E102: How Hannah Nunn Turned Nature-Inspired Art into a Thriving Product Business

What does it really take to build a creative business that lasts for more than 20 years without losing the joy that made you start?

In this episode of The Creative Juggle Joy Podcast, Kaylie is joined by artist, designer and maker Hannah Nunn. 

From her studio in Hebden Bridge, Hannah creates nature-inspired paper-cut lighting, botanical wallpaper, decorative window film, journals and delicate laser-cut treasures.

Hannah shares how her business began with handmade paper-cut cards, why she eventually moved away from products that weren’t financially sustainable and how one idea led to another—from lighting and wholesale relationships to opening a gallery, designing wallpaper and building a product range rooted in the natural world.

This is also an honest conversation about burnout, rebuilding after a devastating studio fire, creating a business around your energy and choosing a definition of success that doesn’t rely on endless growth.

If you’re building an art, handmade or digital creative business and wondering how to grow without turning it into something you no longer enjoy, this conversation offers plenty of honest encouragement.

Guest Links:

• Hannah Nunn’s website and online shop
• The Window Film Company’s Hannah Nunn collection
• Hannah's Instagram Account

Listen, follow the podcast and share the episode with another creative who needs to hear it.

Transcript

Kaylie Edwards: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast, the podcast for artists, makers, and creativeness owners who are building income around their creativity while juggling all the other moving pieces of life and business.

I'm your host, Kaylie Edwards, creative business strategist, email marketer, and multi-passionate creative and mum, joining you here from North Wales. And today I'm joined by artist, designer, and maker Hannah Nunn. Based in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, Hannah is known for beautiful nature-inspired paper cut lighting, botanical wallpaper, decorative window film, and thoughtfully designed products for the home.

Over more than two decades, Hannah has built a wonderfully distinctive creative business rooted in small detail she notices in nature. Her work has grown from handmade paper cut designs and lighting into wider collections of products, wholesale relationships, online sales, and monthly open studio events.

In today's episode, we're going behind the scenes of how Hannah has built and grown, evolved her business, what has [00:01:00] genuinely worked and hasn't gone quite as planned, and what has really taken to make a creativeness sustainable over long term. Hannah, welcome to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast.

It's lovely to have you here. 

Hannah Nunn: Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to be here. 

Kaylie Edwards: For anyone discovering your work for the first time, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you create? 

Hannah Nunn: Yes, I can. So I live in Hebden Bridge, and it's a beautiful green, wooded valley, lots of nature, lots of trees, woods, meadows, rivers, birds, you name it.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: And I've moved here in 1999 and when my kids were really tiny and got myself a studio space and over the years it's been becoming more kind of connected to and entwined in this valley, in this nature in the valley that's really shaped what it is that I do. Yeah. Yeah, I [00:02:00] make these handmade paper cut lights and I've been making them for over 23 years, I think.

And they've become more refined over the years. And, people have kept buying them, so I have kept making them-

But then, yeah they have paved the way for lots of other things to happen. So it started there, they're still with me as the the roots, but we've got loads of other products on top of that now. Wallpaper, as you said in your lovely introduction I make a range of wallpapers.

I work with The Window Film Company and make a range of window film designs for them. And since having my own laser cutter for the last five years now, I it's seen an explosion of other products

So yeah that's what I make on a day-to-day basis. Yeah ... The 

Kaylie Edwards: laser cutting goes into a whole rabbit hole, doesn't it, of itself? I've looked and I'm just like, "I can't get one," 'cause I will, I won't stop. 

Hannah Nunn: [00:03:00] Exactly. It's true, and in the beginning I used to hand cut everything.

So I've always wanted one since I first started doing these intricate handmade designs- Yeah ... and doing everything, cutting it by hand. Got a repetitive strain injury in my shoulder. Oh, no. It was, like, really quite troublesome, and I always used to fantasize about having a machine, and they were, like, so out of my limit at that time.

So I did end up getting somebody else to do my laser cutting for me- ... in the end. I gave him all my designs. There weren't many people around doing the kind of contract laser cutting service at the time. Yeah. I can't remember. It's maybe about 15 years ago or something. But he used to send me everything in the post and...

But it wasn't as easy as having your own- No ... when you can just go, "Oh, I'll tweak that," or, "I'll do that. Oh, can actually..." I'd have to wait a few days for my parcel to come. It's like, "Come on, Bob." Yeah. Oh,

that's brilliant. 

Kaylie Edwards: So- Yeah ... yeah.

Hannah Nunn: ... The laser machine it's a [00:04:00] friend. It's good. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. Yeah. I've don't know how many videos I've watched of laser cutting and there was a summit that my co-host and client, Delores, did, and she did part of the summit as a collaboration, and it's somebody that she knew I think from a mastermind or something.

And they did a laser fest summit and And I was just watching something and I was like, "I can't do this. I'll end up going down a hole."

But yeah. Brilliant. Yeah. So 

Hannah Nunn: many possibilities. It's great. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, and it's come such a long way as well. I'm getting adverts for Cricut Cricut machines. They keep popping up on my YouTube channel. I'm like, "No, go

away." Yeah. "Leave me alone." Yeah. Yes. Was creativity always part of your life growing up, or did it become something you discovered over time? 

Hannah Nunn: It was definitely... It was always encouraged when I was little. We were always making and coloring and playing. My mum was quite crafty.

She made quilts and sewed dresses and, and they were quite creative in the house as well. It was always experimenting with decorating and things like 

Kaylie Edwards: that. 

Hannah Nunn: And we lived [00:05:00] in this Victorian terrace in Leeds with an attic It was just where we used to hang out, and me and my friend Jane used to make crazy things up there and put on puppet shows.

And we had a cat house. We had made a house for our little cats that was out of cardboard boxes. We made all the furniture. We wallpapered the walls. It was a world. Yeah. Yes. Basically, yes. I knew that I was always drawing and making something, and I knew I would go to probably do something with that.

Go... I wanted to go to art college and see where that took 

Kaylie Edwards: me. Yeah. Yeah. I had a similar almost. But I was the creative one in my family. And my parents always said- ... "Don't know where she gets it from." Because I would come home with sketchbooks and things, and I would make things.

Then my GCSEs I made this dress. It was out of paper mache, like bodice type on the top. And then the skirt bit was made out of photographs that I'd laminated and cut into almost leaf shapes. What? 

Hannah Nunn: That's 

Kaylie Edwards: so [00:06:00] weird. I'd like- I did a similar thing. Really?

And I stapled them together so they made a skirt. It was... Obviously, you couldn't really wear it, but it was just I can't re- remember how, what the project was, but yeah, it was kinda like my memories of all these pictures of me my cadets and stuff when I did cadets. And I did that and put it all together, and yeah, that was...

That's what I made for my art project 

Hannah Nunn: I did that in college as well. We had a... It was a project about... I'd been to Whitby and looked at lobster pots and and fish scales and things, and made this crazy dress out of tin foil and wire and- Yeah ... did a photo shoot wearing it all. Yeah. Crazy. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's cool.

Different. Yeah. It's mad, isn't it? I think I did also do product design, and We had to make something quite big, and I made kind of a Chinese cabinet and it had... I painted the Chinese dragons on it and things. It's fallen apart a bit now, but it is... We still, I still do have it.

Hannah Nunn: Oh, 

Kaylie Edwards: have you? Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Amazing. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. Bright red. Wow ... with with gray dragons on it, Chinese dragons and [00:07:00] stuff. I think it's brilliant, but I just need to put it back together 'cause the doors have fallen off it now. But yeah, I've always been creative. And then, yeah, I've, yeah, ended up going into marketing for creatives.

So I kinda get my design and my creativity through making things online now and then- Yeah ... sketching in my time, like, when I'm doing things. But yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: That's really nice that you're doing the marketing, but you've got that background of creativity. So you understand creatives, basically.

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. Yeah, very much do. My brain sometimes just goes off on... Delores, me and Delores are terrible together. She'll find something and then she'll be like, "Ooh, can we do this?" No. No, we can't do this. We've got enough on. We've got enough. But then we'll both go down a rabbit hole. She sent me ideas for a paid newsletter now, and I'm like, "Okay."

And then, obviously, AI's terrible, isn't it? You go on and it's just, "Oh, give me more ideas on this, and research this for me."

Hannah Nunn: So many possibilities. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. So let's go back. So how did paper cutting become your medium in the start? 

Hannah Nunn: I got myself this tiny studio space when my kids were [00:08:00] little.

Fionn was at school in reception, and my little one was only at nursery two and a half days a week. And I just thought... I didn't have a reason to have a studio space other than just I didn't know what I was gonna do with it. But I got this really tiny space, and it wasn't very much to rent.

And as part of my kit, I bought a cutting mat and a knife. And that's where it began. Just experimenting with bits of paper- Yeah ... and always been a sucker for detail really detailed drawings and really yeah, the detail in pattern and things and... and I started cutting out these tiny things and made them into a range of handmade cards, and that's where it all began- That's cool.

Yeah ... really. So I'd have these... And it started out with they were houses. There were lots of lovely architecture in Hebden where we lived, lots of really tall, thin Victorian terraced houses and things. And they were really nice to cut out of paper. And I [00:09:00] used to make the little cards and then stick gold card behind all the windows so that they looked like they were catching the light- Oh, that's really cool.

Yeah ... where the light was. Little light shades and yucca plants, and the cat sitting in the window and stuff, and they're really sweet. And there was a woman in my studio who was a ceramicist and really well-established. She had things in the V&A museum, and she'd been selling things to galleries for years and stuff.

