Where did you grow up?
I grew up on Biripi Country on the Mid North Coast of NSW – a small coastal town with stunning beaches, and there’s also rainforest and bushland. I was lucky to live on a property just outside the town with our house nestled amongst a working vineyard. 

How has your style changed since you first started illustrating?
My art and illustration started out by exploring all different styles – fine line botanicals, paper-cut, watercolours etc, however I just didn’t love the results of these artworks. I finally landed on my current style by giving myself a basic brief of squeezing everything into a rectangle, which leant itself to the ‘boxed in’ style that I have now, where things can look a bit wonky and all sits within a restricted area. While my early creations didn’t feel quite like me, it all helped to get me where I am today creatively – you have to go through that creative mining stage to discover what really lights you up as an artist.

When it came to finding your niche, what drew you to nature and flowers
Flowers and nature, especially Australian native flowers, are unapologetically bold and a little bit eccentric – I’m always drawn to their interesting forms, textures and shapes. Flowers as well as fruit, are such a good subject to interpret in my style, where I accentuate the shapes and lines to fit within a particular area.

Growing up did you always envision doing something creative as a career path?
Growing up, I had always loved making things and being creative – I used to design and sew my own clothes in high school and desperately wanted to be a fashion designer, but it didn’t turn out that way as I went to university and studied Marketing, PR and Communications. I picked up my creative endeavours again in my early twenties, and outside of my full time job I was constantly creating and trying all different mediums – from wood carvings, to silver smithing to fine line botanical drawings.
I was in my early twenties when I discovered that surface design was a career path. As soon as I discovered it, I found a college in Sydney that offered a surface design diploma, and I attended on weekends while I was still working full-time. There I studied the foundations of design, as well as surface design. It was a great way to get a good understanding of the world of surface design, but I have learnt so much more in the years since working on client projects and producing my own goods.

What has been the biggest ‘pinch me’ moment of your career to date?
I have a few moments! Collaborating on a collection with Gorman last year was a bit of a pinch-me moment – I had been such a fan of their products for years, so that was a real full circle moment and seeing my name in the windows of their stores was pretty surreal!
Another proud moment was collaborating with a sustainable German brand last year, Hessnatur, who gave me complete creative freedom to create a 12 piece collection, which included the knit cardigan of my dreams! To have a brand hand over the reigns and put their complete trust in me is really reassuring and I had so much fun designing and photographing all the pieces with my husband and daughter for the campaign.
I also have had to pinch myself when global brands like L’Occitane and Burberry reached out to collaborate – they are absolute dream clients and projects!

What are 5 essentials you’ll be keeping in your DB x LL tote?
Instax camera, notebook and pencils, Kindle, phone, water bottle and snacks (technically 7 I guess!)

Where to now? What does the future hold for Liv Lee?
I’d love to keep on growing the product side of my business and design and sell goods – over the last few years I have realised that I really enjoy creating goods and adding my prints onto every day items. I’m also working on some children’s book ideas and I want to keep on exploring animation, it’s so nice to bring my creations to life through movement!

Follow Liv Lee here @liv.leeee 
You can check out her work here livlee.com.au