For multidisciplinary artist Heather Chontos, creativity is less a career choice than a way of being, spontaneous, intuitive, and inseparable from daily life. Speaking from her farm in Portugal, Chontos reflects on her journey from set design to abstract painting, her recent collaboration with Swedish design brand LAYERED, and how wildflowers, light, and chance encounters continue to shape her practice.
Ulrika Lindqvist: Hi Heather, can you tell us how long you’ve been working as an artist, and what first drew you to this path?
Heather Chontos: I have always been an artist in one form or another. I always drew and made things as a child, and my work as an artist of one type started officially at 18 as a prop stylist and set designer. Then I moved on to fashion illustration and art direction. I was all the while painting but did not fully commit until I was 30 , so 16 years now. It was always just obvious to me, it is who I am.
UL: How did your collaboration with Layered come to life, and what has that creative exchange been like for you?
HC: It all happened very randomly on my end. My daughter is half Swedish and lives in Stockholm, studying for her masters degree. So when I saw it was a Swedish company contacting me, I was intrigued. The exchange has been very fluid and easy . They have an amazing team of people who are truly respectful of my work and the individual creative process. It has been a lot of fun to see the artwork come to life in a new way.
UL: Three of your paintings have recently been reimagined as rugs. Can you walk us through how you chose which pieces to transform?
HC: I didn’t choose the works on my own. I think they have a very clear vision at LAYERED and understand what works best with the way the rugs are made. I came to see the showroom to understand the different methods of weaving and it helped me understand the vast possibilities. Lisa Nyman, the designer at LAYERED truly looks at the artwork and understands how it can be transformed through this new medium, so it was a joint effort in choosing the works.
UL: Nature seems to play a significant role in your work. Are there any specific landscapes or environments that particularly inspire you?
HC: I love every little piece of the landscape around me at home in Portugal, the wildflowers and red grasses, the insects and birds, the cork oak trees and rocky cliffs and formations. I just have to walk out my front door and it is right there for me. What us. Most important, is the light . Nature has many shades of light and thus bring my attention to many different parts of nature all day long.
UL: Looking back on your career so far, are there any projects or moments that feel especially meaningful or memorable?
HC: Yes, the ceiling I painted in Paris this year was a new challenge for me. I painted 90 sq meters of beamed ceiling in a historical private residence . There were a lot of challenges to making it, but the result was a wonderful new version of my work.
UL: Can you share a bit about your creative process? Do you have any rituals or routines that help spark new ideas?
HC: I don’t have any rituals. I work very spontaneously . I have a working farm here with horses and chickens and dogs, so I paint in between doing chores. I find that it is so very engrained in what I am doing every waking and non waking minute of my life that I can’t really separate it out, it’s like breathing or drinking water, I just have to do it. It has chosen me.
UL: What does an ordinary day in the studio look like for you?
HC: I am always working on more than one thing, and I tend to work in the studio and around it outside. I have multiple tables and surfaces where I work on various things. I am always moving around from one thing to the next. There is no ordinary day.
UL: How would you describe your personal interior style at home?
HC: Eclectic and very focused on everything being handmade
UL: And finally, what’s on the horizon for you? Are there any upcoming projects or ideas you're especially excited about?
HC: Yes, I have many projects, some I can mention, some I cannot… I have an exhibition in The Hague, Netherlands, where I will fill an entire house with my work, that opens in May and then the exhibition schedule for 2025-2026 is in the works for Paris and possibly Portugal.I just built a house and am trying to finish all of its details, so that will be my other main focus. I can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction to the rug collaboration. I think they are so wonderful. I am very grateful.
