Interview with the Decorator: Norelli
Introduce yourself, tell us how long you’ve played Tibia and when did your decoration and contest participating adventure start?
Hi, my name is Ania, you can meet me in the game as Norelli. My adventure with Tibia started in 2009 and has been going on for 13 years. Decorating has always been my passion and participating in contests gave me the opportunity to compete with other players, which was a great addition to the game. The first competition that I remember and in which I took part was in 2019 and it was connected with preparing a birthday party for Bomdiatibia. Unfortunately, I failed to win but that was the beginning of my adventure with fansite contests!
What made house decoration your passion?
Tibia is a game with many opportunities to spend your free time. I’ve never been a fan of leveling up or doing quests, but I was always keen on upgrading my decorations. My first houses were relatively small but I always made sure they looked nice.
I began to love decorating the most when I met Mythmine, who decorated my friend Kookly’s house, and the final result was a sensation for the whole of Secura. I watched what objects she uses in decorations and I got inspired. Mythmine made frequent use of Venore’s quest items, leaves, and palms – something totally new to me. Her houses stood out from the others and I wanted to decorate on a similar level, so I tried to create my own stacks, or look for unique items from less popular quests.
You mentioned in the past that you like getting inspired by others. How often do you get inspired before you start a project?
I believe that inspiring others is important and also allows us to develop our skills and try new solutions that we can combine with what we like. Most often I find inspiration on Instagram – I browse the decorations and remember my favorite elements, and sometimes I take screenshots to come back to them later. I am not looking for inspiration to start a project, but when starting a new project I wonder if I can use something that I have already noticed before.
Carpets tutorial by Monzcarro Murcatto.
Columns, Pillars, and Pedestal tutorial by Monzcarro Murcatto for TibiaGoals.com.
It is worth mentioning here my friend Monzi, who still inspires me and I am glad that we share our passion for decorating together. I had been following Monzi’s work for a long time before I even met her personally. She once added a tutorial on carpets with colorful Moroccan patterns.
I liked this idea and knew that someday I would like to use it in my house. The occasion arose when I was decorating the guildhouse of one guild.
Another example is the columns that Monzi created for the article on TibiaGoals.com – I think they are great and I often use them in my last decorations!
Is there anything you would change considering fansite contests based on house decorations and crafting?
I think that such contests are extremely difficult to judge due to the fact that everyone makes a subjective judgment and we all like different things. Creating work that will be appreciated by everyone is a huge challenge. There are often up to 50 entries in contests, of which only the top 5 are selected, which is later assessed by the admins of fansite and CM websites. Due to the number of submissions and subjective assessment, I believe that the number of selected works could be increased from top 5 to top 10-15 depending on the number of submissions. I would also like all assessed criteria to be given already during the competition announcement, and the ratings could be publicly shown, including the ratings of the fansite and CM admins (without disclosing who is who, to remain anonymous and not expose the evaluators to unnecessary hate).
Do you think that art can be assessed as good and bad or is everything a matter of taste and interpretation?
It is worth remembering that each of us perceives art in our own way. What is pretty is a subjective feeling and is fully dependent on the recipient and his interpretation. It is the same with the decoration of the house, I can be very happy with my decoration, but my friend sums it up with the words “get these leaves out of here, there are leaves everywhere”.
However, there are works that will be liked by “the majority”, which does not necessarily mean that the rest are worse. People who are interested, for example, in decorating a house, will see more details in a given job than people who do not have a house or are not so much interested in it. It’s like with a book that millions of people like, which is a testimony to its accessibility and comprehensibility, but not of its value.
What is your favorite house decoration you’ve done of all time?
The choice is not easy, but I think that despite the passage of several years, it is still my house in Yalahar. Admittedly, not much has happened there in the last updates and it needs renovation, but it still arouses positive emotions in me. I hope to be able to share the new, refreshed version with you soon.
I am also happy with the decoration I prepared for the Valentine’s Day post on TibiaHome.com. Using easily available items, I managed to create a romantic atmosphere in my own house! 😀
What is your favorite contest work you’ve done of all time?
My favorite contest work is the decoration I made for the TibiaLabs.com contest – “3rdAnniversary Contest – Wicked Witch’s First Date”. I took second place and won a Yellow Rose!
I also have a great fondness for the decorations that I created on Ghostland on the occasion of Valentine’s Day for the contest organized by Tibiapedia.com. It was the first competition in which I was able to end up on the podium.
The third competition decoration that I did and like is a gingerbread house, which was created with the help of many friends because gathering so many Birthday Cakes on Premia was a challenge. 😀 It is also slightly different from my other decorations, so I wanted to mention it. The gingerbread house was created for a Christmas decoration contest organized by ManjaTibia.com.
What advice would you give someone who would like to start decorating?
Decorate for yourself. The most important thing is that you like the decoration. Use pages with content related to decorations, because you can find interesting inspirations or guides there, e.g. what quest items you can get multiple times and how to use them in decorations. Chat with other decorators! If you are a beginner decorator, you will learn a lot from others. It’s always worth asking even for the name of an item you don’t know. 😉
Do you have any habits or tricks that help you create a decoration?
In my decorations, I like to use objects that can be found in a given city, such as: leaves, palm trees, furniture set from Outlaw Camp, etc. In this way, you can fill even a large house and save money on Tibia Store items. Inspired by Monzi’s passion for creating carpets, I have recently been trying to create my own carpets and smuggle them into my decorations, which makes the interior of the house even more unique. Recently, I even created my set of autumn rugs, but the favorite and probably the most appreciated by the community is Royal Carpet.
Is there any house-related dream you have? (E.g. a special tapestry? A special house spell?)
I wish the owner of the house was able to lock or unlock the items in the cottage. An open padlock would allow the item to be moved freely, pack it or place in a backpack. A locked padlock would prevent any item from being moved or picked up, ensuring that inviting guests to the house would not result in a mess or loss of the items, which is often the case with guilds where it is difficult to watch and control everyone.
In addition, I would like the carpets to be adapted to each sqm in the house because the empty fields do not look aesthetically and cannot always be covered.
Describe your dream store furniture that you could design on your own.
I like everything related to nature. At the moment, my favorite set in the Store is the last Floral Set. If I could add a long-dreamed item to the game, it would be a large fountain in bright marbled colors. Of course, if there were additional color versions with magma or ink instead of water, I would also be delighted with them.
Other items that I would also like to see in the game are related to the witch theme. One of them is a cauldron with different animations depending on the content, for example, Love Potion – hearts floating above the cauldron, Poison – green smoke forming a skull or spirit, and the other addition – a witch’s best companion – cat, and the last one. a broom floating in the air and leaving some magic dust trail behind it.
decorator: Norelli
prepared by: Divine’Angel
If you want to see more of Norelli’s decorations, visit a subpage about her body of work in our “Decorators” section!