Of cats, dogs and monocles

Katrina Wight, known as ‘Kat’ to most of her friends and family, is the founder of brand 'The Kat & Monocle'. Kat has been illustrating and drawing since she was 11 years old. She started off with creating drawings at school mostly of plants, self-portraits and still life that she put together from found objects.

Realising she had a talent for drawing and art, she went to develop these skills by working and apprenticing with various design companies over the years. One of her first work placements was with a wall paper company, Cole & Sons in north London where she discovered and developed her passion for surface design and pattern designing. 

During one of her travels, she came across someone who would eventually become her client from the United States. This person was keen to develop wall paper commissioned with the picture / illustration of a pet. Kat was able to develop this and soon became quite known for her absolutely amazing illustrations of pets with a little fun and humour built into them. 

She was always keen on the fashion industry and used her illustrations to develop them into prints on T shirts and through her experience working as a designer for a dinnerware and homeware company she learnt how to use dinnerware as a medium to promote her illustrations. 

Kat was very fortunate to receive encouragement from family and friends around her, which helped her to grow her talent and develop it as a profession. She has been hands on with selling and designing all her own work by participating in markets and platforms where she has sold her illustrations and surface designs through Christmas, anniversary and other cards. 

When asked what she loved most, she says, “Currently, cause it changes all the time, I like to design and develop the wedding invites and grooms ties. I love it as its always unique, personal and full of creativity. I would prefer to focus on designing and creating and collaborating along the way".

She is currently focusing on next steps and hopes to practise an Art Therapist in the near future.