And she was like, "Oh, you should try and get these into some shops." So I was like, "Okay, I will. I'll try that." And it- Yeah ... went quite well, actually. She guided me how to get in contact with shops, and and shops started taking them. And there was a shop in York where a card agent ended up going in, and they were setting up a handmade greetings card agency- Oh, cool

specifically handmade for artists. And they wanted to take me on, so they did, and they gave me loads of work. Got my stuff in all sorts of shops. And the range of work that I was doing [00:10:00] expanded as well. It wasn't just houses. There was lots of different things, and occasions, and stuff. But I realized quite soon that I was never gonna make any money selling handmade cards.

Yeah. Unless I had a laser cutter maybe that I could speed up the process. I had them in Liberty, I had them in Harrods. It was good, really good. But, they'd be on the, the shelf in, this was like 25 years ago. They were £4.50 then, and I was getting 80p per card, and they were really intricate, handmade cut things that were hurting my shoulder and- Yeah

Anyway, I was always holding the silhouettes up to the light to enjoy this, to enjoy them against the sky. At the same time in, we had a shared studio space. It was brilliant for community and helping each other out- Connection. Yeah, 

Kaylie Edwards: that's great ... 

Hannah Nunn: with design problems.

We'd have long lunches. We'd sit and talk through everything that we were doing, and it was really valuable. So fun [00:11:00] as well. And yeah, I wanted to, maybe I could get some funding to get a laser cutter, but I was never gonna get a laser cutter from the Crafts Council for making handmade cards.

It just wasn't high craft enough. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: What else could I make? And then Hilary, this lady, was like, "Why don't you make lights?" And I was like, "Oh," 'cause of the silhouette thing. Yeah. I could imagine what they looked like. They had silhouettes. They had bits lit up. I saw the whole range flash before me instantly in that moment, honestly.

If I'd a, I'd have known in that time, or maybe some bum part of me did, who knows, that the next 25 years would be about this, and it would be the kind of beginning of my career as an artist. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's very cool, yeah 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah anyway, as it happened, I didn't apply to Crafts Council, I applied for Arts Council funding.

And not to get a laser cutter either, I just wanted... 'Cause it was still felt like a lot. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: I just wanted to experiment with the [00:12:00] lighting idea and, buy papers, experiment, have some time to really play, 

Kaylie Edwards: really. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. And I was successful in my Arts Council funding. I got a research and development grant.

Brilliant. And at the end, I had an idea. I had a thing that I wanted to put into production. So I applied to them again for what was then called a making and showing grant. And they gave me that as well, and I was able to put this little part into production, which holds the lamps inside, and take them to their first trade fair.

So I did the British Craft Trade Fair way back. I don't know how I landed there. Don't know how Hilary even knew it was the right show for me. She was like, "You should do this." I was like, "Okay, then." And I did. And some of the people who ordered that time, it was, like, my first, people, galleries were ordering.

I didn't really know what I was doing. I was very scared. I was like, "Ah." But I came away with a handful of galleries, and some of them still stock my work today- 

Kaylie Edwards: That's [00:13:00] incredible ... which is amazing. 

Hannah Nunn: That's incredible. Yeah. Brilliant. So it was like, just hit the nail on the head. It was the right time. It was, like, just before the internet was taking off and the galleries was...

Lots of people were still coming to this show, and I did it for about 15 years every year. It was like the, the beginning of... It was what the year was shaped around. It was, you got your new designs ready for April for Harrogate, and then you spent the rest of the year kind of fulfilling orders and things.

So my beginnings were wholesale. Yeah. They weren't retail, except for once a year when we had open studios. The big Hebden Bridge open studio event is quite... It's been going for years. I don't know, 25. I don't know how long. For as long as I've been an artist I've done Hebden Bridge open studios every year.

And that was my first interaction with people actually coming to buy- things for the full price, not for a wholesale 

Kaylie Edwards: price Yeah 

Hannah Nunn: it's the- ... 'cause you did it the other way around. I did it wholesale first. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: When someone bought one [00:14:00] retail, I'd be like, "Yes." 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. It's like your expectations are tapered- Yeah ... and then when someone actually buys the full price, you're like, "Wow." 

Hannah Nunn: I know. 

Kaylie Edwards: I've got profit. A load 

Hannah Nunn: of profit.

It's great, and I used to have my lamps on the windowsill in a local cafe and the lady would wave me down as I walked past and count me wads of cash. I was like, "This is great. This is working. People like these." 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: So yeah, that was a really good start. So yeah, ditched the handmade cards. That was the end of those, and just concentrated on the lighting then and built a wholesale list

I would used to have about around that time it was about 45 stockists- Wow ... and

Kaylie Edwards: that's incredible. Yeah. It 

Hannah Nunn: was good, yeah. It were really good. So yeah, kept me busy. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, it has. So how has it evolved from the paper cut lights into then the wallpaper and the window film and then journals and so much [00:15:00] more?

So how has that evolved and happened over the years? 

Hannah Nunn: After some years of being in my studio, they, it was in an old mill, and as so many of the old mills around here, they're being turned into luxury flats, and they want all the artists and the little businesses out so they can have- That's so popular.

Kaylie Edwards: That's horrible, isn't it? It's just like- But- ... getting rid of the heritage and things. Exactly ... so much now. 

Hannah Nunn: I know. So collectively everybody was thinking about what they were gonna do when there was no North Light Studios anymore. Yeah. And there was a group were getting together and thinking about moving on mass, finding another building, and so we were looking into that.

But one year at Harrogate, at the British Craft Trade Fair again, I was exhibiting my lamps, and there's something really nice about going to do a show when you're just usually in your studio space, and it's a mess, and you don't... you go to the show, and you put everything out on display, and it's all looking beautiful, and you've got your best frock [00:16:00] on- Yeah

and it's all nice. And because I made lights, I always used to notice other people making lights as well.

Kaylie Edwards: You do, isn't it? It's like your brain 'cause you're focused on one thing, it starts seeing it

everywhere. It's if you want a certain car, you start seeing it everywhere. I can't remember exactly what it's called, but, What's it called? ... your brain does it. Confirmation bias. It focuses, yeah. Yeah, that's it. Confirmation bias, yeah 

Hannah Nunn: So anyway, I, there's a a woman called Amy Cooper used to make porcelain lights in the shape of sea urchins, beautiful, glowy, gorgeous things.

Oh, fantastic. Yeah. And, 

Kaylie Edwards: yeah, 

Hannah Nunn: you probably have. And I was talking to all these galleries, and something in me was like, I wonder if there's actually a gallery out there that just specializes in artisan lighting, like handmade lights. I couldn't think of one. I'd not come across anyone in all those years.

I was like, I was on my stand and I was like, "Maybe I could open one. Maybe I could do that." Yeah. And the idea absolutely floored me. It's like I almost couldn't talk to anyone for ages. I was just like that. Everything was just [00:17:00] racing through my mind yeah, I could do that. I was so convinced that I was going to do that Yeah

I don't think it's Amy Cooper, actually. I think it was this, another Sarah Jones or somebody. Another porcelain light lady. I went to her stand and said, "I'm opening a gallery. Can I have your trade price, please? Can I have your wholesale list?" Yeah, I sounded so convincing 'cause I knew I was gonna do it.

So anyway, when I went back home, I was like, "Where could it be?" And I used to live on behind, in a street behind our high street, and I knew there was this empty shop on the end of our road owned by one of my neighbors who I knew. And I was like, "I wonder what Trish and Bernard are doing with their shop.

I'll go and ask them." And so I did, and it was, like, literally down my back lane, down some steps, and into the shop. And- So 

Kaylie Edwards: perfectly located, isn't it? 

Hannah Nunn: Perfectly located, especially because Trish was like you can, but we haven't got a toilet [00:18:00] or anything." I was like, "It doesn't matter. I can go home. I can just nip around the corner."

So the idea was sealed. That was it. So I had the idea in April, and- Opened in September. So had the summer- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah ... 

Hannah Nunn: I'd used up... know how this feels. I've used up all my childcare by about the first week of the summer holidays. Sit in the shop, like, how am I actually doing this? Ewan was like they were like 8 and 10 or something at the time, 9 and 11 or something.

Anyway, I managed to pull it off. It was amazing sort of community thing. Bernard was a cabinet maker, the landlord. He made me my counters- Wow ... and plinths and look, me paying back in installments and lovely makers who I'd met at fairs let me have things on sale or return to start things off. And it had a workshop at the back, so I was able to make my stuff and then display it in this really beautiful little shop space.

It was [00:19:00] gorgeous. Really lovely little shop. And opened in September, and it was like, it was really good. It worked. People bought stuff. And we'd got absolutely no idea at the beginning about cashflow forecast. I don't know how much people are gonna buy in a shop like that. I've just absolutely had no clue, and it surpassed my, what I even dared to hope for- Yeah

in those early days. That's 

Kaylie Edwards: brilliant. 

Hannah Nunn: So that was the begi- that was a, a step on the way. It doesn't quite answer your question yet, but we'll get 

Kaylie Edwards: to 

Hannah Nunn: that. That's all right. So after a few years, it was on the end of the high street. It was one of those really places where you had to cross a road to get to the end of it.

Yeah. And people thought get to this point," and go, "Is there anything else? No, let's turn back." And so you have to make extra effort to get them to come down the street. And I did my best, but it was quiet and it was all so lovely looking, and people enjoyed it so much [00:20:00] that it was almost like I want more people to see this.

Yeah. Anyway, one day... And I was bursting at the seams in my studio space at the back. 

I managed without the toilet though, that was cute. I used to nip home, make a cup of tea, and then me and the cats would come back again down to the street and open the door and yeah, it was like, it was fine. But yeah, a toilet would've been nice, and a kitchen.

