ABOUT LEILA
Leila is an abstract artist and designer whose bold, colorful, and playful patterns bring joy to everyday life and the art of giving. Rooted in sustainability, creativity, and human connection, each piece celebrates the beauty of mindful living and the joy of surrounding yourself with art that feels good in every way.
"Made from a meditative dream space, inspired by my curiosity about the universe and what we cannot see, I’m musing on playful scale alongside rhythm and movement."
PROCESS
Through a creative process that focuses on the essence of relationship between shape and color, Leila’s designs offer an opportunity to slow down, look again, and remember that joy is allowed.
VALUES
Artist-made, small batch, sustainable, women-owned, joy-centered.
LEILA IN THE PRESS
Leila loves to share about her creative process, changing course mid-career, running a fast-growing creative business, and the 100 day project that started it all.
"Leila presents a really arresting selection of patterns. She has a bold, confident use of color and interesting, unique mark-making. It is really confident work."
—Janine Vangool, UPPERCASE Magazine
"Leila's journey invites us to reconsider our own relationship with uncertainty, and to ask: what happens when we stop demanding answers and start embracing the unknown?"
—Emily Silverman, The Nocturnists
"Bespoke patterns with beautiful energy and layering, Leila is a master of color and form. It was a delight see the inspiration, process, and conceptual thinking behind her stunning work."
—Lizzie Vaughan, Chronicle Books
It's never too late
to start fresh
"In 2018, in my early 40s, after decades of disconnection from my art practice, I found myself at a crossroads. As my youngest child went off to kindergarten, I realized I had closed off the artist side of myself in service of a "safe" career. At that moment, I discovered the urgent need, and then the bravery, to make and share my art every single day.
I started a 100 Day Project called Shapes Relating, choosing simple parameters that connected me to my earliest art-making joy. Remixing 10 shapes and 10 colors in a different way each day, the project enlivened me so much that I continued for 800+ days, distilling my art practice into a focused exploration of how color and shapes relate to each other. A simple practice built on consistency grew my confidence over time and blossomed into a totally new direction for my life.
Today, I pair my well-honed design skills with a bold, playful artistic practice. My abstract and distinct designs—created for home decor, textiles, tableware, and stationery—explore unusual scale and color combinations alongside pattern and movement. I create pieces imbued with spontaneity and energy, yet with measured details.
Through improvisation and experimentation, I continue to elevate my artistry into bold patterns that delight viewers and ignite creativity."
—Leila Simon Hayes
A Creative Director
Shaping Culture
Before shifting her career into art, Leila partnered with visionaries and powerful thinkers as a creative director and graphic designer, helping them bring their visions to life in print, in galleries, in museum exhibitions, and online.
As Creative Director at ICA/Boston, she was responsible for the artful evolution of a world-class brand. Leila worked for some of America’s most treasured institutions including Harvard University, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
When not immersed in shape, color and pattern, Leila spends her time hiking the local woodsy loops near Boston, crafting bluesy rock songs with her band, and raising two creative and hilarious kids with her science teacher sweetie.
"We don’t need to be told what to see. We can be expanded by opportunities to let what we see evolve over time."
