Marquin Campbell’s cheerful, timeless needlepoint designs add layers to a room
When Upstate-based painter and entrepreneur Marquin Campbell took some blank needlepoint canvas on a trip abroad, the artist—widely collected and always inventive—had an epiphany to expand her charming designs into more homes worldwide through a hands-on hobby she already loved.
“Needlepoint is a very centering, gratifying process . . . almost like meditating or doing yoga,” Campbell says with a smile. “People tell me often how wonderful it is to be off of their phone, doing something tactile, with a clear start and finish.”
Campbell launched her Needlepoint Canvas Line in 2023, which translates her illustrations into hand-painted, high-quality canvases ready to be stitched up. With easy-to-follow patterns, each 18-count mesh design allows needlepoint beginners and experienced enthusiasts alike to create something beautiful by hand.
Marquin Campbell Ornaments
The collection has found its way onto countless Christmas trees, including Campbell’s own, where her daughter’s favorite Pink Polka Angel spreads its golden wings. From candy canes featuring destinations like Greenville, South Carolina, or Cashiers, North Carolina—a place close to the artist’s heart—to bouquets and beyond, the ornaments are just one of many ways these simple, yet enduring creations can breathe color and life into rooms, holidays, and gifting moments.
“I’ve seen people use the round ones as coasters, and I have a sardine design that’s more rectangular—you could add some fabric around that and make it into a pillow or a clutch,” says Campbell. “The sky really is the limit with what you can do! I just released some small 2-inch by 3-inch ovals with different Christmas motifs that I had finished to be both ornaments for a mini-tree as well as napkin rings. They’re multifunctional, and they add such wonderful, meaningful touches to a personal space.”
Campbell partners with local retailers like The Needle Tree, as well as an online distributor, who ships orders direct from the artist’s website. The process of transforming her beloved illustrations into canvases has taken years to perfect, but seeing and hearing how much creative cheer they bring to people has been a reward well worth waiting for.
“I love seeing what fibers people choose or the types of stitches they use, and how they put it together,” shares Campbell. “I recently saw one of my angels, which are typically done as ornaments, finished as the top of a keepsake box—something I wouldn’t have thought of. It’s amazing as an artist to see your art reinterpreted by other people.”
Find out more at marquindesigns.com.
