Laura Clamp’s collage designs settle into new home at Natural Partners Art
The power of social media has resulted in Natural Partners Art saving artist Laura Clamp’s greeting card designs after she took the hard decision to close her baby because of her actual babies!
Having run the Flying Teaspoons card publishing business for eight years, Laura had found she wasn’t able to give as much time to the business as her family grew, and, back in November, announced on Facebook that she would be closing down.
Joe Cole, who runs Natural Partners with wife Karen publishing licensed art cards, saw the post and got in touch, “And the teaspoons are flying again!” he told PG Buzz, with the launch of an initial collection of 39 of Laura’s collage images, which all started with her favourite long-tailed tits, also known as flying teaspoons for the shape of their long beaks.
Having first seen Laura’s work when she started out at the British Craft Trade Fair, Joe said: “I was struck then by how clever and vibrant her collage designs were and it was fascinating to see how she developed her range over the next few years, when we always seemed to end up with stands fairly close to each other in shows at the NEC.
“I told her very early on that if she ever got tired of the selling side we’d love to work with her so, when I saw her post on social media last year saying that she’d decided to wind up Flying Teaspoons, it was a no-brainer – I sent an email straightaway.
“Having told all her stockists she’d no longer be able to supply them, Laura has been delighted to go back to them with the good news they will be able to source her designs from us and several of them have already opened accounts with us.”
“I’d put off writing the post,” Laura said, fondly recalling when she was nominated for The Henries Young Designer Of The Year award, “but I had to come to the really hard decision to not continue designing or buying in any more stock for Flying Teaspoons.
“My small biz has been my passion for the past eight years, but found it incredibly frustrating which I felt was affecting my own happiness in being a mum as well as my enjoyment of working on Flying Teaspoons.
“The truth is, I really, really need my sleep! I used to stay up for hours designing but I physically can’t do that anymore if I want to have any patience and energy the next day – an hour a day when my youngest is asleep just hasn’t been enough to keep the fire in my belly alive.”
And there was the financial side too as keeping her products stocked up ready to post straight away proved too expensive, so Laura has been selling off all her stock while planning the next exciting adventure of wall art.
She explained: “I’m talking big statement canvases, painting – eeek, this next year is going to be all about research and experimentation! – and I’m so here for it so, although Flying Teaspoons as we know it won’t continue, I’m still going to be fully immersed in the creative business world that I know and love.”
Harrogate Home & Gift was the first outing for the new range, and Natural Partners will also be exhibiting at Autumn Fair, 1-4 September, at the NEC, and more designs are already in the pipeline for 2025.
