Someone who I’ve been ogling from afar (and who I was most flattered to find had been counter-ogling us from afar since last year!) is the super-talented, nimble-fingered and ever-humble Anastasia, known also under her creative name, The Articulate. Whenever I find people who follow their creative hearts, I always jump at the chance to speak to them face to face, talk to them about their craft and find out what motivates them. The sadly rusty and disused right side of my brain stirs into action and basks in the light that these people and their accomplishments give off.

Anastasia is one of those people. Whilst working her enjoyable (but relatively non-creative) day job, Anastasia first dabbled her toes in the waters of being a stylist for events and weddings. Feeding off the success of this and her constant need to doodle and draw, she found herself a niche in bespoke hand lettering. After a string of recent roaring successes and the well-deserved exposure (her part in the recent beautiful Kinfolk Gathering to mention one) she has springboarded herself into the limelight as one of Perth’s leading hand letterers. All I can say is, watch this space…How did you find out you had a gift for hand lettering?

I grew up in a pretty creative family! My dad is an architect and my younger sister is a concept artist for an animation company based in Kuala Lumpur. And, for as long as I can remember, I’ve always been an unstoppable doodler. It was a pretty common occurrence for me to get into trouble at school back in Indonesia for doodling in class! In fact, I still scribble down small projects during my breaks at work when the inspiration takes me – my cubicle is absolutely covered with them!

What I love so much about handlettering is its freedom of form which really allows your own creativity and style to shine through. You can incorporate multiple fonts as well as illustrations to create something that looks amazing as a whole and expresses your own individuality.

I’m really inspired by the incredible talents of people such as Dana Tanamachi and Jessica Hische. Also, for day to day inspiration I love drawing from quotes from books I’ve read and lines from my favourite songs! My sister is still my biggest fan and critic, and she holds nothing back! She’ll make me redo everything from scratch if it’s not up to standard and I’m very grateful for it!

What have been some of the highlights of your creative career so far?

Definitely working with Stacey Clark for last month’s Kinfolk gathering, L’Esprit de la Mer! I got to design the menus and create a print that was gifted to everyone who came to the dinner. What an absolute blast! The menus were letterpressed by Type Hype, a fun and challenging process that I’m completely new to and really enjoyed.

I’ve also got a series of workshops for people keen on learning hand lettering coming up really soon. The first three classes have completely sold out incredibly quickly! I’m equal parts surprised, flattered, excited and nervous! I’ve got plans to do more workshops with Studio Bomba in the near future…stay tuned!

So where to from here?

I like to constantly challenge myself by learning new skills that both hone and widen my skills. Most recently I’ve been attending a course on how to use Adobe Illustrator. Next things on the list would be learning the fine crafts of letterpress and screenprinting!

I’ve been living in Perth for twelve years now and it really is home to me. As much as I love and find places like Melbourne inspirational and fun, Perth has its own thing going on and there’s a real hunger for creativity that I’m so proud and happy to be able to be a part of right now.

My big dream is to release my own stationery line, and fingers crossed it’s going to happen by the end of next year! I can’t wait!Thanks for the chat Tash! Looking forward to another gasbag over brunch (with eggs)! So awesome to meet another Dana Tanamachi afficionado and Anthropologie devotee.

The Articulate / hello@thearticulate.com.au / Instagram @thearticulate