Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had Tarrytown, New York-based Natalia Woodward, the founder of Bat Flower Press. In 2020, Natalia founded Bat Flower Press, a letterpress and papermaking studio that focuses on sustainable handmade paper and artistic letterpress designs. Having worked with high end art collectors and organizations such as New York City’s MoMA, Natalia has spent her career around precious artwork, and sees her company as an opportunity to bridge art and functionality, to collaborate with others, and to create meaningful work that is approachable to all.
Watch the recording below.
Bat Flower Press Instagram
Bat Flower Press website
Natalia says her favorite dyes to use of ours are chlorophyllin, walnut, indigo and lac. “I often mix them up and create new colors.”
Natalia Woodward is a Tarrytown based artist, maker and entrepreneur. Hailing from Pereira, Colombia, Natalia moved to New York in 2007 and graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Printmaking. Through her drawings, prints, and paper collages she explores the natural world, and its diverse patterns and colors, oftentimes using real plants and their pigments to create her imagery.
In 2020, Natalia founded Bat Flower Press, a letterpress and papermaking studio that focuses on sustainable handmade paper and artistic letterpress designs. Having worked with high end art collectors and organizations such as NY’s MoMA, Natalia has spent her career around precious artwork, and sees Bat Flower Press as an opportunity to bridge art and functionality, to collaborate with others, and to create meaningful work that is approachable to all.
As a sustainably minded individual, papermaking has always been a goal of hers. Oftentimes, the most sought after natural fiber paper comes from the other side of the world. Natalia hopes that by working with local farms and businesses, she can continue to push the envelope of sustainable papermaking by using unique local fibers that would otherwise be waste. Her most recent collaboration is with The Museum of Modern Art where she collects all their matboard off-cuts and turns them back into paper.
FEEDBACK FRIDAY
If you are not familiar with FEEDBACK FRIDAY, every week, we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated by Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Sustainability Director and presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori.