Cape Town-based artist and designer Euodia Roets launched her homeware and pamper brand Touchee Feelee in 2012. Roets paints watercolour designs, which are digitally printed onto linen fabric that she sews into throw pillows and other products. Here she talks in her own words about her creative process.
I studied visual communications in Cape Town, and when I finished school I worked as a graphic designer. I was always drawn to illustration — especially watercolour painting — so I taught myself to paint in 2010, and I continued to paint as a hobby while I traveled through Asia with my husband Louw Roets for a few years. When we returned to South Africa in 2012, I started Touchee Feelee.
I paint pieces of my life – small details of events, places and feelings; childhood memories of making cotton candy with my parents, and sunny days spent looking at the clouds with my husband.
I love tactile objects and finishes, and I experiment a lot with production methods like screenprinting on objects that “shouldn’t” be screenprinted, stamping with fabric ink, and so on. My husband is a photographer and industrial designer, and he’s a great inspiration to me.
Every pillow cover in my shop starts as an original painting. After scanning, it’s digitally printed onto fabric using natural, plant-based inks. Digital printing allows for the wonderful tones of the watercolour paint to be preserved, which is something that would be completely lost with traditional screenprinting methods. Finally, the panels are sewn into pillows and sold worldwide.
Etsy gave me the amazing opportunity to sell my designs outside of South Africa. The first sale I had on Etsy was so encouraging – to think someone so far away loved what I do so much that they paid for it! This fueled my creativity, and soon I had more designs, sketches and paintings than I had space for. My goal for the future as Touchee Feelee grows is to stay as authentic and tactile as the day I started. I want people to feel like they can’t resist touching a Touchee Feelee pillow.
This interview was originally published on The Etsy Blog, where Touchee Feelee products are available for sale. All photographs by Louw Roets.
