The Story behind my Red Squirrels Design

You may or may not already know a little about my turbulent history with squirrels 

I of course grew up with the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.  When I was little I loved the grey squirrels - they were the only ones I had ever seen in real life. I remember wanting to feed them in the park, and I clearly remember the shock of the claws as one ran up my leg on Hampstead Heath.

As a teenager I visited Brownsea Island and was desperate to see a red squirrel in the wild - I didn't manage to spot one on that visit.

I had a war with grey squirrels digging up my tomatoes on the flat roof outside the back of my flat above a shop in my 20s and in my now family home we had an absolute nightmare with grey squirrels nesting between the floors and eating our wiring- it took about 18 months to secure every hole they had made nibbling through the lead work to create new openings as fast as we secured old ones.

So as you can imagine I have mixed feelings about squirrels

I had planned a design featuring both grey and red squirrels but to be perfectly frank I was so traumatised by the experience of them running across my bedroom ceiling that I couldn't even look at my own drawings of squirrels for months.

Last year I revisited my sketches for this design and decided I still didn't feel generous enough to include the grey squirrels and so I reworked (and recoloured) my original plans to create this new Red Squirrels Collection.

I am so happy with the way it has turned out.

I hope you enjoy these cheeky squirrel nutkins.