Seran Otterson. Photos: Chris Emeott
The artist weds the past with the present through her murals as Rumi Wall Design.
The entryway of a local business contains international ties. In May and October 2025, muralist Seran Otterson painted a mural that blended ALL, Inc.’s brand colors with an Iznik pattern that harkens back to Otterson’s Turkish roots. From 2016 to 2024, Otterson predominantly employed her design and fine arts knowledge on color and interior design consultations. After turning 47, the artist weighed her options. “I don’t know how many more years I have to climb on ladders and scaffolding, which is my passion,” she says. Her decision was straightforward: “I’m only going to paint murals from now on.” In 2024, she rebranded to Rumi Wall Design and dedicated herself fully to wall murals and decorative painting. As Rumi, Otterson has taken on residential and commercial projects in the Plymouth area and beyond.
Thanks to her design background, Otterson was already familiar with the luxury kitchen appliance company ALL, Inc. When she attended a Real Estate Staging Association meeting at ALL, Inc.’s St. Paul showroom, her attention was drawn to the beige walls. “I reached out to them,” Otterson says. “I said, ‘I’m a mural artist, and I have this vision for you. Can I show you my vision?’” The team was immediately receptive, and president Ryan Rutzick invited Otterson to the new showroom in Plymouth. “[Rutzick] was drawn by those Mediterranean patterns right away, and we worked on some mockups and some revisions on the design of it,” Otterson says. Her canvas: the white-walled entryway. Her vision: a traditional pattern with an organic motif that replicates both her time as a tile designer in Italy and Spain, but also the Scandinavian folk art influences that ALL, Inc. favors. It’s not as big a reach as it might sound. “Even though geographically [these cultures are] really far away from each other, there is that influence, especially when you study traditional arts patterns,” she says.
Seran Otterson transformed ALL, Inc.’s entryway and front desk with complementary Iznik pattern murals.
Otterson has been preoccupied with walls since she was young. Painting helped focus her relentlessly busy mind. “I remember that I was a kid [who] was having a hard time focusing on things,” she says. “My mind was spinning with ideas … The only time that I remember that I could just pause time was when I was painting.” By the age of 8, Otterson began to consider what her paintings would look like on the walls around her. Growing up in Istanbul, she was immersed in a culture where walls were overrun with traditional tiles and wall coverings. At the same time, “My father was a collector,” she says. Starting with paper memorabilia and expanding over the years to everything from World War I mementos to Roman and Byzantine collectibles, Sertac Kayserilioglu gained international acclaim and shared his collections in print and exhibitions. “I grew up in a house [where] … we were living in the middle of history,” she says. “It was like a museum. I think it is no wonder that I was attracted to the traditional arts of my culture.”
Seran Otterson restoring an Italian ceiling fresco in 2002. Photos: Rumi Wall Design
Otterson began studying with professional artists at 12 years old to hone her craft and prepare for the highly competitive Marmara University’s Faculty of Fine Arts program in Istanbul, which she attended from 1996–2000. Every summer, she would travel to Italy where she focused on fresco and mosaic restoration and designing commercial tiles. After graduation, Otterson moved to the Sassuolo district of Modena, Italy, which is the tile production capital of Europe. “I started to learn how to design tiles from [those tile companies],” she says. Her guiding light during this period—and her subsequent stays in tile meccas throughout Italy and Spain—was using her cultural heritage to bridge the past with the present. Soon, her designs began gaining international recognition, and images of her tiles were published in Spanish design magazines. “Then it was kind of like my dream came true. Now, I was this Turkish tile designer [who] was recognized in the tile field around the world,” she says.
Seran Otterson’s hand-painted tiles were influenced by designs from the 16th and 17th centuries. “These three tile designs represent the golden age of Ottoman Iznik ceramics, a historical milestone that revolutionized global pottery engineering and heavily influenced European Renaissance decorative arts through its masterfully stylized floral, geometric and maritime motifs,” she says.
But while tiles were a longtime fascination for Otterson, murals have always been something that fed her soul. After meeting her Minnesotan husband, closing her ceramic studio in Istanbul and moving to Minnesota in 2012, Otterson still expected to be involved in tile design. But a difficult pregnancy in 2014 caused her to change course. “When I was pregnant, I painted a mural for my son’s nursery room,” she says. “And then I realized how much I missed painting murals.” Ceramics can be a difficult medium, and Otterson realized she wanted to devote her patience to raising her son. “I needed something to fill my tank of patience, which was painting murals … [it] was so soothing and calming, and I love it.” As Rumi Wall Design, Otterson now brings that same sense of calm to walls throughout the Metro.
Rumi Wall Design
Instagram: @rumiwalldesign
