Welcome to Background Atelier
A designer's eye for the backgrounds you stand in front of.
I'm Nate — a digital designer in Toronto with 20 years of experience designing interfaces, products, and brands for a living.
Background Atelier started by accident. I'd been making anime wallpapers as a side project, mostly for fun, and people kept asking where they could buy them. One thing led to another, and the shop opened. Then the world changed how it worked — meetings became video calls, offices became spare bedrooms, and suddenly the wall behind your head was doing more talking than you were.
I noticed the same thing everyone noticed: most virtual backgrounds were terrible. AI-generated rooms with melting bookshelves. Stock-photo offices that looked like nobody had ever lived in them. Wallpapers that pixelated the moment they hit a 4K screen.
So I started making the backgrounds I wished existed. Quiet, considered spaces. Bookshelves that look like someone actually reads. Studios that feel like someone actually works there. Wallpapers designed by a designer, not pulled from a stock library.
Every piece in the shop is made the way I'd make work for a paying client — composition first, color second, detail third. Sharp versions for the perfectionists, blurred bokeh versions for the ones who want focus on themselves, not the shelves behind them.
Whether you're hopping on a Zoom, going live as a VTuber, or just want your phone to feel a little more like you — welcome.
— Nate
