40 Faces of Seasalt: Matt Johnson, Senior Creative Designer

To celebrate our 40th year, we're shining a light on 40 of the many faces from our community who have played a role in our journey. Today, we meet Matt.


Matt has been creating his colourful illustrations for us for 16 years. His bright spring birds, playful animals and wintery harbour scenes have appeared across bags, tea towels, and more.

My illustrations were quite different when I started at Seasalt. Over the years we have invented a kind of house style between us. Being part of team is key to getting better, as you learn from each other and spur each other on. 

Our customers are really discerning. They are delighted when all the little details in an illustration are right. It pushes all of us to do the best job we possibly can. 

 

Birds, boats and beautiful views 

In my role I get to illustrate lots of the things that I love: nature, boats, harbours and landscapes. We also have a black rescue cat, called Pooky. She crops up in a lot of my work! 

St Anthony Head on the Roseland is somewhere I’ve drawn over and over, but generally try never to do the same view twice. Cornwall is so beautiful I keep finding new things to draw and I don’t think I’ll ever run out. 

One of my favourite things to draw is birds I’ve seen. I saw some red breasted Mergansers on the Percuil River the other day and have also had some Black caps visiting our bird feeder, so I’m keen to work them into a design

Memories at Seasalt 

Getting Soil Association / GOTS certification for some of our organic cotton products was very exciting.  

We all helped with the process; I gathered and submitted some of the documents, and then it was a thrill when it went through and passed. We were very small at the time but were already breaking new ground for a fashion company. 

I also worked on a charity bag design in collaboration with Dame Judi Dench. She suggested Prussia Cove as one of her favourite places and OK’d the design, which we then sold to raise money for the Fishermen’s Mission. 

You can currently see Matt’s designs on our stationery and men’s graphic t-shirts. Fancy trying your hand at outdoor sketching? Read his how-to on the blog and show us what you create with #SeasaltArtsClub.