Hello, Inspiration: Annette of Nut & Bee

Today, I have a lovely little post featuring one of my favorite artist and goods' maker, Annette of Nut & Bee! I fell in love with Nut & Bee a few years ago via Etsy, and have collected her super-cute notepads and stationery ever since! Not to mention looking up to her cute product and business sensibilities. :)

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1. What's your name, and what's your game?

My name is Annette M. Russell and I run a little character goods company called Nut and Bee. I illustrate, produce and sell stationery and gift products with cute designs featuring lots of animals and snacks and nature and slightly silly stuff. Outside of work (which is mostly fun itself!) I look after my baby daughter Willow, laugh and have fun with my husband, crochet, and read a lot of books.

2. How did you get started doing these lovely things you do?

I started N&B as a hobby in 2005, as something to do with my little drawings and as a homage to the Japanese character goods I've loved and collected for a long time. It began very small, with just a handful of designs and the odd sale to my friends, and grew to the point where I was able to quit my day job in 2008. Originally all my products were entirely handmade, but now I outsource some of the printing work in order to keep up.

3. What's your favorite/least favorite part of what you do?

My favourite part is the rush of getting designs finalised and released. I always love the feeling of having something new to present! My least favourite part is dealing with stressful circumstances like flaky suppliers and equipment breakdown. I know a lot of creative people resent routine tasks like accounting for their business, but I actually quite like those things. I'm a bit of a nerd with spreadsheets and bookkeeping :)

4. Any tips for aspiring illustrators/indie business owners?

I've been fortunate enough not to make any significant mistakes thus far, so I don't have cautionary tales to share, but one thing that's helped me which I would recommend to all indie businesses is a focus on impeccable communication and customer service. I get a lot of satisfaction hearing from people who appreciate the personal touch, and in addition to warm fuzzies it's good for business! Being friendly and professional will help bring you repeat customers as well as word of mouth referrals.

5. I just saw the coolest crochet dinosaur that you made!
How did he come to be?

Thank you! That was inspired by the apartment we used to live in, which had white walls and high ceilings and a slight resemblance to a museum. One day we were talking about decorating to enhance that feeling, joking about dioramas and installations and labeling things with little cards, and that spun into the idea of crocheting a (moderately) accurate dinosaur skeleton. It then took me several years to complete and we had moved house by the time it was done, but hopefully we'll have a nice high space for it again one day.

6. If you could travel back in time and tell yourself anything at 16, what would it be?

I would say: Don't worry so much about what you're going to do with your life! Opportunities will arise that you can't even imagine yet, so don't stress out, just follow paths that interest you and see what happens. (I was a chronic worrywart, and indecisive. I actually trained for three different careers before ending up drawing kittens and cakes for a living! All that unnecessary job angst...)

Thanks so much, Annette! :)

Make sure you pop by, say hello and peruse her shop - you'll be sure to fall in love with the knitting knarwhals and all their cute creature friends!