Here at EveryDayMonkey, we’re great believers in the power of independent brands and mindful shopping practices. This week we’d like to present you with Bonbi Forest: a brand that celebrates the power of creativity and the beauty of the natural world.
Run by artist and illustrator Lee Foster-Wilson, Bonbi Forest’s Etsy shop features a range of products: from cute and colorful pins and jewelry to greeting cards and art prints, all adorned with Foster-Wilson’s illustrations and designs.
Based in the Cornish countryside of south western England, Foster-Wilson’s work echoes her natural environment. Through it, she explores the connection of people to nature and our relationships with each other.
“My work focuses on motifs from nature, lots of brightly colored florals and animals,” she further relayed in an interview with Ballpitmag. “I love to use limited color palettes and keep my line hand-drawn and slightly on the naive, playful side.”
According to Foster-Wilson, she mostly starts her pieces with a color palette and something in mind that she would like to draw. “I don’t tend to sketch much, I just like to go for it!” she admits. This playfulness also comes through in her work.
Living by the seaside, nature plays a big role in both Foster-Wilson’s life and work. “I am greatly inspired by the natural world and our relationship to it, how we place our human values onto animals and mother nature,” she notes. “Nature just does its thing no matter what, we are constantly trying to control it, yet unchecked it forges on.”
According to Foster-Wilson, she finds this spirit inspiring and likes uses slogans that reflect it in her work. One of her enamel pins reads “Magic is real”, while another pendant reminds us that “Day follows night”, and vice versa.
Over the years, Foster-Wilson’s artworks and prints have been featured in publications like Vogue, Marie Claire, NYLON, and The Guardian. She is also the author of Creative Marker Art and Beyond and The Grown-Up’s Guide to Making Art with Kids, both from Walter Foster Publishing.
Visit her online shop here, and follow her Instagram for more.
