Claude Monet wrote, “Perhaps I owe it to the flowers that I became a painter.” The same could be said of Cecilia Battaini. Born and raised in Milan, Cecilia is an artist, illustrator and designer of prints and graphics for fabrics. It is no coincidence that her favourite subject and distinctive sign is the flower. “A flower among flowers” is how the artist describes herself. Each flower has its own time of growth, flowering, and care. And the flower that blooms in adversity is the most beautiful.
The term garden describes Cecilia’s poetics with which she expresses her thoughts, dreams, emotions, sensations and memories, getting lost in it. The world of flowers is made not only of colours and scents but also of strength and resistance that allows them to grow even in completely inhospitable places. Cecilia has overcome difficult moments in her life just like a flower during a storm. Drawing flowers began as a pastime in high school to exorcise her mental and eating disorders. That moment was her refuge, her safe haven, her essential peace.
After finishing the high school, Cecilia chose to study Fashion Design at Instituto Marangoni. Fashion and its meanings were a source of great fascination and allowed the artist to express her creativity freely. Now she realizes her potential in pattern creation by scanning her drawings.
Cecilia's great source of inspiration are her own eyes and what they capture, just like a picture. She has a keen eye on every single detail around her, on everything she sees and catches her attention. She loves to travel, especially to places far away. She also loves to collect all the flowers she finds with the click of her phone. When she comes back home, she studies them, draws them and creates her digital garden.
Cecilia's wish is to celebrate nature, to preserve it and to defend it at all costs. But she doeas it in her very own creative way. Cecilia is passionate about all kinds of gardens, so she also decided to go for a vegan lifestyle.
Flowers are Cecilia's reason for living, her very lifeblood. Her flowers make people who look at them feel good, like a sweet treat. This way, Cecilia likes to believe that she can help other people take care of their personal inner garden.
Today Cecilia works for Chiara Boni, an Italian fashion brand, but her creative energy is unstoppable. She is a freelancer artist who leaves her signature in all sorts of objects, such as the cover of Elvira Morelli's book "Ali nel Vento" published in 2018. She creates products with her own designs such as t-shirts, calendars, cards and pieces of furniture. She started to consider herself an artist only about a year ago, when she first exhibited her works and joined the Looking for Art community in Milano, a new start-up that supports young talents under 35.
Cecilia has finally blossomed.
Follow Cecilia's work on Instagram.
Interview & Article by
Vivian di Lorenzo
Images from
Kommentarer