Anyway, one day a guy came who was going to be renting out his shop space right on the main drag in the, on the high street, and he came and poached me basically. Really? He was like, "Think you'll like this. We've got a storeroom, we've got a kitchen, we've got a bathroom, we've got these two rooms."

It was a downstairs floor of the only sort of house that was left in a row in the row of shops. It was unusual. A window. So it felt really homey and housey. And I divided it halfway, had my studio in the back, had a wood burning stove, and it was just, it was really [00:21:00] nice. And but I after some years it got...

it, but yeah, the thing that surprised me about it was, like, my wish came true. More people did come. Yeah. And I couldn't work anymore. I couldn't do my work. And I went mental at one- It was like, oh, I was torn between this and that. And I'd sit down to do my work, someone would come in the shop.

I'd get up and go and serve them and then I'd go back down. Oh, I've left my knife over there. Oh, I- Oh, 

Kaylie Edwards: focus. 

I was in a spin. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: You just, you, yeah. Just- you're torn in different places and you can't do it. It's like that's a problem sometimes with handmade businesses, you can get to a certain point and then- 

You need to step up and do something else or- Well- Yeah ... 

Hannah Nunn: exactly. You 

Kaylie Edwards: can't do 

Hannah Nunn: it. That's where I was. I was at, I was definitely at that point. And I think a lot of artists have this fantasy about having the shop with the studio at the back and how idyllic it would be, and it is lovely, but it's [00:22:00] also really distracting.

Yeah. Really. There was one day when the courier came and he was like, I hadn't wrapped his box properly and I was tripping over everything and it was like... And he was like, "You need a bigger space," and I was like, "You know what? You're right." I set out to find one. I was like, "I wonder what is around in Hebden.

I wonder if I could move my studio out of the shop have somebody else..." I had somebody working for me a, a few days- Yeah ... leave Matt looking after the shop, and then I could go and have a studio space somewhere else. And I'd also had this fantasy about wallpaper- ... as well, about wallpaper. I think it began in the hairdresser's waiting room when I was flicking through a interiors magazine.

I was like, "I could do that. My God, I could do that. That'd be really great." 

Kaylie Edwards: It's the sparks of ideas, isn't it? They come to you at such random times or places. Don't 

Hannah Nunn: know when they're gonna come, but when they come they're like, oh, [00:23:00] it lit something in me. And I had no idea how to go about it, but that was the next phase really.

So I didn't have room to do that in the back of my little shop. There was no room to hang even a postage stamp on the wall, let alone a drop of wallpaper, and that there was no head space either. So I started to look around and found somewhere really quickly that was like my dream studio.

It had wall-to-wall windows. It was a tree view outside. Lovely. There were, like, goldcrests hopping around in the trees- Oh, wow ... out the back, and it was just lovely. A bit too big for me on my own, but then two of my friends were like we need studio spaces. We could come in too." So I worked with my friends who are photographers and my friend Julie, who's a painter.

Oh, wow. And so it was just lovely. Yeah. And left the shop to Matt, and it was the sort of, the beginning of the end of the shop really, to be fair. Yeah. Because I think I just like a [00:24:00] business that I can inhabit. Yeah. I I'm not really interested in something that's over there doing that. I don't know.

There's something... I couldn't be there and be there. It's 

Kaylie Edwards: disconnection, isn't it? It was really. 'Cause it's in a different place. You don't see what's going on and things. You're disconnected from it 

Hannah Nunn: And people wanted to come and see me and come and chat to me, and I wasn't there anymore except on a Saturday.

I did used to work Saturdays, and that's quite nice 'cause I wouldn't try and be doing something else at that point. I'd be just there. This is oh, I'm in shop mode. Yeah. And I really like the shop thing. It's in my blood, but not all the time. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. 

Hannah Nunn: The create is bigger 

Kaylie Edwards: than the shop. You nee- yeah, you need the time to be able to create and actually have that connection there.

I think that's what a lot of people forget- Yeah ... as well. 'Cause you grow, and you need to be able to separate and then obviously have those focused days of what you're doing. One- ... promoting and then the next day [00:25:00] creating. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. Exactly. There's so many hats to juggle. It felt like having two businesses.

It was essentially two business. I did keep them separate, so it was two sets of accounts and two sets 

Kaylie Edwards: of- Oh, gosh. 

Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: So it was a lot. But anyway, I loved my new studio space. I was... And the two did overlap for quite some years maybe five or something. And I- Ended up I learned I don't know if you remember if you were around at the time of the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design.

It was an online course with Rachael Taylor.

Kaylie Edwards: No, I don't know if I've seen that one. 

Hannah Nunn: It was brilliant at the time, and What I was thinking about was maybe doing a product that didn't require me to make it. And after making a handmade product for all of those years and, being responsible for everything, I thought maybe I'd be interested in licensing or doing it in a different way or [00:26:00] designing for someone else or something.

But as we looked into all the different ways of making money from surface pattern design, it didn't ring true with me getting a royalty. I didn't ... Licensing felt like too much terrifying paperwork and things to look after, and didn't like the idea of it. But because I already had this customer base and I'm already a kind of natural seller of things- Yeah

it felt right to have the product. Myself. We went to look at a wallpaper factory and to figure out how it all works and and decided to go down that route instead of having my own product in stock and sending it myself, and I'm really glad I did that. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: And grown. It's become harder to house, 

Kaylie Edwards: It always doesn't it?

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. And I'm not into having a big warehouse or anything. I've always ... I just wanna have everything contained. Yeah, that idea didn't work for me either. So [00:27:00] anyway, I launched my wallpapers and I didn't know how it was gonna go, whether that would be a sort of wholesaley type thing.

But mostly it's been retail actually, and just people, householders buy the wallpaper and then that's how it's been. And I've got a few wholesale stockists around the place who- Yeah ... sell it half, but they don't take stock. They just ... the kind of standard model for wallpaper generally is that they just get a smaller discount and- Yeah

, Sell it, which makes sense. So it was great. I got lots of nice press and a really brilliant design sponge. I don't know if you remember those. That was a, it was a blog, a big American design blog years ago now. 

Kaylie Edwards: Okay. Yeah. That's me then. 

Hannah Nunn: And they, ... That just, it kickstarted it on Pinterest actually, as everybody was pinning my photos- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah

Hannah Nunn: from this design sponge thing. So suddenly people [00:28:00] all around the world were buying my wallpaper, and they still do. I don't really know how they find it, but I think Pinterest got a lot to do with it. 

Kaylie Edwards: But- Yeah, it is very good for search and especially for long-term visibility. Like it's- Yeah

just, it's one of those slow burn things. It takes time to kick off, but then once it does, it's just- Yeah ... brings traffic. Look, Delores has got pins up from years ago and they still bring in so much traffic to her site. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah, it's great. It's great. And it's ... I love, I much prefer, scrolling Pinterest than scrolling Instagram.

Yeah. It's just a different feeling. Come out feeling uplifted and want to decorate my bathroom. You know what I mean? I do. I'll try to transform something rather than ... Yeah, the whole, you know what Instagram's like. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah.

Yeah. They're both rabbit holes- Yeah ... in their own sense,

Hannah Nunn: yeah. They've got a different energy I think. And Pinterest is just a sort of uplifting and inspiring as far as I'm concerned. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. I just get down a rabbit hole pinning everything that I [00:29:00] see. Yes ... in some way. But yeah, it's great for inspiration. It's just, yeah- ... you've just gotta find a way to contain that inspiration 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly.

But 

Kaylie Edwards: yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So how do you do the wallpaper then? 

Hannah Nunn: So it's printed, from the beginning to the end I design, I digitize my drawings- Ah, okay ... and then design them digitally, and then they're sent to the wallpaper factory who produce them on a, a gravure cylinder.

It's like a really beautiful etched metal- Wow ... cylinder and it was great for me because in the beginning my first designs were just, they just needed one roll. They were made of tonal variety rather than color variety. Yeah. 'Cause every color would need another roll. And this was just one roll with lots of tonal variety in it, so it didn't have a huge setup cost.

Kaylie Edwards: Of 

Hannah Nunn: course. But it was a considerable setup cost for me, who'd never invested massively in anything. I've always [00:30:00] made to order and kept things small in that way, and this required 150 rolls per color to be manufactured. 

Kaylie Edwards: Wow. 

Hannah Nunn: And plus the setup costs. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: So my dad lent me a bit of money at that point in time just to get my first two designs up and running.

He's like, "I have this five grand," and he lent me this five grand. He's lent me it a few times now and I've paid him back. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's dads. They do that. My dad, when I first started my candle business back in 2019, I think it was, and my dad was, like, giving me money to, to get the materials and the tools and things and get me going.

And then, yeah, and then COVID happened, and it was not easy getting ... craft fairs because then everything got shut down. I was, like, fully booked up to I think it was into the October next year. And obviously COVID happened in the March, didn't it? And then April it was starting to get lockdowns and stuff, and then everything got canceled in person.

Hannah Nunn: Oh. And 

Kaylie Edwards: I was- Thank you ... literally just started. I'd done one craft fair. [00:31:00] 

Hannah Nunn: Oh, no. 

Kaylie Edwards: And I was like- That's so soon. So I had all this- That's so- ... product, and I was like, "How do you shift this?" And then it was so difficult to, 'Cause I had an Etsy shop, but it was difficult to get people to buy candles, 'cause they can't smell it, can they?

So you've gotta really describe- Oh

Hannah Nunn: what the scent is. Oh. And it's so 

Kaylie Edwards: difficult. Making it smell. That is hard. So a lot- Yeah ... yeah, a lot of my sales just came from kinda recommendations from family and things, and it was really tough the first two years. And then I got pregnant, and it was like... 

