Rachelle Cunningham is an incredibly talented Irish artist based out of Paris. As she’s mentioned on her Instagram repeatedly during AMAs, Rachelle grew up all over, from the UK, Norway, New York and Paris. She’s fully bilingual in French and English as a result. Language access is only a part of what has inspired her eclectic and innovative style. We at Fancy Troubles loved her work so much we commissioned her to make a post card to hand out at the Fancy Troubles pop up in New York we launched this summer. 

Rachelle was not only kind enough to produce our beautiful postcard, but we got a chance to get to know her over the process and we’ve only become more enamored. 

A true dreamer, Rachelle brings dreamlike visions to life. “I always play music, music allows me to fully emerge into my story and thoughts and creating becomes a full emerged experience.” Salvador Dalí and Tim Burton inspire some of her favorite dreamscapes, and her newest series of works highlights her vivid love for baroque design. 

“My illustrations allow me to enter a whole new realm, my own personal fantasy, of time periods… it’s where I let my imagination run free.” Rachelle has been creative since she was young, but it was “at 15 however, that’s when I knew I wanted to go into the art industry. It absolutely captivated me, I fell in love with it, it found me when I needed it the most and it hasn’t let me down since.” 

Still, this is the age of social media and content saturation and in some ways it has never been harder to make your way as an artist, designer, or creative of any type. “Really and truly be yourself. It’s easy to be influenced by others and compare, but know that with hard work, patience and the right mindset anything is possible.” With this advice Rachelle has been able to build an admirable following, sell countless originals and prints, and have fans pouring in replies, messages, and requests. She’s so popular she even does two versions of each message for English and French speakers, so as to enable as many people as possible to feel fully included in her journey.

Our collaboration with such an impressive person has been an inspiration to everyone on our team. Rachelle herself had some kind things to say about Fancy Troubles, and when asked with design spoke to her most, she answered with the Circa ’94 in gold. Other designers she loves are Alexander McQueen and Sandy Powell, and her favorite clothing line is Rosemilk. A woman of fine and eclectic tastes, don’t be surprised if you catch her in her dream destination, Florence, finding her own fancy troubles.