Mélina Catoni

A designer and illustrator from Marseille, Mélina has always been passionate about drawing. As a child, in the studio of her father, a painter, she already liked to devote herself daily to her hobby, an activity that led her to move from high school towards an education dedicated to the visual arts. High school diploma in her pocket, Mélina joined a specialised course in applied arts, from which she graduated in 1997, and the following year, she began to exhibit her wood and cardboard creations in various shops in Marseille.

In 2006, she opened her own workshop in the heart of the Phocaean city, “The Feathered Sardine”. Multidisciplinary, Mélina works there, as well as in the creation of a limited edition series of wooden objects decorated with paint. Since 2004, she also runs creative workshops for children and teenagers. In addition, charmed by the world of children’s literature, the artist has collaborated with authors for many years, enriching their stories with her humorous, generous and colourful touch.

From acrylic paint that she uses with different mediums and techniques – pencil, ink, stamp, lettering etc. – Melina creates charming little scenes that depict characters and animals in sometimes odd situations. Persisting to poeticise absurdity and obsession through an apparent flippancy to kindly condemn the grotesqueness of human nature, Mélina draws on English humour to translate, both visually and in her own personal way, the many contradictions that contribute to our contemporary reality.