Hannah Nunn: just 

Kaylie Edwards: make it a little bit harder.

Yeah, make it a little bit harder. I was like... I think it was, I was up for the last craft fair I did, and I was up till 3:00 AM in the morning just sat on my floor in my spare bedroom where I had my workshop. And I was just sat there and trying to do it, and I was just, the waves of sickness Oh

of being pregnant. And I was just like, "I can't do this. I can't do this." That's hard. And my partner works night shifts as well, and he has done since we met, and I was just like, "I have no support." I was like, "How would I, how am I gonna have a baby and to run this candle business?" And I was [00:32:00] 

Hannah Nunn: just- What did you 

Kaylie Edwards: do?

Well, I changed my Etsy shop- in print on demand and printables. So I was like, 'cause in the mum phase anyway at the beginning I was just like what do I need? Like what would be helpful for me?" And I was just looking at like designing things on Canva and creating like guides and things and, 'cause one thing was like, "How do you wash this?

Like what, how, like what do I need to use to wash this?" So I was like doing like washing guides and

stuff for new mums and journals and things and maternity stuff and printables came out of it. And then I was doing like quotes and like family custom family T-shirts and things like matching, like the baby- ... the baby with the mum kind of matching T-shirts and stuff, designs. And I was using Printify to print and ship them and it was connected to my Etsy shop, so that's how I kinda got started.

But then my maternity ran out and then I had to stop 'cause it was like I have no money. Like my maternity pay ended and even that was like, what's half of your normal wage, your maternity pay. And I was just like, "I can't do this. I have no money coming in." So I had to find another way. That's how I got into doing the market for artists and [00:33:00] creatives.

Hannah Nunn: I see. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So it's just, yeah, I love handmade. Like I love doing handmade, but it's just not sustainable if your season of life doesn't work with it. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. Exactly. You got, it's gotta be in the right place. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. 

Hannah Nunn: And and let's just say thanks to dads, aren't we lucky? 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes.

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Some people like don't have that, do they? And there's- It's been, yeah, been a bit of a blessing to have that support 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, it is a blessing. I've got two, so I've got a stepdad and a biological dad. And my stepdad's been there since I was, like, two. My mum and my stepdad got married when I was about three years old.

They're not together now, they're separated, but he's been there for my whole life pretty much. And- Aw ... so I see him as my dad. People go, "Oh, yeah, but he's your stepdad." I don't... Yeah, but to me, he's my dad as well. There's no distinction. But yeah. 

Double that. 

Double that. 

Yes. I'm very lucky.

I'm very lucky. I know some people obviously don't get, some people don't get along with their stepparents, but I was, I'm very lucky in the sense that I've got that at least. Yeah. [00:34:00] 'Cause that's where, where my music came from when I was a kid. It's even though- Oh. ... classic rock.

My, my other dad is more harder rock. So- ... so I've got the both, both genres. Two 

Hannah Nunn: rock dads. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So that's where that came from. 

Hannah Nunn: Dad, my dad's rock and roll. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, rock and roll. Yeah, rock and roll dad. You regularly open your studio to visitors. Is this the new one- Yeah ... or the previous one?

Hannah Nunn: It's the new one actually. The previous one we had... I used to do the Hebden Bridge Open Studios. That's three days every year, and it's a, like I say, it's a big event. It's very- Yeah ... attended, very busy. And that was good. Nice to be able to invite people into the space. Everybody really enjoyed that.

Yeah, it was good. So what happened next with, in terms of other products is that the wallpaper- ... was really good for business- Yeah ... basically. It had a good markup on, so I was finally earning some money [00:35:00] and felt more like, "Oh, I wonder if I could buy a laser cutter now." 

Kaylie Edwards: So that's when it comes 

Hannah Nunn: back again.

So it came back in the end, and I bought a secondhand machine from a guy up the road actually who came to one of my open studios, and we got chatting and he was like, "I wanna sell it. It's not working out for what I wanna do." And so it was good, but it wasn't that good. It was quite a, a cheap one and 

it made everything really dirty. Everything that we'd cut- Oh ... we'd need to dust, and there was lots of dust in the air and it wasn't feeling good. I had to buy a dust booth. Anyway, but before we realized about this dusting thing, it was fine for cutting out my lamps. It was all right.

Yeah. Everything did have a, like a bit of an edge to it, but it was like, it was adequate. And so we got on well with doing that. [00:36:00] But the reason that the cardboard stuff came about is 'cause when we first got the machine, I needed to practice cutting something, and I had this design, this wallpaper design called Tiny Treasures, which is like lots and lots of little seeds and pods and leaves and- Yeah

things that you might find out walking. So we used the treasures as a practice motif really just to see what the machine would do and how to get the hang of it. And these little treasures were just hanging around in the studio on surfaces, and it's "These are really cute. What can we do with these?"

Yeah. I wonder if we could make them out, 'cause they were all cut out of paper. Wonder if we could make them out of something thicker, some card. So I looked to the, my card company who I got my lamp paper from, and they did lots of lovely cards in thick stock. And so we got some really nice colors, [00:37:00] and suddenly there was a new product was born.

So we then used to string we still do, string the treasures up on thread, and they're just like lovely little garlands or hanging threads with... Yeah, they're really sweet, and they make nice shadows when the light shines on them and things. And so it's like, "Okay, this is fun." But then we discovered how dusty the whole thing was, and we had to get a dust booth and dust down the sides of the treasures, and it took a long time, and that's when COVID was just beginning, and I was, like, trying to buy the dust mask because I needed one for work, and then suddenly the world had sold out- Yeah

of masks. There's an emergency going on out here. So yeah, it was also COVID that helped me. I got one of the bounce back loans from the government, to invest really good machine. And I probably wouldn't have been able to get that if it wasn't for the...

I would, but it'd just been more expensive finance. It was quite a good deal. So I got a [00:38:00] really amazing machine with a really good extraction. There's no dusting anymore. It's lovely, and it's reliable, and it's so intricate and does a beautiful engrave. It's amazing. So yeah, that's how that came about.

That's 

Kaylie Edwards: very cool. Yeah. So you've got the paper cut lighting, you've got the wallpaper, and you've got these what do you call them? The ones with the little treasures 

Hannah Nunn: Tiny treasures 

Kaylie Edwards: You just call it

Hannah Nunn: tiny treasures? Yeah. Hard to give them a name. Just yeah, I just call them tiny treasures and then explain what it is. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's one way of doing it. 

Hannah Nunn: And that's not like anything else. It's hard. So 

Kaylie Edwards: did the window film- 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah, I forgot about that ... 

Kaylie Edwards: did that come with the, the wallpaper, or was that like after the wallpaper?

Hannah Nunn: It was after the wallpaper, actually. So I had all my designs for the wallpaper, and my local printers, I noticed one day when I was going to collect something that he had one of those vinyl cutter-type [00:39:00] things, and he could, cut out, window vinyls and, and- Yeah ... that was cool. 

Yeah. 

I was like, "Oh, my designs would probably look quite nice on windows.

I wonder if I could get him to do me a sample." And he did me a sample of my Paper Meadow design, which is like grasses and cow parsley and dandelion clocks and things. And I put it up on my studio window and took a picture. It made amazing shadows when the light shined through. I put it on Instagram, and it went mental.

Everyone was like, "Yes, please. Yes, please. Yes, please. Yes, please." But because he was actually cutting it out, we had to sit and pick out all of the tiny seeds and make sure it all came... So it would've been like a, a heck of a job to do it in that way. But this guy from the window film company spotted my post somehow on Instagram- It's funny how, isn't it?

and got in touch and said, "I'll print that for you. We've got a special printer, shall I do you a sample?" And it [00:40:00] was like, "Yes. Okay, that's great." Yes, it really worked. So I put together, I think about eight or 10 designs for them, and it's been a really successful product. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's really cool.

Yeah

it's interesting how things evolve, isn't it? From one thing to... and cause obviously it's all home decor, isn't it? It's funny how you can go into different products within a range, isn't it? And how things- Absolutely ... can work out. 

Hannah Nunn: And it's felt really perfect for me because

I started out working with light and shadow. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: And then I moved to wallpaper, and it was about silhouette, but not particularly about light and shadow. And then the window films- The window 

Kaylie Edwards: films brought it to it ... 

Hannah Nunn: it's oh. 

Kaylie Edwards: Like full circle, yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Now, and I love the window film because it's like the sun is part of the design.

It kinda, it moves around, so the shadows that it casts, they fade in and fade out with the clouds, and different [00:41:00] intensity for different seasons. It's just- That's lovely ... lovely. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. That's lovely. 

Hannah Nunn: Moon shadows as well sometimes, or streetlight window film shadows. It's yes. And it's, so it's not only like a pretty product, it actually solves a problem as well.

People want to hide next door's bins or have a bit more privacy or stop the dogs barking at next door's dogs and, like, all sorts of reasons-

Kaylie Edwards: That's why some people get frosted glass, don't they? Because obviously they don't want people looking in.

We live in a village, so we're all right at the moment because we're off of the road, kind of thing, a bit further back. So if anyone sees- Yeah ... you won't really see us unless we've got the lights all blaring on, then you're not gonna see much of us- ... even though we have a open window. But, like- we've just gotten a new back door, and we've got a blinded glass, so the blind's within the glass, and you push these sliders up and down, and it opens and closes the glass. I thought, "Wow, it's 

Hannah Nunn: cool" Like a real blind. 

Kaylie Edwards: So we got this. Wow. And my son's play- plays with it as well. He pushes it up and down 'cause he's "Mom, look, it opens."

