Viva Brighton Issue #65 July 2018

SARAH ARNETT
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quite static. I like that sort
of taxidermy look, where
things are very composed;
I’ve never been fascinated by
the movement of the animals.
I like the way they created
a kind of scene in each of
those big cabinets: a bird
flying up here and a snake
slithering down there. When
I’m drawing it feels a little bit
like that.”
Earlier this year, Sarah
launched her first collection
of wallpaper designs and
she’s busy working on the
second. “I also create bespoke
wallpaper,” she says. “I’ll
go out and have a look at a
space and then create the
wallpaper specifically for
that room, so it’s engineered
around the architecture,
the doorframes, the
mantelpiece. I spent
nearly two years
working on
a beautiful
Regency
building on the
seafront, where
the wallpaper
design started in
one room and grew
into the next. It was
an interesting creative
process.”
And there’ll be another
opportunity to see some
of Sarah’s work out on the
streets of Brighton in the
autumn: following on from
the popular Snowdogs by
the Sea art trail (where
Sarah’s decorated dog, Max,
raised a whopping £22,000
for Martlets) Snailspace –
an installation of 50 giant
snail sculptures – will be
popping up around the city in
September. “I’ve just finished
the design for my snail,”
Sarah says, “but I can’t say
anything about that till the
big reveal...” Keep your eyes
peeled. Rebecca Cunningham
saraharnett.co.uk
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