Interview with designers/illustrators Mara & Nick Girling
Go Confidently Art Print by Mara
Selection of greeting cards by Mara & Nick Girling
Forest Deer Art Print by Mara
The talented couple Mara and Nick Girling, from Melbourne, produce beautiful and unique art prints. Inspired by their experiences as professional designers, advertising posters, and mid 20th century illustration and design, this husband and wife duo came together to form Printspace.
Their range has prints for inspiration, for professionals, for children and for the wise. The birth prints allow the name and details of a new baby’s birth to be captured in a beautiful long lasting print – a perfect gift idea for a new bub! Printspace also have a range of greeting cards and notebooks.
When leaving work to have her two boys, Mara needed a creative outlet to keep her going. Over the past couple of years, Printspace has grown to include a range of stockists across most states of Australia, and now Nick and Mara are often seen at craft and trade shows across Australia.
I even bought a few of my very own prints from Mara and Nick a few months ago, so was very excited when they agreed to be interviewed! The three inspirational quote prints make me smile when I pass them in my hallway!
The images featured in the article here are just a snippet of the wonderful range from Printspace. See more of the range and purchase directly from the Printspace website and follow their blog for the latest updates from Mara and Nick.
Home Is Art Print by Mara
Alphabet Poster in pinks by Mara
Personalised Baby Birth Print and Fairy Art Print by Mara
How have you got to where you are today?
I studied Graphic Design at university and was a graphic designer for 9 years before having the 1st of my 2 boys.
At that time, I wanted to do something from home, that was still creative but that I could manage while raising our kids. Nick (my husband and business partner) was also interested in producing art, so Printspace was born. It compliments our existing Graphic Design business, and I was able to start the business and grow it slowly.
In a few words, describe yourself…
Um, tricky! Friendly, diplomatic, hard working, happy except when tired then grumpy, at times a brilliant procrastinator!
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
Sorry it’s not more exciting… Fulfilling orders from the recent Life InStyle trade show. I’m also tweaking our web site and getting ready for our new posters to arrive from the printer!
Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?
Not so much a ritual, it’s more about setting a deadline and starting! I find that a deadline is the best thing to get me creative! It’s too easy to fluff around otherwise.
I love books and magazines, so I often am flicking through our library of art and design books and mags. We start off with a brain storm, and come up with ideas, that are then worked up into rough sketches / concepts. From there we review the ideas as a group and then work on the ones we all approve of until they are ready.
What or who inspires you?
Nick and my boys inspire me. And so do the brilliant designers of the modernist era. From textile designers, to architects and graphic designers, their style is something I feel at home with and passionate about.
What are you most proud of?
Apart from my family, which is the most important thing, I would say, starting a business from scratch, with no financial backing and working on it slowly and steadily and building it into a successful (yet still very small) business.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I don’t remember what I wanted to be when I was really little, but when I was about 10 I wanted to be a costume designer, and then when I was about 14 I wanted to be an architect!
