Monika Gardyla

“I’m so much more than just an artist,” says Monika Gardyla, the collage artist who splits her time between London and Itacare, Brazil. A self-confessed typical Sagittarius, Gardyla’s pieces are intuitive and heartfelt, collages crafted by hand in her London apartment onto vintage book covers or vintage envelope paper. A woman of many multitudes, Gardyla also harvests her own organic fruit and vegetable farm, teaches yoga, and is building her Brazilian home and studio from scratch. Read her interview with Trobat below AND SHOP HER EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION OF PIECES ON TROBAT.CO.

What is your discipline and when did you first encounter it?

My recent obsession is collage, for three years now I’ve been totally in love with this style. I consider it like my secret weapon because it doesn’t require a lot of space and space in London is very expensive.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?

I am self-taught. The process of becoming the artist I am today happened really very instinctively and organically.

Tell us about your studio?

When I am in London I have no studio and I work from a table in my room, which is perfect. When I am in Itacare in Brazil I have a beautiful studio next to my beautiful house. I built the studio myself, which makes it perfect.

What's a film you watched and book you've read recently that had an impact on you?

I just loved The Game Changers on Netflix, and the book ‘Feeling is the Secret’ by Neville Goddard is one of my absolute favourites.

If you weren't an artist, what would you have been?

I am so much more than just an artist. I am a builder (I am building my own house), a painter, a decorator, a gardener, and a farmer (I have an organic plantation of fruit and vegetables on 2500 square metres), I’m a surf instructor and yoga teacher—but the only practising discipline right now is art.