The Story Behind The Name.

I have always had a love and fascination for Astrology. So much so that I studied it for a few years and decided I wanted to paint birth charts. They are the circular graphs you get when you calculate your date, time and place of birth. More of that in another blog. I did a few for family and friends, which is always a good way to start ;) and then one thing led to another and I was selling them through Etsy and organising a full exhibition of them. It really was amazing, I painted 50 birth charts of famous influential people from history. From Ghandi to Bob Marley, the show held a great energy and was a roaring success.



The gallery exhibition where Solart launched its hand painted astrology birth charts.

 

Hand painted astrology birth chart mockup. Commissioned natal chart paintings made to order.
An example of an astrology hand painted personalised birth chart painting.

 

I knew that if I wanted to make a business out of this I needed a name and a brand. This is where the story behind the name of Solart began.
The next is Spanish. Yes, I love the language! Living in Australia I don’t find much opportunity to speak it, so as soon as I hear someone chatting away I pounce!
In a nutshell, I spent my 20’s and early 30’s travelling and living around the world. I managed to bank up about 35 countries, yet South America held a sweet spot. The culture, the people… and the language! I just love Spanish so much that I managed to come out of there 2 years later kinda fluent and with heaps of slang. I travelled around for months and settled in Argentina for 2 years! (una locura!)

 

Travelling through high mountains in Huaraz Peru with friends, enjoying the spectacular views.

Travelling through the spectacular mountains of Huaraz in Peru with friends.

Sol = Sun in Spanish 

The sun is the centre of our universe, which all the planets revolve around. The sun in astrology represents the self, our core, our essence, so I thought it appropriate to have this in my branding.

 

A gold stamp of Solart's first logo design, stamped onto brown recycled kraft paper.
Here is Solart’s original logo in which you can see more elements of Astrology - the stars and the lines are called aspects which show the relationships the planets have to each other.


As an English teacher I love to play with language. (Before COVID my side hustle was teaching English as a second language to foreigners.) Doing my best  to live quite a connected and spiritual lifestyle, the play of the word SOL and SOUL seemed the perfect fit. 


And of course the tail of the name Art is self explanatory he he he.
Solart has really come a long way since it all began in 2015 in Melbourne Australia. My art and the business has changed and grown a lot, and I can imagine it will continue to do so. After birth charts I moved into sacred geometry, and then more abstract paintings and its application to different products. The one thing I would say which has stayed consistent is my love and use of colour.

Logo design for Solart gallery.
Here is Solart’s logo now. With gold still as its colour representing the incredible shine of the sun and the square symbolising a frame which holds, displays and supports the work.