I’m a Nordic surface pattern designer and illustrator, passionate about creating nature-inspired, magical designs. In this post, I’ll show you how my patterns come to life — from hand-drawn sketches to finished repeating designs ready for fabric, wallpaper and beyond.
April 4, 2022
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I’m a Nordic illustrator and surface designer — with cultural roots in Finland and creative branches in the UK. My work draws deeply from the natural world: colourful, mythical landscapes and creatures that come alive on fabric, stationery, and home décor.
Over the past five years, I’ve built a vibrant portfolio of surface pattern designs, available for licensing or bespoke collaborations. My patterns have found homes in projects across fashion, textiles, giftware, and paper goods — and each design carries a little spark of storytelling and wonder.
When I first began my surface design journey in 2020, I focused entirely on vector art, mastering Adobe Illustrator inside out. Since then, my style has evolved through experimentation, client work, trend research, and creative training. Each year and part of the journey has shaped how I see and express the beauty of nature in pattern form.
One of my early painterly pieces, Kingfisher Wood, brings together elements from several painting sessions — a semi-realistic natural scene with a dreamlike twist. Another, Wildflower Meadow, was created using hand-cut paper illustrations. For the past few years, I have created the majority of my pattern work in Adobe Photoshop, with my original paintings and drawings. The detail and texture that Photoshop allows in patterns, has been well suited to my illustration style and artistic skills.
Recently, I’ve been embracing a more fluid and organic approach to pattern design through watercolour painting. My floral pattern Ditsy Blue reflects this — a playful exploration of hand-painted and simply drawn motifs.
Working across different techniques has taught me flexibility — the ability to adapt to each project’s mood, message, and medium. Above all, I believe design is a dialogue between imagination and curiosity. To grow as an artist, I embrace change, play, and the unknown — always striving to create work that feels heartfelt, magical, and true to my creative soul.
To have a good working knowledge of different techniques and software in pattern design is always an advantage, when working with clients and your own work. Vector works with simpler designs which may need to be scaled up or printed using screen printing methods. An example of my vector pattern design image is 'Berry Birds', a surface repeat pattern I made to one of Spoonflower’s folk pattern challenges in 2022. Being a Scandi designer, I feel drawn to the folk art heritage in pattern designs. My Berry Birds pattern combines forest mythology and Nordic folklore, with a sprinkling of William Morris inspiration.
The importance of movement and colour in my patterns is fundamental in bringing stories to life on various mediums it may be used on. Even though this pattern is a vector pattern, it still has plenty of detail, but can be sized up indefinitely without loss of quality. Many of my client projects over the past two years have, for this reason, been created in Adobe Illustrator instead of Photoshop.
Because I often work in collections, I created two complementary pattern designs for the Berry Birds. Both patterns have elements from folk art style, but they have contrasting placements, one being simple directional pattern and the other one a half drop pattern. They both have lots of floral details and a continuous flow, but are somewhat simpler in colour and arrangement than the very detailed Berry Birds hero pattern. Below you can see one of them, called Birds in Bushes:
This work in progress pattern collection is inspired by all things forest and magic. Since I was little, forest was my playing ground and it has affected my creative work in abundance. I love imagining new worlds and hidden places full of charm and magic, and making them into designs. Through my work, I want to not only make a beautiful design, but also to tell a story. Story-telling and reading books about folk tales is one of my loves. I like how mythology and history intertwine in these writings. My new pattern collection, Enchanted Forest, is tapping into this ancient pool of inspiration.
I am planning to use a restricted colour palette for this collection, because I want the mood to be dreamy and for the motifs themselves to stand out in the patterns. Below you can see two of the patterns in this collection, which are filled with Dream Birds (birds that give you dreams), butterflies, flowing botanical motifs and beautiful foliage. I am hoping for some of the patterns to have that William Morris inspired feel to them, which originate as hand drawn motifs and have a beautiful, pleasant flow to them.
My repeating patterns work beautifully printed on various materials and mediums, including fabric, textiles, stationery and home decor. I love seeing my designs become real things in the world, and the thought of my customers making quilting projects with my fabric, jotting down their creative ideas in my notebooks and wearing clothes designed by me, fills me with childlike wonderment and joy. Over the past year I have been making bespoke patterns for clients for use on clothing and soft furnishings and my first quilting fabric collection was published by QT Fabrics in June 2023.
