Artist Interview: How Kate Lower Pivoted from Music to Design

Kate Lower is an artist, designer, and piano teacher based in Brooklyn, New York. Her artwork has appeared on wallpaper, fabrics, jewelry boxes, and even beer cans. Our latest collaboration features her vibrant geometric and floral patterns on our ties, which feature natural hues and organic, symmetrical designs.

Kate took the time to sit down and talk with us about the inspiration for her artwork and how she only recently got into the design world after running a music school for almost 15 years.

Get to know Kate.

Kate Lower: Design is something that is actually relatively new to me. I’ve only been working as a designer since 2021, so it was kind of a COVID pivot for me. I got into it in a kind of roundabout way. I’ve always been an artist at heart — I’ve always been a crafter, always been a creator, but I was actually a musician before this.

Funnily enough, I was teaching [music] for many years, and I set out to create my own lesson book series for my students and, along the way during COVID, when I was not teaching, I was like, “Hey, why don’t I design the illustrations for these books?” And I went into such a deep dive of illustration courses, and I learned so much about digital illustration that I got so far into it that I was like, “You know what? This is. This is what I want to do.”

So, I actually still teach music, but this is my primary focus, and it has been for the last few years, and I absolutely adore it. It’s the most amazing industry, and it’s exciting to see your patterns on so many different things, apparel and walls and products.

TTB: How would you say being a parent informs the work that you do?

KL: Well, it’s funny because I separate those things a lot. My work and my art is really a release from the responsibilities of parenthood, in a way. When I draw, it’s really an escape for me. I go into my own world. So much of parenting is catering to the needs of these small humans and then when you draw it’s like. “Okay, what feels good to me right now?” That’s really how I create my art, it’s like, “What’s balancing to me right now? What feels satisfying design-wise?” And I don’t have to please anybody else with this, there are no demands to meet.

TTB: A lot of your designs are very geometric, there’s a lot of florals — where do you think you get your most like most of your design inspiration?

KL: Most of the time, I’ll walk around the world, and I’ll see an interesting shape somewhere. Like you said, I’m super geometric in the way I think about things, so most of the time, I’m going for something that feels balanced to me, something that feels organized. And honestly, I think that’s a way for me to organize my crazy thoughts that tend to be all over the place.

It feels really nice for me to look at something symmetrical or something really balanced, so I’ll take an interesting shape that I see. It could be a flower, a cool mosaic tile I’ve seen somewhere, or just the way a couple lines come together and I’ll think, “How is that going to repeat itself into something that feels balanced?”

And then on the flip side of that, sometimes I’ll just go for something totally wild and maybe I’m having a crazy mind kind of day and then it can be completely the opposite, totally scattered and all over the place.

TTB: What is it like to see your art on a physical product, whether that is all the things you described or our ties?

KL: Oh my gosh, it’s absolutely thrilling. When I set out to do this, I didn’t imagine it was going to happen so quickly for me. I sort of thought I was going to take years and years to get anything recognized out there, but for me it happened pretty fast, thanks to social media, I guess, you have this ability to get your art into the world. Every single time I see something out in the world that has my art, it’s totally surreal and it’s really amazing.

TTB: Where do you see an intersection between your art and fashion?

KL: Well, the thing that I love about this particular collaboration is that an accessory like a tie is something where you can really make a statement about your personality. You can wear a relatively plain outfit and then if you have an accessory that stands out and really says something about how you’re feeling that day, even like, “This is my mood today, I’m feeling super floral, I’m feeling geometric today.” That’s your moment to make a mark with something interesting.

That’s something I love about patterns is like, I don’t think I would want to cover myself head to toe with patterns necessarily, but there’s that one moment where you can really go in and say, “This is an interesting thing about me, and I’m making a statement with this piece.” So that’s what I love about ties, specifically.

Visit Kate Lower

Kate’s designs are now reimagined into a collection of neckties and pocket squares that add effortless sophistication to any outfit. Experience the nature-inspired patterns and shop The Bloom Series below.

SHOP THE COLLECTION