Your current exhibition, Warmblooded, is an ode to David Attenborough. How did this idea come about?
Attenborough's 90th year sparked the idea, after which I watched the entire collection of the Life series he presented for the BBC. This started the process of making images in response to the sense of wonder I felt watching his documentaries again.
Warmblooded includes drawing, painting and collage. Is there a new medium you'd like to experiment with?
I mostly work on paper with water-based mediums, but I'd like to try working with wood and whittling. Here, the creative act is about reduction, and I find that compelling. Taking away until the result is achieved, rather than adding on. I think that's what good editors do well. At design school we were always encouraged to get better and better at visual editing.
You have travelled a lot. How has this influenced your work?
Travel allows you to see a greater variety of things and ways of being, and that results in broader visual literacy. That simply means that I have more to draw on when it comes to making new images.If you could live in any other city as an artist, which would it be?
I almost said Johannesburg, because I have an ongoing fascination with the eerie history of the place, but my first choice is Madrid. The Spanish have a lovely, familiar way.
You have worked for prestigious publications such as Vanity Fair and the Wall Street Journal. What's the most exciting brief you've ever been given?
I couldn't isolate one, but travel stories like illustrating the Isle of Capri for Vanity Fair are fun because you get to become a remote mini "expert" on a dream destination and then realise it on a flat surface. It's the next best thing to visiting the place itself.
I enjoyed getting briefed to do textile designs for a small fashion line in San Sebastian. When it comes to applied arts, there's something extra special about seeing your illustrations "live" on clothes.And a project you'd love to work on one day?
A dream project would be to do a textile design for Liberty London.
What's next after your current exhibition?
After a short break (and catching up on Blue Planet II!) I am back to freelance illustration with baby daughter in tow. I will also have a few works with Salon 91 Contemporary at the Joburg Art Fair in September.
• Katrin Coetzer's exhibit, 'Warmblooded', is on at Salon 91 Contemporary in Cape Town until May 19...