Meet the Artist: Emi Solvik and the World of Moonwood Folk

Some artists create individual images. Emi Solvik creates places you feel you may have visited before, perhaps in a half-remembered story, a winter dream or somewhere just beyond the edge of the woods.

A London-based illustrator and children’s writer with Scandinavian roots, Emi is the creator of Moonwood Folk, a growing storybook world filled with small creatures, quiet mysteries and gentle magic.

Her illustrations combine traditional painting with digital techniques, bringing together the warmth and texture of handmade artwork with the freedom to build atmosphere, light and detail digitally. The result feels both nostalgic and contemporary, familiar enough to be comforting, but strange enough to invite a closer look.

Stories That Begin in the Woods

Emi’s love of storytelling began early. As a child, she was drawn to the darker enchantment of the Brothers Grimm and the nature-filled picture books of Elsa Beskow.

Those influences can still be felt in her work today. Moonwood is a place where the landscape is never simply a background. Trees, seasons, weather and moonlight all seem to have stories of their own.

The creatures who live there are often small, but their worlds are not. They wander through snowy forests, gather beneath glowing lanterns and discover quiet pockets of wonder hidden in ordinary places.

Emi’s illustrations and stories develop side by side. A painted character may inspire a new tale, while a fragment of a story may become the beginning of an image. Each new piece reveals another path, home or inhabitant within the wider world of Moonwood Folk.

Paint, Paper and Digital Light

Emi often begins with loose sketches and traditional paint, allowing marks, textures and imperfections to remain visible. She then develops the image digitally, adjusting colour and building layers of light and atmosphere without losing the tactile quality of the original artwork.

This combination gives her illustrations their distinctive softness and depth. Warm windows glow against blue winter evenings. Tiny figures emerge from tangled woodland. Every scene feels carefully made, but never over-polished.

There is a sense that the world existed before we arrived and will continue after we leave.

Finding Wilderness in the City

Although Emi now lives in London, nature remains central to her work. Inspiration often comes from overgrown gardens, old bookshops and the fragments of wilderness that survive between the city’s streets.

These overlooked places suit Moonwood perfectly. They suggest that magic does not need to be grand or distant. It can be found in a hidden path, a fallen branch, an unusual doorway or a light glimpsed through the trees.

That idea sits at the heart of Emi’s work. Her illustrations invite us to slow down, look more carefully and remember how easily imagination can transform the familiar.

Discover Moonwood Folk

We are delighted to welcome Emi Solvik to Eastgate and to introduce her Moonwood Folk artwork as part of our latest greeting card collection.

Her designs bring together woodland storytelling, seasonal atmosphere and a gentle touch of strangeness, creating cards that feel like small windows into another world.