Spill it! Introductions, please!
Hi! I’m Inslee Fariss. My watercolor botanicals are the guest stars of the latest collaboration with Neely & Chloe. I live in Raleigh, North Carolina where I work in my home studio while wrangling three wild little ones. Our newest cast member, baby Willie arrived a few weeks after Chloe’s baby, Henry!
We’ve loved working with you on our new collection (and every past collab)! What’s been your favorite part of the process?
The moment we unbox that first sample – the first time seeing the concept we’ve spent months and months dreaming up and sketching out become tangible – it is magic!
Do you have a favorite product from the collection?
It changes daily! Today it is The Desk Blotter. It just makes my desk so happy! How did I ever send email without it?
What was the inspiration behind the prints in our collection?
I wanted it to be very “quintessentially” Inslee. I chose some of my most favorite patterns – garden party and delphinium from my 2022 calendar artwork. Climbing vine was a master collage of a multitude of flora and fauna from my steadily growing body of botanical works. Midnight bloom is a new work that I debuted just for Neely & Chloe. It is a nod to the beautiful blues of Neely & Chloe’s world. The dark background and intricate, symmetrical repeat hits the spot this fall!
Our desk accessories collection is all about levelling up your WFH space to give you that “put-together” feeling (even when there’s chaos in the next room- i.e., kids, roommates, husbands). Can you give us a little sneak peek at your home office? Any tips or tricks for the WFH woman?
It is too true – an office can so quickly become the “dumping ground” for stuff you just don’t know what to do with. I am totally guilty of this from time to time but always notice I feel a thousand times better working in a space that is pulled together (even an art studio!) Our collection is indeed a call to action to honor the graceful act of conducting business in an environment that is suited to the task. 
Everyone has their own way of filling out a day planner (color coding, bullet points, pencil or pen, symbols, sticky notes, etc). How do you stay organized and on schedule with your day planner? What does it look like?
I just write everything down. My week spread pages are covered over in my cursive script by Friday. It becomes a crazy soup of reminders, notes from phone calls, to do lists, recipes… I find if I don’t write it down it quickly gets forgotten, so I. Write. Everything. Down. It’s not glamorous at all, the planner is my written life raft in the choppy sea that is my weekly circus. I know some people are careful and exacting in their planners but I’ve never been that type. You should try it – the moment something comes in your head – write it down. You’ll notice it hours later and think “hey! I have 3 minutes, I’m going to do that!” and by day’s end, you’ll have done some things that would have otherwise been kicked along from week to week with low-simmering forgetfulness. 
Do you have any exciting upcoming projects you can tell us about?
I am in pieces over the upcoming launch of our four beautiful patterns as wallpaper with Chasing Paper! My projects tend to sneak up on me and run away with me. I’m not sure what will strike next but I love the direction we’ve headed in with Chasing Paper. I am so hopeful that my next chapter grows further into the textiles space. 
Spill it! Can we take a look inside your bag right now?
Halloween tattoos. Airpods. Smith’s rosebud salve. That gift card for the nail place I will never have time for. Wholefoods brand animal crackers (because no one wants wholefoods brand animal crackers, and thus they rattle around in my bag as a last resort option) No fewer than four pairs of toddler flower-shaped sunglasses. Neely & Chloe wallet and key tassel. A few lego pieces and a light blue hooded baby sweater with ears.