I'm like, [00:42:00] "Yeah, it is." So it's I keep forgetting, though, because it's clear glass, 'cause we did have frosted. I keep forgetting that our neighbor's got a window across, right across opposite. So I was getting changed the other day and I forgot to 

Hannah Nunn: close it. There you go. Put a bit of window film on there as well.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So I was like, "I'll remember to close the blind next time" 'cause I'm used to the, just having the frosted glass. You can't see where I'm standing, but I 'Cause my partner obviously works nights, so he sleeps in the day. So if I forget to get changed- Yeah ... or if I need to get changed to do something, I have to do it downstairs.

Like half between the kitchen and the... not the best, but there we go. Yeah, like the- ... having the window film, it would be, yeah, it's really good. I like that and that it can be pretty as well as functional. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah, exactly. It's good like that. 

Kaylie Edwards: So Do

You do open studio. How often do you do that? 

Hannah Nunn: So I open once a month now. 

Kaylie Edwards: Once a month, ah. 

Hannah Nunn: But that wouldn't have worked in my old studio [00:43:00] space because You had to ring a buzzer, and then you had to come upstairs- Oh, yeah ... and then turn around the corner, door, and blah, blah, blah.

And it wasn't very visible and very findable. It was all right at the big open studios 'cause we could- everybody was flow of traffic of people and stuff. But we haven't yet talked about what took me from that studio to this studio- yes ... which was absolutely bit of a tragedy. So yeah, I had... loved my beloved studio. I'd been there for 10 years, so I'd really bedded in, and it was very lovely, and the space really worked for everything that we were making and doing and then it was four years ago now there was a massive fire in the middle of the night, 2:00 in the morning- 

Kaylie Edwards: Horrible

Hannah Nunn: in the building. And yeah, it was massively shocking and disrupting and so yeah I woke one morning to loads and loads of texts, and when I switched my phone on in the morning and- 

Kaylie Edwards: Oh, God ... my 

Hannah Nunn: friend giving me the news that, he says, "You [00:44:00] know your studio, everyone's studios, they've just, they've gone.

It's ri- it's massive fire." 

Kaylie Edwards: Oh. 

Hannah Nunn: Oh, my God. Yeah, it was shocking. So we went out. There was nothing we could do at that point. It happened at 2:00 in the morning. I didn't switch my phone on till about 7:00 or something. Yeah. So I missed the whole thing. By the time we got there, the firemen were just dousing out the last of the smoke.

Kaylie Edwards: Oh, God ... 

Hannah Nunn: yeah. Yeah. So it was a massive deal as you can imagine. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: It was like nothing was salvageable. the fire spread up the front of the building and over the top floor and really devastated that. Jesus. Our floor underneath, we were the next floor down, we were just absolutely smoke and water damaged.

Oh, 

God. 

Everything. Ceiling tiles had collapsed. Everything was just... The plants were all dead. It was just horrendous. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: It was a horrible [00:45:00] time. Had nowhere to work. I would like, had, yeah, no control panel. Every- nothing was salvageable.

Nothing at all was- Yeah. Yeah, I was very very challenged at the time. Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards: So start... how did it start? Does anybody know? They 

Hannah Nunn: figured it out entirely. They did massive forensic investigations for months. Yeah. And they just said it started in the first floor cavity as if it's like an electrical thing or something.

Yeah. And, my initial thought was like, "Oh my God, what have I left on?"

Kaylie Edwards: Having the first three years. It is though, isn't it? That's the first thing you think of, is, "Oh God, what have I done?" And then... 

Hannah Nunn: Awful. 

Such a horrible feeling. But nobody was to blame. It just... I don't know. 

Kaylie Edwards: Freak, it's a freak accident, isn't it?

Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Oh, terrible. 

Hannah Nunn: Luckily, and the tragic thing is the landlords We did fire drills, like, regularly. Everybody , knew it. Luckily, no one was in the building, 'cause it was 2:00 in the morning. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, very lucky.

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. So [00:46:00] yeah, the next few months were about building things back up again.

Yeah. And it was quite remarkable the care that we all had from the community like the local community. And, now Hebden's really good at emergencies. We have floods. We have floods a lot. We've flooded, we've majorly flooded a few times- Yeah ... and the whole town gets together, and everybody helps each other out.

And, oh dear, it's tiresome, but yeah, everybody just rolls their sleeves up and gets on with it. But with the fire, it's like everybody wanted to help, but no one could do anything. There was no, nothing to swish out, nothing to clean, nothing to take to the tip. It was just like- It's gone ... we can't go in the building.

It's gone. So I used to just find myself go in there just to look at it every day . Oh. So confused. My body didn't know what to do. It didn't have a place to go to work, and it was my control panel. Yeah. For the world, isn't this... And it [00:47:00] was, it just suddenly gone. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah.

So was everything there? 

Hannah Nunn: The laser cutter was there. Oh. Everything, I lost the laser and all my stock, but thankfully all of my designs, like pretty much everything was on the cloud. Oh. So

that was- Thank 

Kaylie Edwards: goodness for digitization. Exactly. Sometimes God. 

Hannah Nunn: I did lose all of my sketchbooks going right back to college- Yeah ... which was painful. That- Yeah ... is awful ... so many good things. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's just awful. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Awful. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah But it was also a beautiful time because I felt so supported.

People were leaving me presents on my doorstep. Like All sorts of things, even dinner for that night and, beautiful shells and pebbles and things that they'd found on the beach 'cause they knew I'd lost my collection. Aw. Someone gave me their special jay feather 'cause they knew that I'd lost my jay feather in my treasure collection, and just like really [00:48:00] lovely, heartfelt, gorgeous things going on.

And there was a Crowdfunder and I managed to get a lot of money together to reorder my wallpaper. Yeah. 'Cause... And they were to a... really kind. They let me do a half order, so rather than 150 rolls, they let me buy 75- Yeah ... and everything. I couldn't afford to bring everything back. I was insured, but if you imagine like I've got insurance for my stock- Yeah

I've only got 40 rolls of that wallpaper left. And in order to replace it, I have to buy 75 rolls, yeah. It doesn't quite work 

Kaylie Edwards: out, does it? So it doesn't work out. No. It's 

Hannah Nunn: like it went a certain amount of the way, but not far enough. So yes they were very kind. They let me do that and helped me get things back into production.

And an old friend from one of my first ever galleries lent me some money as well. She rang me up one [00:49:00] day and said, "I'd like to... we'd like to help, Aw ... until your insurance comes through." So I was able to order another laser cutter and just gradually just build things back up again.

But I went and rented a the only studio space... This is when I realized, how heavyweight my business is 'cause I've got all of this wallpaper, I've got this massive machine that's really hard to carry and move around. Yeah. And expensive. And people were saying, "Oh, you can come and work in my studio."

I was like, "You don't understand. I come with all of this. I come with like loads of stuff and I'm really noisy, and the machine's noisy, and you won't like it." And, "Come and work in my garage." I can't. "Come and work in my attic." I can't. Everybody was like trying to help, but it... I really needed something very specific.

Yeah. And anyway, I found it on a business park above Mytholmroyd, and it was... I'm grateful for that year because it really helped me build the business back, but it wasn't the place for me. No. It was... I felt [00:50:00] isolated. I wasn't near my creative friends and all the other studio spaces in town, and I wasn't with my bunch of people that I'd shared my studio space with.

We'd all have had to scatter. So it was a lonely year. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: But then my current place came up and it just managed to time exactly for moving in. They... It was an old garage that was being done up and yeah, they done it up beautifully with us guiding. They're architects- Yeah ... so we didn't have to you know, fork out for a massive design plan.

They were setting it up and we were the first to rent it, so they were like, "How do you want this and how do you want that?" And it was brilliant. Absolutely. And the wonderful thing about it is I've got my own shop front again, but I'm not on the main road. Yeah. I'm tucked down, safely down a side street.

And I'm easy to find but I'm not... I would, if I was on a main road, [00:51:00] I'd feel bad about not being open all the time, and it's not that. Studio, definitely a studio space, but it's so accessible that people can come and I can open it like a shop- Yeah ... once a month. So that was part of the sizing of this new place.

It was more expensive. How can I make it pay its way? 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: I'll open it. I've been doing that for the last three years, and it's been lovely. People, oh, somebody always comes from far away, and I'm so grateful. That's lovely. "Oh, where are you come from?" "Oh, Nottingham." It's like, "Oh, my Oh, Scotland. Oh, my God."

It's lovely. It's so lovely. That's cool. And 

Kaylie Edwards: yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: It's, I think that's what people like about, obviously, crafted or artist crafty creative stuff, is that they want to know the person behind it. And that's what I have to tell a lot of people that I work with sometimes is they hide behind it sometimes.

And I'm like, "But people will connect with you more and you will [00:52:00] sell more if you show yourself." I know it's difficult- Exactly ... but it... You have to put yourself out there. Yeah.

People connect with that, and you do much better- Yeah ... if you do it. 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: So what do you enjoy most about inviting people into your creative space? 

Hannah Nunn: Aw. I just love it when they love it. I've created something that I love, a space that I want to be in, and when someone else comes and resonates with that, and they're looking around, and they're, like, looking at all the tiny details, and they're really enjoying the space, and I can see that they're being uplifted by it, it's yeah, it's a really lovely feeling.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. It's a joy, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Obviously it's different when you're doing crafts 'cause... But when someone comes to your stall and you've took the time to set it up, and someone likes it- Yeah ... it's, it does make you feel like, ah. It's heartwarming, isn't it? Yeah. It fills you with joy when someone does it.

