About
Small rituals, held onto
with both hands
Almost two years ago, we left the city of Leeds in search of a slower pace of life on the Yorkshire coast. The move wasn’t part of some grand life plan. It came after my young daughter became unwell, and we unexpectedly found ourselves navigating home education and learning to live very differently.
One summer evening I drove over to Saltburn for a beach yoga session. As the sun set we moved through yoga on the sand before slipping into the cold North Sea, and afterwards we gathered round a fire with warm mugs of cacao in our hands.
For the first time in a long time, my nervous system felt completely calm.
That evening we opened Rightmove. Life isn’t perfect and our journey continues, but these days there are far more moments of laughter, barefoot walks, sea air and small everyday joys.
Pikku Prints grew from those moments. It began as a way of capturing the small rituals and quiet pockets of joy that I had learned to notice — and to hold onto with both hands.
Before Pikku Prints there were twenty years of graphic design and illustration — packaging and product design, magazines, award-winning campaigns. Very different briefs; all of them useful.
The naïve style is a choice made with all of that behind it. Knowing what to leave out is the part that took twenty years.
Sauna at Sunrise
The work
My illustrations embrace a deliberately naïve style — clean shapes, gentle colour palettes and organic marks.
It is a way of working that celebrates the beauty of imperfection. Uneven lines, visible brushstrokes and slightly wonky shapes are left exactly as they are, because that is what gives a piece its warmth, its character and its human touch. Simple, joyful illustrations, made to feel collected rather than manufactured.
Every illustration begins with a memory, an object or a ritual tied to this coastline. Rather than documenting a place exactly as it appears, I want to capture how it feels to be there: calm, restorative and uncomplicated.
The work is quietly nostalgic, and drawn to the small details — the ones that make Saltburn so wonderfully charming, and that are easy to walk straight past without noticing. Soft, considered colour that will sit comfortably in a home for years to come.
“If a print reminds someone of their favourite morning swim, a quiet coffee after a walk, or a windswept day by the sea, then I’ve achieved exactly what I hoped.”
Stockists
Independent shops and galleries are welcome — there is a price list, terms and a line sheet on the trade page.
Stock Pikku Prints