Lizzie Finn is an English illustrator and art director. Much of her design output has a high public profile, through work with brands such as Silas, Vitra, and Nokia; sleeve artwork for bands including Oasis and Moloko; and magazine work for Vogue and Esquire.
Work to date
Shortly after graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Finn became a designer for UK clothing label Silas. Her influences as recorded in interviews at this point included packaging, craft books, and girls' annuals, with a particular interest in the typography, photography, and illustrations used therein. The construct of 1970s 'How To...' books, with their pre-internet detailed diagrams and instruction, also fed into her work, and in 2000 she worked with pop band Moloko to create the full graphics concept for their UK Top 5Things to Make and Do album campaign. This included not only the complete sleeve design of the LP itself - the booklet in which the lyrics appeared to be instructions for making the hand-made stuffed dolls on the cover itself - but that of the single releases from the LP, including the UK #2 hit, "The Time Is Now". This led to Finn producing the sleeve art for Moloko's 2001 remix album, All Back to the Mine, and Oasis' 2003 single, "Songbird". She has also produced illustrated prints and T-shirt designs for Silas, Alakazam, and Uniqlo, as well as various ceramics designs. She also often meshes illustration with photography via digital retouching, as in separate work for both the Japanese and British editions of Vogue, Dazed and Confused, and in her cover art for design magazine Form. Other work produced by Finn includes contributions to the Victoria and Albert Museum's 'Spectacular Craft" exhibition; animated prime time television idents for Nokia; cover design for the Hodder and Stoughton edition of Thomas Keneally's Booker Prize-winning 'Schindler's Ark'; print ad for Volvo; and illustrations for Esquire, New York Times, and The Independent. In April 2009, Finn contributed a patch to the "A Little Piece of Mind" project. Curated by Marque, who had for some time been following the infiltration of modern techniques into craft forms, the project involved commissioning "internationally recognised leaders in the creative arts" to collaborate in creating a patchwork quilt. Each of the eighty-eight artists involved were asked to submit a 6-inch fabric swatch, which when put together would construct the whole. The project involved amongst others Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, and Vivienne Westwood; the finished quilt was exhibited in Glasgow, New York, and London, before being auctioned in aid of UK homeless charity Shelter and New York'sBowery Mission. Finn has also taught at Chelsea College of Art & Design. She is known internationally, having travelled to Japan, Australia, and the US to showcase her work.
