Former child actor Kate Zaremba is best known for her roles as Annie Warbucks in the 1993 musical Annie Warbucks and Lisa Leeper on Full House. But her career path took a different route once she reached adulthood. Now an artist and surface designer, she specializes in wallpapers, textiles, and ceramics. She’s also the co-founder of The Lemon Collective, a workshop space for artists and makers in Washington, DC.
Currently having studios in both Austin, TX and Washington, DC, her wallpapers have clearly took off, creating quite the buzz on Instagram, with more than 20k fans following her brand. “I want my art to have an overall essence of joy, of whimsy, or even humor,” said Zaremba in an interview with The House That Lars Built. “I started making wallpaper because I loved the idea that my work could be a backdrop to someone’s life.”
Her work is mostly inspired by art, in it’s broadest sense. “Some people are inspired by stories or by nature,” she says. “I am also a huge art nerd and I’m always reading about something whether it be a book on performance art, ceramics, color theory, or an artist biography. I also go to museums all the time.”
Her artistic process is very thoughtful, with each pattern meticulously created. “I actually approach an idea or project by thinking about the right process to bring it to life,” says Zaremba. “So if I want to create a pattern that looks like paper cut shapes then I will cut them out of paper. If I want to make a wallpaper design that is hand painted then I will get out a paint brush and paint it. I look to the idea as the jumping off point to creating versus sticking with one particular ‘style.'”
Whatever her style is, the finished result is equally striking. A worthy backdrop to our everyday life – but are we even worthy?
