Leah Duncan
55 // Leah Duncan is a designer based in Austin, Texas, and Brooklyn, New York. Leah studied Graphic Communications at Clemson University in South Carolina, which gave her a grounding in commercial printing. Learning welding, ink viscosity, paper weights, substrate identification, etc., gave Leah an awareness of the end process of her design work, and she finds she can now communicate with manufacturers over many issues she would otherwise lack knowledge of. Leah started out in the predominantly Latino neighbourhood of East Austin, and she is also part Cherokee – these backgrounds have combined to give her work a folk influence. Originally from South Carolina, she is influenced by the softer colour palettes of the Southern USA – both in the landscapes and in the Victorian architecture. She has designed for Urban Outfitters, Art Gallery Fabrics, O’Neill, Hallmark and many others. Leah would love to partner with a larger retailer to create a collection of home goods and dinnerware. She intends to eventually open her own shop and studio space with her own team to produce goods as locally and ethically as possible. Leah plans to continue licensing her work and collaborating with companies and fellow artists she admires.
Design Heroes: Orla Kiely, Vera Neumann, Frida Kahlo
Dashes and Shapes
Rows of jaunty triangles, teardrops and dashes. All of Leah’s work begins with pen on paper and is then scanned for colouring digitally. She works in Adobe Illustrator to colour her drawings and then tiles everything manually.
Triangles
Leah takes inspiration from the surrounding landscape. She fell in love with the Southwest USA while living in Texas, and it is a theme she still finds herself drawn to.
Dots Chevron
A dotty interpretation of a chevron creates a softer look, and pale desert colours keep it from looking too busy.
Mojave Stripes
Leah’s designs reflect her Native American roots. Her work has been described as ‘delicate folk-meetsmodern world’.
Small Triangles
The changes in direction and scale are what make this design special.
All work © Leah Duncan