About

• Natalie Helling is a surface pattern designer based in St.Paul, Minnesota, who specializes in kid friendly, joyful artwork and patterns for stationery, kids apparel, and textiles.

• 10 + years of experience in retail, print and pattern, trend, concept direction for product and art.

• exceptional eye for aesthetic trends and brand acumen, market analysis, pattern trend

• retail focused trend research experience + color research for brands

• contemporary fine art background, with MFA in Painting from Rutgers

• avid tech adopter, adores drawing in Procreate, making concept direction in Adobe XD, Collaborating in Miro.

• built and owned my own stationery business from ground up, with original artwork, product development, DTC and wholesale, catalog and developed a specialty line. Was carried in 40+ stores for wholesale including Greenwich Letterpress in NY, Goods for the Study, Kinoko Kids.

Testimonials

Jen Gin, Design Manager at Devgiri

“Natalie and I were paired together when she began her journey with Target HQ. I was paired with her as a peer mentor and have seen her apply her artistic ability and trend research to bring owned brands to life. Target's owned brands have unique brand visions and Natalie has the ability to give them personality and uniqueness within different brand parameters. From working together in home, she's lent her design eye and hand to influence brands in apparel, pets, and more - using curiosity to help guide research and her artistic talents to express them fully. She's a talented designer and a supportive member of the design community”

Amy Leighton, Design and Merchandising Executive

“Natalie and I worked together at Garnet Hill. She had immediate impact on the home assortment demonstrating her design talents. It is no surprise that she is flourishing in her career.”

Natalie Schild, Textile Leader at Fortune 500 Company

“I’ve known Natalie for seven years and started mentoring her over a year ago. Natalie is highly skilled at trend direction, original artwork creation, and curating print collections that meet the need of the product and guest she is designing for.

This past year I’ve had the pleasure of working with Natalie on Cat & Jack print and pattern. She created beautiful, brand-right artwork that was adopted into the assortment. Natalie is a great collaborator, communicator, and thought partner. She seeks out new experiences and creates connections with people that enhances her work and elevates the brands she works on.

Natalie is a creator at heart. She is amazingly creative, thoughtful, and hard working. I consider myself very lucky to have had the privilege of working with her. Natalie’s skills and passion for design make her an outstanding candidate for any creative team!”

Liz Apple, Co-Founder of Paperapple, Former Business Partner and Designer at Target

“Natalie is an exquisite designer. She has a keen eye for color, print, and trend. Additionally, her artistic hand is unmatched. She brings a sense of delight and whimsy to all of her work. She has unbelievable knowledge in artwork creation and pattern design- for which she is very passionate. She is truly dedicated, and she brings positivity and fun to all of those around her!”

Gene Hong, Design Director at Fortune 500 Company

“Natalie is the definition of an artist that approaches her work with the utmost heart and compassion. Her ability to create emotion and joy through her art is really inspiring and you won't find anyone more committed and accountable to herself and the work she produces. It was truly my good fortune to have been able to work with Natalie and strive to create an environment for her to shine @Target.”