Meet Olivia! The illustrator behind the Cultivate Harmony tee. This illustration came to life when Olivia was working with Merge in 2021.

Where would we have found you as a child? Doing what? I spent quite a bit of time outside as a kid. Going to the beach, sailing, camping, spending summers at lakes in the Kootenays. Always running around with friends and pets and siblings. When I was inside I was painting and drawing a lot, and probably watching TV.

Describe a day in your life? Everyday seems to be different but a ‘normal’ day if I’m not working my other job would be wake up, get coffee, check the surf or go for a walk, eat some nice food, work on or start a new project whether it be something digital, lino printing, painting, usually a mix of the three. And then I usually like to cap it off by spending time with good friends in different places.

What is it in what you do that fuels you the most? I think the self satisfaction of creating something I really love is the part that keeps me going! Getting paid and praise from others is great but in the end if you don’t love what you’ve made the rest feels kind of worthless.

What’s your dream project or collaboration? Dream projects are always making album/poster art for any musicians and bands that I love. Music and visual arts are universal languages so being able to be involved with combining the two really excites me!

What’s the most important lesson your work has taught you? A big lesson I’ve taken away from creating is to trust the process and not to get discouraged when something doesn’t turn out exactly like you thought. It’s easy to want to back out when things aren’t going your way but everything in life usually seems to fall into place. A lot of happy accidents have been made along the way.

What advice would you give to someone who aspires to be an illustrator? I would say never be afraid to ask for help and never be afraid of trying something new! I started printmaking out of the blue and ever since it’s been my favourite medium and probably what kickstarted whatever my ‘art career’ is now. I’d like to think I have a lot of wisdom to share but realistically it should probably be me asking for advice. 

Get in touch with Olivia
@oliviadepieri