Exactly. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. And I like going out and doing shows sometimes, but because I had the shop, I didn't get [00:53:00] into that habit 'cause like I want people to come to me instead. And I did a couple earlier in this year, a couple of craft shows, going out ones. And then when I got back, I realized how lucky I am to have a space that I can invite people into, and I decided I'd put my energy into that- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah

Hannah Nunn: instead of going out and doing lots of shows. So yeah, it means I get a good tidy up once a month as well. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, Have 

Hannah Nunn: a deeper hoover. Once a month at least, and then tidy up, and things get put in drawers and it's all yeah it's good to have that routine of tidying up

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. I'm like that at home. If I don't know someone's coming, I'm pa- panicking quick, go throw things over there. That's right. But when you've got a toddler who just has toys everywhere it's, yeah. Yeah. You don't really get that choice anymore. 

Hannah Nunn: You don't, no. 

Kaylie Edwards: Actually, he's just had a birthday, so it's yeah.

Hannah Nunn: Oh. 

Kaylie Edwards: I'm still balloons everywhere, all over my floor, and I'm just kicking them out the way, and I'm just like, "Will you... Can [00:54:00] I just pop them and put them in the bin?" 'Cause But he's like, "Yeah, Mummy, look, this is going down." I'm like, "Good." Aw. He's just like upset over it, and I'm like, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, ."

Yeah. Rather than not be around 'cause he can't move. But yeah it's... I, I like that whole, when you know somebody's coming, and it's like, "Oh, I'll quickly do this. I'll quickly do that," and then you're like- 

Hannah Nunn: Oh, typical ... 

Kaylie Edwards: know my dad's coming or something. I'm like, I'm sweating because I'm like quickly hoovering before he come in through the door.

Hannah Nunn: Yeah, exactly. But no, I 

Kaylie Edwards: think that's probably, I'd be like that if I had a studio myself 'cause, yeah, I would leave it- Me too ... to like last minute. 

Hannah Nunn: Sometimes I do say that people can come by appointment as well, but they might not... it might not be tidy. It might be, it is a working studio, and this is what it's like.

But I don't... what I don't wanna do, I'm pretty much always there in the week, but I don't want to promise to be open, 'cause I had all those years where I was tied to the shop. And I don't wanna feel tied. I can't nip to the post office, 'cause what if somebody comes? Or I can't go out for a walk, what if somebody comes?

[00:55:00] And- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah ... 

Hannah Nunn: can't stay up a bit late, what if somebody comes? So that's the thing. It- people are welcome to just knock on the door and try me. But I don't ever promise to be there unless I'm having an open day, or we've made an appointment. But that's working, really. It's working well.

It helps if someone's like, we live in a town where people visit. It's like a visitable, touristy town. Yeah. And so it's a nice place for people to stop off on the way to and from. So I get a lot of people just making a detour and coming over to visit- 

... 

Hannah Nunn: On their way to 

Kaylie Edwards: somewhere, which is lovely.

That's lovely. Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Oh. 

Kaylie Edwards: I love that. Yeah. We went up to Scotland last year for a holiday, and there was a small town near where we were staying called Thornhill. And there's a guy there who's does forging. He's got like an old-time forge, and he does, ironmongering and things, and he does like these big things.

I think he was working on this big dragon. I, I think it was for like a film. And he was making this big dragon in his back area, and his house [00:56:00] is actually part of the forge, but I didn't think he was gonna be there, but you're allowed to walk the back area and the front and see all of the things he's created.

Like he's created these big metal sheep and like dinosaurs and stuff, like these cool things, and this massive spoon. Was it a spoon or a fork? No, it was a big fork- A fork ... on the side of his house. Like this- Oh ... big fork, metal. And it was so cool, and his name's Nate. And he actually come out and was talking to us and walking us around and showing us the forge and everything.

And my son was only three at the time, so he was kinda like- Aw ... more interested in seeing the little dinosaurs that he'd created and things, but we were... Really cool. Really cool. And it's just nice that w- you could go in and see his stuff. But then he came out and talked to us as well and walked us around.

We had like about an hour there. It was really nice. Lovely. And I think that's... It's good that you can have that connection, but also that walkthrough. 

But I think you have to do it on your own terms as well, because I feel- ... yeah, like you said, if you're tied to it, then you feel, it starts to drain you a bit, 'cause you, you feel like, "Oh, I've gotta [00:57:00] be here.

I've gotta do this," and it stresses you out. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. Did that for 10 years and that was enough. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Ready to feel a bit more free. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So looking back over more than the 20 years you've been in business, what do you think has genuinely helped your business grow?

Hannah Nunn: Ooh. So many things. There's so many tiny steps, isn't there? So many things along the way. So the last six years or so is since I started writing a proper regular email a week. That's helped to grow things, for sure.

I always say, "Start an email list." 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Now. No matter even if you've not got anyone on it yet, or you've got one or two or 10 people, because that's gonna grow. It's like what I wish I'd done. I've always collected people's emails but then the GDPR thing years ago- Yeah ... I lost [00:58:00] loads of people at that point in time.

And I never sent absolutely regular emails. I always thought I needed to wait till I've got something really exciting to say and then send something. So yeah it, just the thing that helps you grow is really just staying in touch with people, making sure that people know what you're up to- Yeah

And who you are. I don't wanna give too much credit to Instagram, but, there's that. There's 

Kaylie Edwards: that. All the girls find you somehow, haven't they? 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. And all the blog posts that I've written over the years. Just like I think I always just like to share what I'm up to and what I'm thinking about, and the things that I've seen, and the things that make me excited.

And I think that is infectious. That's what people go, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll have a bit more of that." 

Yeah. "

I'll sign email," or I'll press follow," or, "I'll come to the [00:59:00] open studio," or whatever. So yeah, it's just- Always being open. Open and friendly and sharing stuff really 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, that's a lot- Yeah

of what me and Delores talk about is like collaborating and community and just sharing you, what you do in a genuine way. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Just a way of even if it doesn't instantly happen, like promoting it on Instagram sometimes, yeah, you could get something going but at the end of the day you have to do it slowly and things will take time, and you will get there.

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: And connections start for making, and people recommend you and, you know- genuine people that's how it works. Like I seen on Instagram when you said something about sharing your joy, that's how you see marketing. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: And I think that's how my business has gone is it's sharing your joy.

It, sharing your joy with people. Exactly. That's how you promote yourself. If you're genuine with it, people will connect. 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. Exactly that. I don't, people say, "Oh, you're [01:00:00] really good at marketing," and I'm like, "I'm just good at sharing. Sharing my joy." It seems to have seems to be working anyway.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So if you had to pick two or three things that have consistently worked, what would they be? 

Hannah Nunn: The consistent emailing for sure. The always

I think not having too big a vision. My vision is to really just make a container for myself where I can be my creative- Yeah ... self and have time for my creativity, and still make enough money. But not, I'm quite bounded about the shape that I want things to be.

If it's not giving me enough space and time, then something needs to change. Yeah. It's when I felt overwhelmed by having a shop and not being able to do my own work. That, like you said, it's the next step, then something needs- Yeah ... to change. I need to get space of my own.

It's always been [01:01:00] about listening to the next thing that inspires me, but keeping it in, a place that works for me as a human. Yeah. I've had times of burnout in the past and it's not fun. It's not. No, it's not. It's not. And I don't want to go there anymore, so I do try really hard to look after my energy and not take on too much.

, Listening to what's the most exciting thing for me. I'm always listening for that creative spark, and when the spark comes, that's when to move.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: That gets about the wallpaper, getting excited about the treasures, getting excited about opening my studio, getting excited about my newsletter. Looking for those things always and honoring them. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Keeping creative space is really important, and then, yeah, sharing my joy.

That's three things. There's probably loads more, but that, [01:02:00] they're good ones. They're juicy. Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's fine. Yeah. So we often hear about obviously the successes of businesses, and obviously you see it on Instagram, but not always the thing that didn't quite go to plan. Is there anything that you've learned the hard way over the years in business?

Hannah Nunn: I was thinking about this about there kind of being no mistakes 'cause you, it's all You've gotta play, you've gotta experiment, haven't you, with what feels right? I think when I did one... I used to do fabric, and I did it because everyone was like, "Oh, do you do fabric? I don't do wallpaper.

Do you do fabric?" And I'm not a fabric-y person. Yeah. And just I'm more of a papery person, but I did the fabric. 

And it caused me lots of stress. And every time, in the end, every time I got

an order I'd be like, "Oh, God. I've got to cut it and oh, there's a blip here," and I'd... I'd just... it was a hard product for me and it didn't, it wasn't my thing. So I had to knock it on the head in the end. And made [01:03:00] lots of people sad, and they still ask me for, if I've got any somewhere. "Just a little bit.

Have you got a little bit left?" It's like, "No, I'm sorry. It's not, I can't do it." So- Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? It's like that balance is kind ... Obviously I want to make things that people want, but also it's gotta work for me- ... as well. So I wouldn't say in retrospect though, that making fabric was a mistake because it- 

Kaylie Edwards: You've learnt from it

Hannah Nunn: learnt from it. Exactly. Like there are no mistakes. We've got to experiment and try things on for size, haven't we? And- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah ... 

Hannah Nunn: yeah, they feel. Yeah Trying to do too much. I get a bit intense. I'm an, quite an intense person. 

you with me both. 

And I think at this, my time of life, menopausal, I think that intensity, I'm not...

It's like my body doesn't want that anymore. It's like I have, [01:04:00] I've gotta tone it down some. And over the years, that intensity, it's like I've got a, an internal driver, like- Yeah ... my own boss and it keep, and mostly it's just excitement. It's not like an external pressure telling me to do something.

