Tom Cies. In December I was approached by Californian author Tom Cies to design a series of book covers after he purchased one of my Trader Joe's 'You Are Sew Kind' quilt inspired greeting cards - see it a few posts back. He really liked the unpredictable hand lettering design, the running stitch thread patterns and the subtle colored background and wanted something with more emphasis on impact and abstraction than word legibility. Hopefully I have achieved all those things!

The first of the series of 5 books is now available on Amazon Kindle but as it's a book cover I'm showing it here as a physical book. The story sounds fun by the way - "a wild satire inside a challenging fable, Queen's Eve fuses the genres of action adventure, historical fiction, tabloid scandal, romantic comedy, fantasy and farce into a fresh yet timeless classic." Search for 'Queen's Eve, Act One: A Royal Adventure in Five Acts' if that piques your interest..

@tantaustudio #tantaustudioartist #bookcoverdesign #surfacepatterndesigner #handlettering geometric brightly coloured hand drawn letters inspired by quilted patchwork fabric with small stitch lines form a book cover designed by surface pattern designer and specialist in hand drawn lettering Asta Barrington by @astabarrington

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6 months ago

Since uploading my Vegetable Seed Packet repeat pattern to @spoonflower five years ago, the beige/ecru background version has turned out to be my top selling design in my whole shop, although I must say that I'm still fond of the darker ones. It combines all my favourite things to draw - hand lettering, layered colour, borders and objects. I'm intending to bring out a flower version - watch this space..

I’ve recently added a few coordinating stripes, along with a ‘railroad’ version of the bestselling ecru design in which the pattern runs vertically instead of across the fabric. It means you can order a longer continuous length which works well for projects such as upholstering a bench - as in the last photo which was kindly sent to me by a customer. Thank you so much if you’ve bought this design or any of the other hundreds of my patterns on Spoonflower, it means so much to me! I always love to see photos of my artwork out in the world so please do email me any (contact link in my bio)

All can be found in my Spoonflower shop as fabric, wallpaper and sewn textiles in my Ephemera collection, but to find exact designs on Spoonflower.com tap the following Design ID numbers into the Search bar:

11783948
Large scale Vegetable Seed Packets Ecru background

20808029
Rotated with Ecru background

11784476
Brown background (top left)

11784200
Dark green background (top right)

11784358
Dark grey background (bottom left)

11784307
Sage green smaller scale (bottom right)

21822687
Ecru simple chalk stripe

21823009
Aqua simple chalk stripe

21823002
Coral simple chalk stripe

21823023
Yellow simple chalk stripe

@tantaustudio #tantaustudioartist #surfacepatterndesigner #artlicensing #licensedartist Hand-drawn vegetable seed packet repeat pattern featuring carrots, radishes, cucumbers and pumpkins, shown in multiple background colourways, in a bright retro style suited to gardening-themed fabric for kitchens, conservatories and garden spaces. by @astabarrington

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6 months ago