Kristjana S Williams

Kristjana S Williams is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans hand and laser-cut collage, illustration, animation, and digital design. Her work draws on the interplay between the natural world and the ornate visual language of Victorian engravings, layering exotic botanicals and vibrant fauna to create fantastical, dream-like worlds that feel both timeless and vividly contemporary.

Described by The New York Times as part of the “new antiquarian movement,” Williams reimagines traditional engravings through a modern lens, transforming them into lush ecosystems of imagination. Animals, insects, and foliage intertwine across antique maps, archival photographs, and digital planes, forming the immersive three-dimensional worlds she calls “wishful forests.” These intricate compositions have earned her numerous international awards, including the Pentawards, D&AD In Book, a Clio Award, and first prize in the New York Festivals Grand Prix.

Her collaborations bridge historic institutions and contemporary culture. Longstanding partnerships include Penhaligon’s - whose distinctive brand world she has helped shape at Fortnum & Mason and Harrods - and Royal Salute, with whom she has developed an ongoing visual story for nearly a decade. Williams has also created landmark works for The Shard, The Gherkin, and Battersea Power Station, bringing her richly layered worlds into iconic London settings through large-scale murals and three-dimensional installations.

In 2025, Williams’s work reaches new cultural ground. Her commission for the Vatican Library marks the first contemporary artwork ever exhibited outside its walls, while a major project with the Bodleian Library in Oxford explores the resonance of scholarship and archives through a new visual language. She continues her collaboration with Michelin-starred chefs through storytelling-led artworks for Trinity in London and The Elephant in Torquay, celebrating the richness of British ingredients and coastal culture.

Her creative relationships with global brands continue to evolve through Tanqueray No.10, where she brings her distinctive visual storytelling into experiential retail spaces, and through ongoing partnerships with heritage and design icons such as Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Paul Smith, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. For the V&A, she is currently developing an artwork for the forthcoming Marie Antoinette exhibition and leading a series of creative workshops, the next scheduled for January 2026.

Beyond these collaborations, Williams’s work is also reaching the public realm. In 2022  mural adorned Carnaby Street, celebrating London’s creative history, while her Folkestone studio and gallery mark a new chapter by the sea an evolution of her practice into a more grounded and contemplative creative space. She is also celebrating the launch of her latest book, The Fantastical Safari, following the success of her previous title, now published in nineteen languages.

Williams has used digital tools throughout her life and career, beginning with building her own logic circuit boards for a pirate radio station, to developing digital techniques and digitally layered collages, designs and illustrations. She honed these skills during her work in fashion at her London-based shop 'Beyond the Valley' and later at her eponymous studio in Chiswick, which she opened in 2012. She has transformed her artwork into immersive, interactive experiences in projects such as 'Interactive Print Journey' for the V&A's British Galleries in 2011, 'Audio Scape Print Journey', a collaboration with Sennheiser in 2013, and 'A Curious Game of Croquet' in 2021 with the V&A and VIVE Arts. Williams' practice is an ongoing creative journey, and one in which she is not afraid to experiment, constantly evolving to work with new formats. 

Kristjana lives and works between West London and Folkestone, continually exploring the dialogue between history, imagination, and the natural world.