Charlotte Roseberry – BA (Hons) Painting, 2013 – has completed a collaboration with British Airways. 

One of her paintings was chosen to feature on BA’s new limited-edition range of amenity kits in its Club World (long-haul business class) cabins. The bags are made of fully recycled fabric. 

Born in Sunderland, Charlotte studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) before moving to a small village in the Scottish Borders. Inspired by her rural surroundings, Charlotte’s self-described ‘internal landscape’ is reflected in her carefully calibrated abstractions. Her design features flat, expansive space bold colours, clear lines and portals, suggestive of reflection and an understanding of the landscapes that surround us. 

We caught up with Charlotte and asked her about her experience.  

How did the commission come about? 

The collaboration came about through Rise Art, an online gallery I’d been working with for a little while.  

They got in touch about a potential project with British Airways which, at the time, felt completely surreal, like one of those things you say yes to, fully expecting it to quietly disappear into the ether. 

The idea was to propose paintings for their new Business Class amenity kit designs. It was in the pipeline for ages, so I never quite believed it would happen. When it finally did, it was wild – the sort of email you have to read a good five times to make sure it’s real. 

Can you tell us about your design? 

British Airways chose an oil painting of mine called ‘Circus III’, from a series I made for a small solo exhibition in Edinburgh in 2023. The painting wasn’t created with this collaboration in mind, which was ideal as commissions can be a bit nerve-wracking, so it was nice to have the work already finished.  

The ‘Circus’ series is playful and a bit whimsical, but it’s also about balance and consequence, keeping things upright after the last few years of chaos.  

My work is often quite inward-looking, about the internal landscape, but this piece had a sense of movement and lightness that I think appealed to BA. Plus, the colours matched their design palette perfectly, which never hurts! 

How does it feel seeing the finished article?

Completely bizarre. To think that a small painting made in my little Borders studio is now flying around the world in Business Class cabins is… well, not something I ever pictured. The scale of it all is mind-boggling. I was one of four artists involved, and we all have really different styles, so it’s great to see BA celebrating such variety. I’ve had a few folk send me photos of it from their flight, and it still feels slightly unreal – my painting has a far more glamorous social life than I do! 

What are you working on right now?

I’m continuing to focus on my painting practice from my studio in the Scottish Borders, working on new pieces that explore introspection and emotional landscape. I’m quite hermetic in my practice (and in life). My world is very much here in my quiet little village with my kids. I’ve shown work internationally, but I tend to avoid London like the plague and I’m not a great traveller, so it’s quite funny that my paintings are the ones doing all the jet-setting. Collaborations like this have really made me think about that contrast. It’s lovely that something so personal can end up connecting with people in such a global way. Right now, I’m also working on a few new pieces for a collector in Hong Kong, which feels exciting and just the right amount of exotic from the comfort of my studio. 

Did your time at ECA help you develop your practice? 

I absolutely loved my time at ECA. It felt like a small pocket of time carved out of real life, entirely devoted to discovery and creativity.  

I actually came to ECA to study Jewellery Design but realised within a few weeks that painting was the only thing I wanted to do. What I valued most was the total freedom, the space to experiment, to make mistakes, to make a mess, and to figure things out by doing. It was such a formative experience that I carry with me today. 

Looking back, I feel so grateful that I had that time to just explore, surrounded by brilliant people, with very little else to worry about other than what to make next!