Folk Tales and Animals: The World of Enikő’s Drawings

Enikő Katalin Eged is an artist and pattern designer based in Budapest, Hungary. After studying literature and philosophy at university, she went on to study graphic design at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, completing her master’s degree in 2022. Today, her illustration practice spans fashion, interiors and publishing.

Inspired by folk tales and folk art

Horses, cats and birds appear throughout Eged’s work. She draws inspiration from folk tales and folk art, including patterns found in Asian folk traditions. Painters such as Frida Kahlo and Keserü Ilona have also influenced her work.

She enjoys exploring more than one way of drawing. Some of her animals are reduced to simple, abstract shapes; other images are filled with detail, closer to the style of comics. Moving between these approaches gives her room to experiment with both individual forms and more elaborate scenes.

For her solo exhibition at Budapest’s Museum of Ethnography, Eged created works inspired by the museum’s publications. Books and other materials on folk art provide another starting point for her drawings.

Drawing and making since childhood

Eged loved drawing horses as a child, drawing at least one or two every day. She continues to experiment with ways of depicting their bodies and movement.

The cats she lives with also find their way into her work. Alongside their appearance, she explores how people and cats share the spaces they inhabit.

As a child, she took pottery classes for around eight years. Today, she also paints ceramics, extending her work beyond paper.

From travel sketches to working at home

Animals, city streets and time spent at home all provide ideas for Eged’s work, as does travel. She makes sketches while away, then develops them into finished pieces once she returns home. She has also spent two consecutive summers in Japan.

Oil pastels are among her favourite materials. She likes their versatility: they work for both sketches and paintings and can produce a wide range of textures. She also uses acrylics and ink, and sometimes finishes her drawings digitally after first sketching them on paper.

Her mornings often begin with horse riding or a run, followed by drawing at home in the afternoon and evening. She enjoys drawing for its own sake, making time for personal work alongside her commissions.

Illustration across disciplines

While drawing, Eged sometimes imagines how an image might work as a pattern. Her work as a pattern designer appears on clothing, silk scarves, rugs, woven blankets, wallpaper, matchboxes and food packaging. Collaborations with a variety of brands bring her illustrations to objects used throughout everyday life.

Represented by an illustration agency with offices in London and New York, Eged works with fashion and interiors brands, publishers and music labels. Her editorial commissions include a cover for an Australian magazine. With illustration at the centre of her practice, she continues to expand her work across countries and creative fields.