ABBEY STIRLING

DIGITAL ART + HOMEWARES

From her West Acre studio Abbey creates digital art, quirky homewares and upcycled furniture, including decoupage lamp and light shades using vintage graphics, retro side tables with hairpin legs, and a new range of exclusively designed luxury cushions.

Her digital art bridges the abstract and figurative, often incorporating the written word. She is inspired by expressionism and street art, noting Basquiat and Dan Baldwin as influences for their energetic political imagery and sinister layered symbolism. Her latest digital artworks for Norfolk & Norwich Open Studios 2019 are printed on canvas or watercolour paper and incorporate various lyrics by David Bowie.

A self-confessed junk junkie, Abbey reclaims, revamps and reloves unwanted furniture using painting, distressing and decoupage techniques to create quirky, unique and environmentally sustainable pieces. She breathes new life into charity shop and Freecycle finds using wood offcuts, discarded giftwrap and random junk, working exclusively with non-toxic Annie Sloan chalk paint.

Abbey loves the scuffed time-worn nature of shabby chic furniture and finds that reusing landfill fodder rather than buying new is a massively rewarding ethical alternative to the rampant consumerism of our quick-fix culture. Each piece has a distinctive one-off character that defies the mass produced flat-packed offerings found on the high street.

“I’m proud to be part of the recycling, waste-reducing revolution. It feels a little bit like beating the system!”