Hello Hannah here to introduce myself! I realised I don't have many pictures of myself as I am usually behind the camera but I think this one on the left captures who I am, taken by my husband (I love outdoors and this is us exploring a local beach) and the one on the right and above- what I love doing! (I love nothing better than my children being happy with a new doll. This is my son with a doll of himself and one of my first guitar and camera :) They do 'steal' a lot of the products straight from the sewing machine, it's a wonder anything makes it to the shop!
So who is the team at The crafty Elm? Well I do all the designing and sewing and stuffing of the toys (and of course the all important fabric buying :)) but my Husband Tim, the inspiration for the Daddy doll helps when he can with the paperwork/emails and he is chief seam unpicker if it is ever needed! He has more patience for it than me but luckily it is not needed often! He also helps with all the testing to check the toys are safe and within the law. My children are chief toy testers too by playing with the toys a lot :) and never mix their words when telling me what they think! They have many dolls of their own so I see how they cope well with being played with all day or being dropped in the mud!
I have loved all things arty and creative from a young age. I did a degree in textiles multi media at Loughborough and then took some time out to get married and have children although dabbled in painting and some sewing over this time. A couple of years ago I was approached to bid for the Lingotot contract and won it! Things grew from there and now I have my own range alongside making for Lingotot and still have so many ideas for future projects! I have made quite a few custom dolls over this time as well, which I love doing. It gives me a chance to try to capture different elements of someone's personality and its always fun to hear a child loves playing with the dolls! Over the last couple of years I have also designed and made over 55+ birds for a UK council for one of their projects based on their mascot. It was a new world into plush and I loved it!
I love my job! It gives me the flexibility to work around the children who are in school since moving to a new place I have gained a work studio rather than the corner of the living room so can expand my range and have more time to do that!
So enough about me......go have a look at the toys! (I update the facebook page regularly too) and do get in contact if you want to know anything, we love hearing from people :)