Keren Richter

Keren Richter Doesn’t Stop at Success

The work of local designer Keren Richter is, simply put, fun. Her illustrations, collages, and patterns are fanciful, and pop with color and pizzazz. Her pieces have been featured in campaigns by Urban Outfitters, Microsoft, Vans, Sephora, and in stores around the world. She is, by any standard, an accomplished artist.

A graduate of the Parsons School of Design and Columbia University, Richter lives and works out of her space in Williamsburg. “I have a lot of very talented and creative friends who are a constant source of inspiration and collaboration,” she said. “I love where I live and am so happy to be making art here.”

The artist describes her work as ever evolving. “Lately, I’ve been interested in playing with paper and digital collage, floral and day-glo backdrops for fashion editorials, gouache portraits flanked by botanical elements, and small paper mache cacti sculptures,” she said. “I tend to create work that plays with a vibrant mixture of color and textiles with figures that have some sort of implied narrative. My work used to be more rooted ‘retro iconography’ and sixties psychedelia, but these days it seems I’m more interested in creating work that is flat and graphic.”

Richter’s drawing “Knock Out,” which features two girls boxing, appears on shirts sold at Urban Outfitters. In 2010, a collection of holiday eyeshadows displayed her illustration of a girl on the front of the box. Vans designed sneakers based on her pictures of girls shooting arrows and standing in a garden. Ami Kealoha, a creative director and friend of the designer said, “She has such a playful sensibility and I like that her art is female oriented. She obviously likes to put in lots of girls that are smart, strong, and bold.”

Richter doesn’t plan to stop at sneakers and shirts. She fancies getting her drawings and patterns onto socks, snowboards, and wallpaper and hopes to work with Target, Burton, Nars, Rachel Comey, Isabel Marant, Interview, and The New Yorker. Since high school, she’s been building her brand. “I’ve been making work and putting it out there for a long time,” she said.

Although her illustrations have achieved commercial success, Richter is a well-rounded artist. She does fine art and is a prop stylist and art director. She’s collaborated with Stylecaster on a fashion editorial, hand-painted backdrops for a shoot with stylist Ian Bradley, and directed and designed the set for Culture, an Australian fashion magazine.

For Richter, who is inspired by Dutch Renaissance paintings, the textile-centric work of Matisse, and David Hockney’s portraits, exploring different styles to express herself is crucial. “My favorite artists didn’t stick to one idea or style their whole life; they kept their work fresh and moving along with the times. I’d also like to show in galleries more. I neglected making ‘fine art’ for a few years and I’d love an excuse to make some paintings and sculptures for a solo show.”

Richter, who supports herself using her natural born talent, has only one explanation for why she keeps doing art: “Because I’m good at it.”

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