Bohemian Rhapsody

The first lockdown prompted artist Nathalie Lété to use her country abode as a canvas for her enchanting whimsical style

- Rachel Leedham

The pandemic saw Instagram awash with images posted by creatives who had turned their hands to their own homes, but few feeds have been as magical or as joyous as that of Nathalie Lété. The French artist – renowned for her naïve works inspired by folk art that have graced everything from ceramics for Anthropologie to tiles for Emery & Cie as well as fashion for Gucci – saw the first lockdown as the chance to decorate her country home. ‘I posted images of what I was doing and the response was incredible,’ she says. ‘I realised that what was keeping me happy was making other people happy and I began to receive images of what others were doing.’

Mixed in with her paintings, which see birds hopping around door frames, leafy fronds climbing walls and butterflies flitting across cabinetry, are ceramics created in collaboration with Nathalie’s ceramicist daughter, Angele, who has worked with her mother ever since she left art school three years ago. ‘I was struggling to devote time to the ceramics side of my business so I asked Angele to join me; it was a gamble but we have a good working relationship,’ says Nathalie.