It's just a real deep excitement for the work that I'm doing. But not listening to when that's too much- Yeah ... and I need to ... I have got better at that now, and I feel better for it. But it's been a hard ride, and I'm still always susceptible to that little pang of "Oh, God. Here we are again."

So yeah that's just a personality thing and, I credit my intensity. It's good. It sometimes it works for me, but it's knowing when to, when it's too much, and I've gone into overdrive rather than healthy drive- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah ... 

Hannah Nunn: as I put it. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. Yeah, I think we've all [01:05:00] got one internal drive that at times can be good, really good, and then can hinder us in some way, where you need to like- Absolutely

learn levels. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: As people say. 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: So has there ever been something you invest time or energy into that looking back you'd approach differently now? I know you've said about the fabric. Is there anything else that's, maybe even business side?

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. It's a long time ago now, but the first thing that came to mind was I got asked to write a book years ago about contemporary craft lighting, which was a really good opportunity and I was buzzing on it. It was gonna be published and I had to write, I was... It was a profile of 45 other artists who made lighting.

Wow. And it was good. It was really good. And it was gonna be published by it was a little press at the time, and while I was writing it, it turned into Bloomsbury, so it was, like, published by- Wow ... Bloomsbury, which was like, isn't... but [01:06:00] that was a massive learning thing because I feel like I was writing it in my best telephone voice.

I was, like, writing it for somebody else and- 

Kaylie Edwards: Like not being yourself in a way, is it? 

Hannah Nunn: It didn't feel like I was being myself writing that. I was too scared of getting somebody's story wrong- ... or, and I didn't have the ability to judge what I'd been doing. I can stand back from a drawing or a piece of work and go, "Yeah, that needs tweaking," or, "This needs doing.

Oh, that's good," or, "That's bad," or... But with the writing I was like, "No, I can't do that." I didn't know how to do it. 

Kaylie Edwards: It's a different medium to what you were used to doing. 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. Very different. And when the book actually was finished and it came out and it arrived in my letterbox, I like looked at it and put it in a drawer.

I was so distant and I was not with it at all. I was like, "Oh, God." Which was really sad, 'cause it's like such an amazing opportunity, isn't it- and in the end I got over it and there were good things about it, but it wasn't until [01:07:00] after that I learned to write.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: That there's a me that writes and now. Yeah. And I really love it and it's actually one of my favorite things to do. I might even like it more than I like drawing. But yeah, at the time if I could go back now, I would do that very differently. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, 

Hannah Nunn: for sure. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. It's just a skill that you acquire, isn't it, over time, and learning how to be able to talk in your own voice whilst in written form.

It's like- Yeah ... you in email. It's, you have to figure out how to bring yourself and your personality, your own voice into it. And it- 

... 

Kaylie Edwards: A skill. It does take a while and it takes practice. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. Yeah, it does. What the book did do was like it was such a deadline and I was so stressed 'cause I had so much work to do anyway.

But I was very disciplined about it, and it was after I'd finished the book I was like, " if I spent as much time attention and focus on something else that I wanna do as I [01:08:00] have the book- 

... 

Hannah Nunn: What can I achieve?" And that's when I made wallpaper. So it was , definitely like a learning experience, like a really good practice for focus.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: That was good. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's great. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: So when people look at your business now, they see all the beautiful products that you make, but they don't necessarily see everything happening like behind the scenes. What do you think has actually made your business sustainable over the long term? 

Hannah Nunn: Oh th- nature.

Listening. Walking home through the woods. Resting after work. Just, yeah, a real focus on restoration in between and breathing space in between all of those things. 'Cause the days are busy and intense sometimes. Yeah. But I've become better at...

And also 'cause I'm not going back to burnout anymore either. It's really listening and taking the time out. [01:09:00] Knowing when it's time to stop working and go to the woods because I know that I'll get far more work done if I take that- Yeah ... couple of hours to just...

It's like I've have to learn it over and over again. Have to learn it over and over again. But it's definitely true. I don't know how I would do it now without, yeah, just a kind of dedicated, not rushing to work. Yeah. I don't rush anymore. I wander through the woods, say hello to the dippers and

the people on the river path and discuss what we've seen today and, it's just really massively slowed down now. So yeah, it's become something that's extremely important to me- Yeah ... actually. That I really will look after 'cause I know that I'm not great if I don't [01:10:00] get that time.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. There's so many times I've almost burnt out or have burnt out because obviously I do client work and I do my own business, and then I've got a toddler as well. And it's- Yes. It's 

Hannah Nunn: a lot ... 

Kaylie Edwards: sometimes it's too much and there's times when I go to work and I'm just like, "I can't focus.

I can't think. I need to- "i need to do something else." And you have to pull yourself away sometimes and just go do something else. Like- ... sometimes for me, 'cause obviously if my son's in bed, I can't exactly go off for a walk into the woods or something at night, so I'd be- Yeah. He's... I'm like, okay I'll sketch or I'll read a book or...

My thing at the moment- Yeah ... is watching a TV show. I'll just sit and watch the TV for a bit and I'm just... And I feel guilty sometimes of like, why am I feeling guilty for doing this and spending time on, by myself? You

need that. So important. Exactly. It's so important. Yeah. It is important to be able to do things. 

And so has your definition of success changed over the years? 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. Yeah, I think I knew quite early on that I could choose what my definition of [01:11:00] success meant.

I did this really beautiful course a long time ago called Hello Soul, Hello Business, and it really did shape things. It was really lovely and it was like answering all of those kind of questions about, what success means on your terms. Yeah. And so I think I was blessed quite early on to not fall into a trap of just definitely just wanting growth for growth's sake.

Let's scale up, let's get the warehouse- ... let's do this, let's do that. I think quite early on I understood that success meant being able to do what it is that I love to do. And so it's like maintaining that. Yeah. I work... on the Design Trust webinar recently, I think she shared a quote by, think it was Walt Disney, and it went something like, "We don't make films to make money.

We make films so we can make more films." Yeah. I just really wanna take care of the business so that I can carry on doing it, because I really like [01:12:00] making things and so I think I've always... found the right sort of people and sort of mentors to, from an early age, to understand kind of what it is that I'm- 

I'm doing. So think it might not have changed so much, but it's strengthened. I've strengthened- Yeah ... my resolve. I've I know what it is that I'm going for. I need to be able to survive financially, support the business, support myself and and make sure that I get that time and the space that we've just been talking about.

Yeah. I feel like I wouldn't be feeling like I was successful if I didn't, if I wasn't able to meander to work or- 

Kaylie Edwards: It's what you want, isn't it? Yeah. It's something... you don't have to rush to do things, and it's nice to be able to just take your time to do stuff.

And the fact that you've grown a business where you can actually do that without it- Yeah ... dictating you [01:13:00] is, I think it's a testament to yourself and to how you've done things over the years. 

Hannah Nunn: Thanks. Thank you. 

Kaylie Edwards: So one thing I absolutely love is your three somethings emails. Where did that idea come from?

Hannah Nunn: That came out of the woods as well. 

Kaylie Edwards: The woods, a magical place. 

Hannah Nunn: Blessed to have them on my doorstep. I know not everybody does. We've got so much- nature, the air is amazing. And so it was COVID actually, the COVID year, everybody's freaking out, aren't they, online about selling stuff. Even though we all need to keep selling stuff, like, but everybody's having this, this awful things happening in the world, and we feel scared to share- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah

Hannah Nunn: Because we don't wanna come across as, "Oh, buy my pretty lamp." Oh, no. So- Yeah, 

Kaylie Edwards: but people need pretty things as well- ... this is- ... don't they? Even in the hard times. That's what sells ... 

Hannah Nunn: part of that recognition, exactly. But there's a jeweler that I follow in America called Megan [01:14:00] Auman.

She also teaches business stuff, and she's great. She's a really good voice. I like her way. And she saw what was happening on the internet and decided to put a little course together, which was called Sell Without Shame. And it was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. She got you to really really articulate the value in what you were doing, and how, like you say, people need pretty things.

People need joy in their lives. People need art even, in dark times, even more so she put this course together and I did it, 'cause I was feeling like that. And part of her big thing is email lists. She's big on encouraging people to write a weekly email, and everybody freaked out. "A week?

Oh my God. No, I'm gonna really upset people. I'm gonna really bug them. No, everybody's too busy, and no one'll wanna read my emails," blah, blah, blah. So all of these things came up from everybody. And she's like, "All you need to do is write, take a nice picture, and [01:15:00] say, 'Here's a thing, go buy it,' basically."

That's her... She's very brash. She's very straight to the point. "Here's a thing. Go buy it," in so many words. And I kinda liked the idea, 'cause I, you know I get that there's value in a lovely picture and a lovely product, and maybe could have done that. But I felt like I needed more than that.

It needed to be what was going on and what I was inspired by and things. So we were out walking in the woods one COVID summer evening and it just came to me, I could do three things, and I'll call it Three Somethings. 'Cause, so here's the first one is something I've made, which is the here's the thing- Yeah

go buy it. But story about that product. And also remembering, this is something that she talks a lot about, is it doesn't have to be a new product that you've just made. Something before. Cause not everybody... You're the only person who's seen everything that you've ever done.

Yeah. No, not everybody. Which is was such a good thing for her to [01:16:00] say. So something I've made, and then there's a buy button. So it's, here's the thing, go buy it. And then the second one is something I'm making. So it allows me to share something that, In process kind of thing process, something I'm thinking about.

And sometimes I'll change it up. Like this week I'm doing something I'm thinking about and I'm talking about a book that I've just read. And but mainly it's something I've made. And then the third one is something I've noticed, which is a nature part, which is the thing that I saw in the hedgerows on the way to work or whatever.

