About me and Happiness is...

Hi there, and welcome to my blog!

I'm Fathima Kathrada, a graphic designer and illustrator from Durban, South Africa. When I'm not designing or illustrating I'm opening doors for my cats, chilling out in coffee shops, glued to the net, or spending time under the trees in a park.

I studied graphic design and later ventured into illustration. I prefer hand drawn, "natural" illustration styles to digital although I do both, and I work in pen, watercolour paints and sometimes ink. I also love experimenting with new mediums; getting new art materials and stationery is super exciting for me.

I started this blog in 2009 with the intention of making it a little happy space where I can share awesome things that I find and the little moments in life that people sometimes overlook or are too busy to notice. Sometimes we just need a little reminder to slow it down a bit and stop to smell the roses. I share anything that makes me happy or that I find inspiring which is a fairly broad topic, but mostly falls under illustration, design, typography, photography, cats, food, music, art, clever products, cool websites, interesting people doing interesting things, things happening in Durban and coffee shops that I review. 

In 2012 I left my job to work for myself full time - a giant, terrifying and exhilarating leap that I've never looked back on. Freelancing and working for yourself is definitely not easy, and not for everyone, but it makes me really happy. I'm passionate about integrating work into my life instead of trying to live around work hours or living for the weekend. I'm really lucky to be able to work on projects that I am passionate about and with lots of amazing, interesting people... you could be one of them! ;)

I love...

my cats, rain, wearing layers (so I love cold weather!), animals (I had plans to become a vet), nature and being outdoors, old things, books, food, meeting new people and hearing them talk about things they're passionate about.

I don't like...

heat, cockroaches (although I battle to kill them - they're still living creatures after all), seafood (no, not even sushi), bad manners, bad spelling, being late or when others are late, general lack of consideration, and judgyness.

In my spare time I...

read. I used to spend a lot of time borrowing books from the library, but now I collect second hand classic novels and am going through them slowly. I still prefer real books to digital.

I also love spending time in parks, hang out at coffee shops, and of course spend too much time browsing the internet and Instagram.

Something I battle with is...

remembering people's faces! It's the most embarrassing, weird thing - people think I'm being rude or don't care enough to remember, but I often just genuinely don't recognise someone unless I've seen them more than three times. It's the worst. 

Someday I'd like to...

travel a lot, everywhere!