Meet a Rebel Maria Qvist
A wild spirit that creates abstract art with pride and grace
Maria Qvist works creatively with colors and shapes every day and therefore feels a need for a calm-colored home.
She attributes most of her inspiration from France and Italy but there are even some Japanese elements in her artwork. She does not care much about current trends but rather uses her own style and feeling in everything she creates.
At Rebel Walls, we have had a fantastic time being able to work with Maria, who has hand-painted this fantastic mural which is named after Maria herself.
The Maria Qvist Wallpaper
The result of this design collaboration is a unique wallpaper using warm beige-grey nuances as the canvas. The wallpaper gives the wall a matte limestone colored surface painted with a wide brush.
Rustic yet tasteful and simple for calm, harmonic rooms.
How would you describe your home?
Rural, Bohemian, and natural. I try to create a durable style that also feels calm to live in, that's why I prefer using natural materials and earthy colors.
I don’t care about trends too much, but I try to always choose what I believe is the most beautiful out of everything and that becomes ‘the style.’ A lot is from yard sales.
It’s important to build up the home over time and add details with care. I dislike having too many things around and prefer rather plain surfaces so that the children can bring all of their toys and projects instead.
What does being a Rebel mean to you?
For me it means that you dare to listen to your heart and do what you want to.
It means not to compromise and not settle just because things are expected of you or that it ‘should’ be a certain way. To go your own way, even if it means taking an unexplored path. To respect yourself and who you are in all situations, and show the same respect and humility towards others.
“I'm so happy to be part of Rebel Walls amazing crowd and to express my art as wallpaper!"
Can you describe the design process for your mural?
It was an extremely fun process that is very similar to my usual process for making art. I find inspiration from something and try to replicate and create that feeling onto a blank canvas.
In this case, I created two pieces of art as possibilities and then we decided one of the pieces as the final wallpaper design.
It feels great to have the chance to do something like this and I feel very proud of myself for being asked to create a wallpaper design and to be one of your Rebels.
Tell us about your passion in life and why it’s so important to you:
My biggest passion in life is to create and find new ways to do things.
I love the feeling of coming up with a new idea and fantasizing ways it can be implemented, especially if it seems to be something that others believe is impossible.
It becomes an experiment and a reminder to ourselves that we are the only ones who put restrictions on ourselves.
What does it mean to you to dare to be yourself completely?
For me, it means that you should always be yourself, with grace and pride, even if it means that people don't always understand or sometimes choose otherwise.
I live in the belief that the right people are drawn to you when you are your true self.
I also believe that we do the world the best service through being ourselves one hundred percent and dare to take pride in our best and most true self. Through this, I think that we inspire others and make a real change, and that others will do the same, even if their true self is completely different from mine.