From afar, the fireplace surround in a Sanibel home reads like a pale floral relief—dense, rhythmic, almost rococo in its detail. Up close, the petals reveal themselves: nassa shells, common creepers and bubble shells, each placed by hand in a precise composition.
In a region where shells often veer toward souvenir, Katarina Tifft treats them as building material. The Slovakian-born artist began experimenting with shells in 2020 after a date in the Ten Thousand Islands. “He knew I loved shelling,” Katarina says of her now-husband, Gary.
When COVID-19 slowed the world, Katarina allowed herself to follow the creative pull she’d long felt. She returned to the shoreline with intention, gathering specimens that would lead to her now-trademark Shellscapes—geometric wall works arranged into disciplined, low-relief compositions.
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Courtesy Katarina Tifft/Caitlyn Cacioppo
katarina tifft shell architectural relief in studio
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Courtesy Katarina Tifft
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The shell-strewn beaches of the Ten Thousand Islands served as the genesis of Katarina’s art. Glued into precise compositions, the shells form low- relief surfaces built through repetition.
Her Instagram following climbed to nearly 200,000 over four years, bringing commissions from Hilton, The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, and the Mein Schiff Relax cruise ship. Naples firms Tye Interior Design, R & Co. Designs and Calusa Bay Interior Design took notice, too, drawn to her ability to translate coastal iconography into design-forward installations.
Katarina did not arrive in Florida with an established art practice. A self-taught creative, she left home in Slovakia at 19 and worked hospitality jobs across Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Finland and Norway. A position at a West Palm Beach country club brought her to Florida in 2016. By 2018, she was in Naples, with stints at Fiddler’s Creek and The Club at Mediterra. “I was living in the Arctic Circle,” she says. “I landed in Florida and loved it so much I didn’t want to explore anymore.” The Gulf provided both medium and momentum.
Her earliest pieces resembled mosaics, shells laid flat into sparse, mandala-like arrangements. “I was experimenting,” she says. Over time, she filled the negative space, organizing forms into repeating structures. Shell type dictates function: Ribbed cockles build dense, layered fields; spiraled screws anchor radial bursts; tusks offer depth and illusory motion. Nearly monochromatic, the work derives its impact from relief and repetition rather than color.
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Courtesy Katarina Tifft/The Branded Boss Lady
katarina tifft shell architectural relief shell sketch design
Katarina sketches each design before assembling her materials. For this Sanibel fireplace surround, she incorporated shells the homeowner collected with her late sister.
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Courtesy Katarina Tifft
katarina tifft shell architectural relief shell fireplace design
After sketching each composition, she glues the shells onto fine neutral linen mounted on a panel and applies adhesive with cotton swabs to maintain precision. Though framed and wall-mounted, the Shellscapes function like architectural surfaces, interrupting flat walls with dimension. “You’d need a hammer to break them,” she muses of the intact shells she uses, their arched forms made to bear weight.
Six works aboard Mein Schiff Relax were mounted directly onto structural columns, turning functional supports into focal points. The Sanibel fireplace marked a further evolution: an installation fabricated in three sections, assembled on and inspired by the site. Echoing lacework, the relief incorporates shells the homeowner collected with her late sister, butterflies representing her family and a sunflower at its center. Whole shells are layered over crushed Capiz for subtle iridescence and sealed in resin for permanence. “I love the romance of floral patterns,” she says.
As her practice has grown, Katarina no longer gets her shells from the Ten Thousand Islands or Sanibel’s beaches. But she sources shells from Florida distributors to maintain the Sunshine State connection. She sorts through heavy bags by hand, selecting those suited to each design. Her largest panel, measuring 60-by-80 inches, required 40 pounds of material. Many works use between 15 and 20 pounds of shells and demand up to 100 hours of handwork.
Repetition remains the throughline in her work. Many pieces feature turritella shells, their tapering corkscrew forms dovetailing into undulating patterns. The rhythm is hypnotic—for the viewer and for the artist. “My whole process is about this meditative aspect,” she says.
Courtesy Katarina Tifft/Amber Fredericksen
katarina tifft shell architectural relief shell shell wall art
Shell type defines structure: Ribbed cockles build dense, layered fields while screws anchor radial bursts.