Susan McDonnell
RN, BSN — artist and surface pattern designer
Susan designs surface patterns for the things people live with every day — fabric, paper, cards, and gifts. The studio name carries her middle name, Eileen, after her grandmother. Her work begins with observation: a fern uncurling, the shape of a pinecone, the particular green of a hillside after rain. Those small studies become motifs, and the motifs become collections.
A lifelong appreciation for storytelling runs through everything she makes. Susan is drawn to designs that feel like they already have a history — patterns that carry warmth and a hint of memory rather than announcing themselves.
She grew up in California, where an affection for Craftsman homes and their handmade details shaped how she thinks about pattern: honest materials, considered proportion, and ornament that serves the whole rather than competing with it.
Susan builds each collection as a complete range — a hero pattern, coordinating designs, and individual motifs — so that partners can carry a single story across an entire product line. Her collections are available for licensing, and she welcomes commissions and collaborations.