You can purchase a selection of my surface pattern designs on various products, including fabric, stationery and home decor via these links:
Here is a preview of my patterns in ocean theme, a popular subject for many pattern designers. Earlier this year I made these two mini pattern collections with three prints in each, suitable for children's apparel and living space. This was also the first time I worked the motifs in Procreate in my iPad and then worked them into a pattern in Photoshop. The possibility of working 'on-the-go' was very appealing to me, and I will definitely be using this tool in my workflow in future.
Surface pattern design means a design with a pattern applied to a surface, whether this is paper, textile, ceramic, plastic or other material. Most of the products you see around you every day, including product packaging, gift wrap and soft furnishing, have some form of surface design applied to them. In effect surface design is one of the most widely used types of designs in the world, and it encompasses nearly unlimited styles and creative techniques.
Having spent most of my life close to nature, I find endless inspiration for my surface pattern desig in organic shapes, wild landscapes, and seasonal changes. Growing up in the Finnish forest, surrounded by folktales and mythology, I developed a deep love for storytelling through nature-inspired art — a theme that continues to flow through my work today.
Now based in the UK, in a valley framed by rivers, moors, and ancient woodlands, I draw daily inspiration from my surroundings. I also love to travel, sketching colours, patterns, and textures from nature wherever I go.
Each design I create blends the real and the imagined. While I often reflect the beauty of the natural world, I also stylise my motifs — infusing them with a touch of magic, my Nordic heritage, and the timeless simplicity of Scandinavian design.
Here’s a little more about my approach to surface pattern design.
I love illustrating seasonal scenes; using beautiful hand-drawn imagery to convey a story. Floral patterns, particularly flowers and small botanical details in natural landscapes, speak to my soul. A forager by heart, I love exploring the countryside, with its forests and meadows, for beguiling subject matters. Often during my wild forays, I pick a few flowers and plants and draw them at home with my daughter; nature is a timeless inspiration for us both.
The pattern above titled ‘Fungi Foray’, was inspired by my fungi forays in the woods as a child and an adult. Drawn in pencil and ink, I assembled this pattern in Photoshop to retain all the beautiful textures and details of my original drawings. The result is a half drop pattern which is a feast to the eyes and which has a lot of details to discover.
Words can only tell you so much about the way I create my work, so in order to get a better idea, you can have a peek at my surface pattern-making process via my Youtube channel. Don’t forget to check the other making-of artwork videos whilst there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGoFXVKXD18
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hziU6e2UE6k
Even in this digital age, my surface pattern designs always begin with traditional tools. Every piece starts as a pencil sketch — whether it evolves into a simple, graphic motif or a detailed illustrative composition. For years, I’ve used the same trusted Graphgear pencil, which travels with me almost everywhere.
There’s something deeply satisfying about the tactile experience of drawing — the soft scratch of graphite, the feel of paper beneath the pencil tip, the slow translation of thought into form. While hand-drawing will always be at the heart of my process, I’ve also come to appreciate the freedom and practicality of working digitally with a stylus and iPad. Both worlds — analog and digital — now coexist in my creative practice, allowing me to combine craftsmanship with modern versatility.
After finishing my pencil sketches, I refine the lines using ink markers of varying thicknesses. Sometimes I keep the drawings simple with clean outlines; other times I build up layers of detail, as seen in the Cowslips and Primulas repeat pattern below. Once complete, I erase the pencil lines and scan the artwork into my computer.
From there, I bring each design to life digitally — either in Illustrator or Photoshop — cleaning, refining, and assembling the motifs into a seamless repeat pattern. My creative process always begins in the analog world and ends digitally, which I find to be the perfect balance between originality and efficiency.
Like any art form, surface pattern design is an ever-evolving journey. The best tools are always the ones that fit the vision, and for me, that means allowing both hand-drawn authenticity and digital precision to coexist. Designing is my passion, and I’m constantly learning, refining, and reinventing my style.
If you’re a brand or company interested in licensing my designs or collaborating on a custom surface pattern project, I’d love to hear from you and explore how we can create something beautiful together.
Please contact me at info@heidivilkman.com to see my Surface Pattern portfolio and commission me for your own special project.
I look forward to hearing from you about your Surface Pattern Design project!
Scandinavian Christmas Pattern Design
