Bold Meditations On Nature
Words Janine Stankus | Photos Baptiste Despois
Minimalism does not mean muted in Tabria Williford’s world. Her designs distill complex sights and sounds—impressions of the natural world—into simple shapes and patterns, emboldened with high-saturation hues drawn from across color palettes. “I love a minimalist style, but sometimes we are encouraged to have this adult demeanor as characteristics of our home,” Tabria explains. In addition, adding vibrant colors,“shows a little bit more personality. It helps people bring out their inner child, or drives curiosity.”
Tabria is a designer and multimedia artist who grew up in Boerne, Texas, and grounds her work in a love for adventure. She turned to nature to recover her “zen” after a period of burnout from her post-college stint in sales and marketing. Impressed by her digital designs, based on sketches of plants and wildlife she observed on her travels, Tabria’s friends encouraged her to market them. So, in 2020, she launched Tawa Threads, first turning her designs into bandanas, then prints, hats, clothing, and home decor.
Tabria’s National Park Tapestries collection captures her talent for distilling different landscapes into lively, wonder-filled patterns. Like the sky-blue wave form that combs through the center of her Big Bend tapestry, a Rio Grande carving through the land. And the scarlet-red arches ensconcing small black orbs across her Arches National Park tapestry. “ I really enjoy how the sun can tell different stories throughout different times of the day, depending on how it moves through the arches,” Tabria reflects. Each story is told in sleek colors and patterns that invite the viewer’s interpretation. She muses, “These baseline landforms or things seen in nature can transform pictorially to resonate with people in different ways.”
The work has indeed resonated, which has meant a whirlwind journey for Tawa Threads. Tabria landed an early deal with REI that built her brand exposure. Through deals, partnerships, and growth, she strives to maintain a balance between managing a business of one, while expanding into fine arts and commission work, which has included projects with Laguna Gloria and San Antonio Botanical Gardens.
“I love a minimalist style, but sometimes we are encouraged to have this adult demeanor as characteristics of our home. Adding pops of color shows a little bit more personality. It helps people bring
out their inner child, or
drives curiosity.”
Her latest project in collaboration with the City of Austin is a children’s playscape for the airport. It’s a serendipitous manifestation of Tabria’s own passion for exploration and travel. The project has sparked ambitions of finding opportunities to work abroad on kid-focused projects, or even launching a kid’s line. “I really enjoy doing workshops with kids because there’s this great moment of unhinged curiosity and ways of building and thinking through things,” she marvels.
Tabria’s combination of inborn creativity, curiosity, and ambition keeps her motivated—and busy. “I feel really grateful,” Tabria admits, “because while it is a lot of work, I still wake up every day thinking, ‘wow, I’m so excited that I get to do this’.”
A Day in the Life
The life of an artist/entrepreneur takes the right combination of discipline, grounding, and untethering. Tabria paints a picture of how she balances locking in and letting ideas flow each day. Her day often starts with meditating, music, working out, or journaling, then two to three hours of design time.“ I try to knock out some of the bigger things that are on my mind,” she says, “ like an existing design, something experimental, a collab, or a project.” Then, she transitions to her retail business, tackling everything from packaging to market prep to sourcing new opportunities. At the end of the work day, she takes her pup for a walk and cooks her dinner (which she owns to doing more for the dog than herself). “As a creative, it’s really hard to turn your brain off,” admits Tabria. So, in the evenings, she makes time for soul-soothing activities like spending time with friends, riding bikes, or cultivating more inspirational plant life in her yard.
