PG Live outing for live sketching artist featured in pen company Lamy’s inspiration series
Some 20 years in the fashion industry is a good grounding in creativity, and former designer Cherie Jerrard has taken those influences into her art and greetings business, with the emphasis on her passion for live sketching.
Having been based in London for half that time, she’s now taken advantage of the changes in work-life balance and moved to Shrewsbury where she runs her own label, Cherie Did This – although she’s back in the capital for PG Live, which runs over tomorrow and Wednesday, 7-8 June at the Business Design Centre.
Cherie will have many of her card designs on show on Stand 444, lots of which come out of her live sketching work, and she’s just been featured as part of pen company Lamy’s inspiration series (watch video below) for its Al-Star model, that combines smart design with the cool elegance of hi-tech aluminium.
“I draw everyday life,” Cherie said, “there’s so much diversity. Every person is their own person, and that’s something I just can’t get enough of. Inspiration is everywhere.
“It’s clear the High Street has changed and our shopping habits are very different. When I launched my first clothing range Slush back in 2003, I lived in London. I’d sell clothes at independent boutiques, Top Shop and feature in magazines and on TV.
“Cherie Did This began in 2017 and I’m grateful that each year brings new and exciting elements, creations and ideas. Our new world means I no longer need to be based in London. I live in Shrewsbury with my daughter Pearl. All designs are made in the UK but they begin life in my loft studio. My products run for a limited time. When they’re gone they’re gone – no waste!”
Cherie uses cafés as her inspiration, picking a seat where she has an overview of all the people inside, but she also likes to be situated where she can remain almost invisible herself, observing the scenery, capturing the moment, people and atmosphere in spontaneous sketches.
She sees cafés as melting pots, spaces where diverse people come together or spend time next to each other. After an eventful career in the fashion industry, it was this diversity and down-to-earthness of daily life that she felt attracted to.
She encountered this attitude in Manchester, where she studied illustration, but also in her native region of Shropshire, to which she has moved back.
“I realised I wasn’t defined by where I lived,” Cherie said, adding that you can get involved anywhere and make a difference, which she’s now doing by actively working to shape her home town with ideas such as organising an event for upcoming artists, and her regular commissions for street art and window dressing.
Cherie also works as a consultant to Shrewsbury store Write Here, which is a Retas 2022 finalist in the Best Non-Specialist Independent Retailer Of Greeting Cards North category, where she creates amazing window art.
“We only have one life,” Cherie added, “and I want to make a mark. In the form of inky marks – or just in the form of my presence.”
Top: Cherie Jerrard in Lamy’s Inspiration images and the Al-Star pen
