ISSUE 21: TATIANA ALIDA, PERREGRINE

ISSUE 21

TATIANA ALIDA CARRELET

Mama & British illustrator & designer

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Perregrine, 7 months

Berkshire, UK

Tell us about your family...

I am half English and half French. I have just moved out of London and I'm making Berkshire (in the English countryside) my home. Peregrine ( Pipins ) is my darling baby boy who is 7 months old. I am unexpectedly a single mother but i've never felt happier or more content with my two babies - Pipins and my second baby, Alida Home. This is the new home (which i have just soft launched!) of my commercial prints & homeware.

Have you always wanted to be an artist?

I have always wanted to be a designer since I was small, being an artist/illustrator became a part of this. I just love making things, jewellery & furniture.

Your style is iconic! Please can you share a little bit about what inspired it or how you came to it?

I think I take a lot from the little faces I see in my illustrations, their characters the look in the eyes, no two the same, the wonkiness of a line in a drawing all this to me is charming and I find them endearing. I take inspiration from Ludwig Bemelmans a little.

You share lots of wonderful snippets of your beautiful home on Instagram! What are your best tips for bringing a room together?

I would say, plants and flowers are the easiest way to give a room instant oomph - but to really to complete a room it's probably a large piece of artwork. That completes it for me and helps a room look finished.

What are 3 things you are loving in the interiors world at the moment?

“I love light blue and brown at the moment that’s my crush."

Also flower frogs for putting flowers into… makes simpler flowers sing and looks very professional! I am loving the trend for hiding the TV behind a piece of artwork on hinges, it's such a great hack.

How are you finding juggling being a business owner with Motherhood so far?

It's been okay, sometimes I feel sad that I was never able to have that lovely time of maternity leave and be relaxed and supported and switch off, just as I did not have this option. Hopefully with my next baby one day.

What does a typical day look like for you?

6:30am I give Pipins his bottle etc then we go out into the garden and do the watering, we then have breakfast together.

8.30am I have help looking after Pipins whilst I go to work. I need to work & also find it makes me a better mother. I go to work everyday until 4pm, my studio is 5 minutes from my house.

4.00pm I pick up Pipins & we'll either go for a walk or on a play date.

6.15pm We eat supper together and then have a bath together.

7.00pm bottle & bed for P. I then clean up his food-exploring-baby-weaning mess! I chill watching YouTube on my TV and maybe do some knitting to stop me doooom scrolling.

Favourite part of motherhood?

The way I want to metaphorically gobble Pippins up, I love him so much.

...& the most challenging?

You do get used to the nights and getting less sleep but when its 3 bad nights in a row, yikes its hard to function isn't it.

Top tired mama tip?

“A quick Mellisa Wood Health Pilates workout and a blast of cold water in the shower."

... it's hard but it literally changes everything and makes you feel much stronger and awake.

Beauty of baby product you swear by?

Oat Milk Cleanser by Q&A is the best. I have only just realised that foaming cleansers are a no-no for sensitive or spotty skin and it's changed mine. I can’t live with out Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in walk in Red Carpet Pink.

A recent book that you loved?

Reading is just not happening at the moment to be honest but I am reading here and there A Princess Remembers by Gayatri Devi, which is fascinating. I can't live without The Art Of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh. It has all of life's lessons.