I'm always out and about with my camera. I have been for years. And yeah, I share that as the number three. And it's been really good because I can tell people that this is what I do once a week. This is what you're signing up for, and I know exactly what I'm doing. So my brain has [01:17:00] now learnt to scan the week for the thing that I've made, the thing that I'm making, and the thing that I've noticed.

What am I gonna write about this week? Oh, it could be this photo or it could be that. So I'm always mulling it over. And I've found that, even once a week I've always got something to say. There's always some... and the brilliant thing is that They're not big things.

They're like really tiny things. Oh, there was a dipper sitting on a rock singing. It's like- ... it's not big things. It's just sort of- It's 

Kaylie Edwards: Journaling, but to an audience- It- ... isn't it? 

Hannah Nunn: Exactly. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's what makes it easier as well, because you know what you're doing. 

Hannah Nunn: And people have really resonated with it.

There's always somebody who writes back and says, let me tell you, first, when I suggested that I was gonna do this to Megan, the course leader, she was like, "It's too much. It's gonna be too much." That was... But she was like, "Try it and see," 'cause that's her other thing, try it and see. 

And I tried it, and I saw that this was it, actually, and I've been writing it every year for this is the sixth year now.

Kaylie Edwards: That's 

Hannah Nunn: incredible. Every week. 

[01:18:00] And yeah, there's always somebody who writes back and says, "Thank you. Thank you for this. I look forward to it every Thursday." It's like, it punctuates my week, makes me feel calm or whatever. They say such lovely things, and this is just me going about my business, really, and sharing my joy and sharing the things that I've noticed.

And it's been such a win for the business and for me Yeah ... yeah, a kind of and also a personal sort of mission to connect more people to nature. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. '

Hannah Nunn: Cause that's such a big thing for me, and I think it's probably what the world is lacking and why we're in such a mess is because we've lost- 

Kaylie Edwards: The 

Hannah Nunn: connection

that deeper connection. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: And in turn, that, resetting the nervous system and- I feel in giving your brain a place to breathe. So it feels good to be able to do that. That's like the underlying giving [01:19:00] back to nature moment for me. Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: That's really lovely.

I live in a small village in North Wales, like we don't even have a shop. We got a pub. 

Hannah Nunn: Oh. 

Kaylie Edwards: But we don't have a shop.

Hannah Nunn: Oh. You 

Kaylie Edwards: know, it, it's about 40 minute walk to the village next door, but it'd take five minutes in the car, wow. 'Cause it's like this windy road. My partner says I'm not allowed to walk it, so I have to get the bus 'cause I'm- Yeah, 

Hannah Nunn: there's a lot of those windy roads in Wales, isn't it?

High hedgerow kind of windy yeah, you don't walk on those. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: So have you got places that you can walk though where you are? 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. Go on. Yeah. My partner's family have got a goat, sheep farm, which is not far from, which is about half an hour walk down the road. 

And obviously you've gotta go down windy roads and, country lanes to get to it.

Or you can go down the footpaths. There's one called Moses Walk. And it, there's rocks. There's like the steps of rocks and you've gotta go down and really rocky. You don't wanna do that in the winter, like you, you'd fall. But [01:20:00] my little boy sometimes walk that way on a Friday when he does half day.

And yeah, So we've started walking down the big road now to get down there because- ... we went to go down the walkway path and we got into it and the hedge is like this. We just covered up and it was the spike- Wow ... the ones with the big thorns. Those hedges yeah And I was just like, "I can't get through there, and I can't get him through there" Yeah.

So we had to walk all the way back up- Oh ... go back round- ... and just walk down the road. 

Hannah Nunn: It is that time of year where everything's like all the brambles have got all the way across the path now, and- 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah ... 

Hannah Nunn: it's all very overgrown. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So we ended up walking back. So I said we're not even going to go attempt to go down that then the next time 'cause I'm not walking back."

'Cause he'll whinge as well, so I'm just like, "Yeah we'll just walk down the normal road and walk, just attempt to get past cattle when they come." But it's mostly trying to chase the goats back because they're a pain in the bum because they like to, 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah ... they like to escape. Goat's are 

Kaylie Edwards: so naughty.

Yeah, the goats are very naughty. The sheep are just as bad, but not as bad as [01:21:00] the goats. The goats will it's crazy how small they can get through. They literally just scoot under the fence and you're like, "How have you even got under there?" Wow. Like these big goats, and you're like, "What on earth?"

And like your thing is you'll chase them off of this part of the road, and then they'll just come back and jump onto the other part. And you're like, "What's the point? What's the point?" So that is spend some some weekends trying to help with the farm. But yeah. 

Nice. 

So I do see a lot of nature.

Lovely. And then when we go on holiday once a year to Scotland, like we're in nature again,

yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: But 

Kaylie Edwards: then again, I don't like cities, I don't... People are too rude. I don't like it. They're, bumping into each other and you don't have no space. I don't like it, so yeah, that's not for me.

So I'm quite glad I moved to a little village again. Like- 

Hannah Nunn: Awesome ... 

Kaylie Edwards: yeah, so nature's part of my life, so I quite like that. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. That's good. That's good. So I think a lot of artists obviously worry about selling. Do you think storytelling makes that feel much easier?

Hannah Nunn: Oh, selling. Yeah, [01:22:00] definitely. Definitely. Definitely. For instance last week I had a work experience student with me for the week, and I asked her if she wanted to make a bouquet of, a posy of flowers like the ones that I make, and it was so good, 'cause she did so well.

She made this beautiful little trio of flowers. And so I did what we do, I do in my business. We did a little photo shoot, and then we listed it on the website. And then we sat down to make a reel together. And and then she sold 120 of the 

Kaylie Edwards: things. Oh, wow, that's incredible. Oh, that's brilliant.

Well done her. 

Hannah Nunn: It was amazing. So it was absolutely brilliant for her, brilliant for me to be able to share that with her. It's this is ready-made opportunity to easily make this product and package it beautifully, and I know how to take the pictures, and I've got the space, and I've got the thing, got the website, got the customers.

It's like ready-made business for you to just drop something [01:23:00] into, and it, and it just worked so well that I was thinking it's you know- The customers loved the story. They loved the fact that Lily was on work experience and she was- Yeah ... having this experience, that I was giving her the time to show her what she could do and, and she got this lovely opportunity.

So the product was beautiful and the story was great, and that- Yeah ... that combined just were like the dynamite to sell 120 of them in 24 hours. It's like insane. It's so fun. As my phone was going ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching. Yeah, it was brilliant for her. So yeah, it's all about story. It really is, and I love telling stories, so it suits me.

Yeah. So I think that's, that really helps. 

Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. That's kinda like what a lot of what I say is I've, that I've had to learn over the years is that storytelling is what helps sell. It's not, we're not [01:24:00] Amazon drop shippers or whatever. Yeah. It's got a story behind it to be able to- Yeah

sell these beautiful things that you want to do, and it works well. Yeah. And people forget that until they actually share a story and then suddenly they've got a sale and they're like, "Oh, hold on, this works." 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah, exactly. There's always a story behind everything. Even if you think, it might not be that interesting, it is to somebody else.

It's like, how do you... Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, love it. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. So if you were sitting down with someone who's just starting their own business what advice would you give them as a creative? 

Hannah Nunn: I already answered it, didn't I? I think 

The email list. 

Kaylie Edwards: The email list, that was it. 

Hannah Nunn: Yeah. The email list. I told you I was gonna spoil your future question.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. 

Hannah Nunn: No definitely that, and to just, yeah, really listen to what it is that really excites them because then whatever you make carries that joy, doesn't it? Yeah. And pe- relate to that, [01:25:00] and that's what it's all about. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, it is. Yeah. So looking back at your younger self, what's the one thing you wish you'd known sooner?

Hannah Nunn: Oh, just that it's gonna be all right, God damn it. Stop worrying. That, the things that you're feeling and these like, you know, these like longings that you have to create stuff is the right thing to do. A- and you won't look back. You won't regret it. I just wanna go back and yeah, give her a hug and say, "It's gonna be fine.

It's gonna be fine. It's gonna work out. Follow your heart. Follow your dreams." 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, that's what we what we forget, isn't it, when we're so young is that things will happen. Things happen that are bad, and you just gotta be resilient, push through, and just find those little moments of joy that you can lead you to do better- 

Work the way you want. And, 

Hannah Nunn: yeah, [01:26:00] what I've realized is that my creative spirit- It's always been there, even in times of real hardship and loss and grief, it still burns, and I can really feel I can really rely on that now, and I wish I'd have known that when I was young.

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. That is- Yeah ... that is lovely. Yes. Our listeners will get a lot out of this this session that we've had. So Hannah, thank you so much for joining me today, and- It's 

Hannah Nunn: been a pleasure ... 

Kaylie Edwards: it's been such a lovely conversation.

I know our listeners will have taken so much from hearing not only how you've built and evolved your business, but also the honest lessons and decisions and the resilience behind it. If you'd like to discover more of Hannah's work, you can visit Hannah at H-A-N-N-A-H-N-U-N-N.co.uk, and where you'll find her nature-inspired lighting, wallpaper, decorative window film, and journals and other beautiful creations she's made.

You [01:27:00] can also find information about Hannah's open studio events and sign up for her Three Somethings emails. We'll include all of Hannah's links, along with anything else we've mentioned during our conversation, in the episode show notes. If you enjoyed today's episode, please follow or subscribe to the Creative Juggle Joy Podcast so you don't miss any future conversations, and you can also support the podcast by leaving us a rating or review and sharing this episode with another artist, maker, or creative business owner who would love to hear more story and all the other creatives that we have on the show.

Thank you for listening, and until next time, keep creating, keep juggling, and keep finding joy in the process.