Curator, illustrator and photographer Coral Nathan has been steadfast in her determination to find her own way as an artist. And the path she has chosen reconnects us to nature’s indomitable essence and timeless treasures.
After graduating from Hampstead Fine Arts College and completing a degree in illustration at Brighton University, most of the people viewing Coral’s art online wanted to commission her to design them tattoos. She was grateful for the chance to use her illustration skills and build her portfolio, but also realised that she didn’t want to become a full-time tattoo artist.
So the maverick young adult, with a ‘what have I got to lose?’ attitude, reached out to the charity Heath Hands and offered to make them merchandise, for free. Although her illustrative work is always paid, she felt the need to diversify. What goes around, comes around. Before long Coral received paid commissions to design merchandise for other companies and the tote bags she’s designed for Heath Hands are proving popular.
These days Coral has found that the public are interested in her affordable curiosity display cases, what she calls mini curio shelves. When Coral started it was a very niche art and the large wholesale and retail platforms were still not selling them.
Using laser cut birch plywood cut by a fellow artist, Coral sands, stains and assembles the frames together in various animal, plant and astronomical shapes. Then she fills each compartment with “micro curios” – miniature trinkets, charms, gemstones, fossils and other “teeny oddities.” They are held in place using museum tack.
As well as purchasing the shelves already assembled and filled with curiosities, it’s also an option to buy the shelves empty and experience the fun of finding little doodads yourself.
In the wings of Coral’s Barn Owl shelf, there’s a brass mushroom and moon, hematite leaf, starfish, pyritized ammonite, titanium aura quartz, pink fossilized wood, purple sea urchin spine, an iridescent trochus shell, lapis, garnet heart, shark tooth, macaw feather, a gold-plated dragonfly and a teeny pocket watch.
The Californian Job Case recreates the historic printer tray layout once used in letterpress printing.
“I yearn for tiny things!” beams Coral, who is planning her next holiday in Scotland to visit a beach ‘littered’ with porcelain fragments because about 100 years ago porcelain factories thought nothing of throwing their waste to the shore. She’s also got Seaham on her wish list to find two toned sea glass.
“My foraging is a bit of a job hazard,” she laughs. “Recently I was at Golders Hill Park and I saw a Kokaburra feather on the ground. I was determined to get it, but it was just too far from the fence. I filmed it waving in the breeze – taunting me!”
Coral loves the green and woody spaces around Hampstead, which she has known since childhood. Whilst listing the virtues of being in nature, she adds how good it is that Natural History is now a GCSE subject in schools.
She is also still buoyed by her time at Hampstead Fine Arts College on England’s Lane. She remembers how all her tutors “were very encouraging…Consuelo in Photography, Mike in Graphics, Karen in Textiles, Suzanne in Fine Art to name a few…” It was at college that she first fell in love with photography.
From the way that birds, insects and foxes pose for Coral, it seems that her photography passion is meant to be! Scrolling through her camera roll, it’s amazing how time and again she captures and nicely composes the ordinary or inconspicuous.
Parachute Fungus (Marasmius Capillaris) by Coral Nathan
Coral wears her admiration for nature on her sleeve. She explains, “I’m fascinated by man-made elements reclaimed by nature such as beautiful structures left to ruin or an abandoned place that over time has become comforted by nature.”
Her attraction to themes such as gothic romance and forgotten cottage is reflected in the beautiful enamel pins she is currently making with a fellow Welsh artist, Elizabeth Basten aka The Mourning Star (“We haven’t actually met yet!”)
There are 3 sets of Enamel Pins – The Secret Garden, The Serene Cemetery and The Enchanted Grove. People love the art nouveau style and charming details.
Enamel Pin Set: The Secret Garden
All that time outdoors, foraging for little things and photographing, has made Coral thoughtful. At the end of our interview, she memorably remarks, “We say Save the Earth! but it’s us and animals which need saving. Nature knows how to spring back and adapt. It’s amazing how resilient the earth is.”
Find Coral’s curio shelves and enamel pins at Etsy or on Instagram: @corals_curios
