You may be familiar with Jaime Derringer as the founder and executive editor of Design Milk, a blog I have followed since I was in design school. More recently, I started to follow Jaime on Instagram—where I learned that she is also an extremely gifted artist. Jaime’s work is “an exploration of shape and color in its most brutal and purest forms.” During the course of creating each piece, Jaime will embrace happy accidents, thus taking her art as a personal lesson and a metaphor for moving forward in life. She says she uses it as a form of therapy, as well as a way to dive into shapes and colors and escape everything around her.
Jaime took up art again after a long pause due in part to the birth of her daughter and a feeling of an urgent need to simply create. Every day she creates art, whether it’s a hand-drawn shape for her Shape a Day project or a full-blown painting session. Taking inspiration from a variety of sources—such as architecture, geometric pattern, and shapes within nature—Jaime also possesses a strong love of fine artists and textile design. Some favorites include Willem de Kooning, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, Sarah Morris, Sol LeWitt, Annie Albers, and Gunta Stölzl.
Jaime has converted a corner of her office into what she likes to call “crazy town”—it’s a bit of a mess and reflects her state of mind during the creation process. One tool that she finds extremely useful are her Moleskin journals she’s kept since 2007. A source of constant inspiration, these books illustrate the evolution of Jaime’s aesthetic and artist hand.
After several requests, Jaime stocked her Etsy shop with originals and prints for purchase. While her pieces feel super personal, she is also excited that people want to hang her work on their walls. Jaime will also have her first show at The Fig House this fall, curated by Danielle of The Jealous Curator. She will also be part of an Etsy Popup event at West Elm in San Diego in mid-August, where she’ll be selling prints and originals.
{ All images via Jaime Derringer }