Artist Profile

I started out as a bear collector and my serious collecting began when I left school — my first memorable purchase being a mid 1970’s Gabrielle designed Paddington which I still have in complete and pristine condition.

I then became aware of the different types and styles of bear on offer from antique (my favourite) to artist bears (something I'd never heard of before) but I reasearched the subject and one thing led to another... my love and passion for bears sparked my new venture.  I left the field of Graphic Design as my profession when I relocated to another part of the country and began focusing on the making of my very own traditional bears!

Every bear I create is cut from a pattern originated and drawn by myself from start to finish then sewn together entirely by hand at every stage, resulting in each one being unique and One-Of-A-Kind.
I will always make a design alteration to every new bear I create in my quest to design the pattern I am ultimately happy to call my very own style.

I worked in Graphic Design for many years, my passion for design also extends to Interior Design, Garden Design and a love of plants — I’m quite green-fingered and have consequently always had lots of varieties and sizes of plants around me, which is how the name edenbears became my chosen label for the bears I create —  after the ‘Garden of Eden’ relating to my 'green fingers' plus my connections to a property with the word 'Eden' in it’s name.

Where befitting to the bear, I will name him or her after a plant, flower, tree or other garden related item in keeping with the theme of edenbears.

• I was recently invited to be featured in the German-based teddy bear magazine BarReport.  I created an exclusive little bear and his pattern for publication in the magazine, you can see this on my website.
  Currently a lot of my time is taken up with bear restoration work which I thoroughly enjoy. It's a joy to be able to give these much-loved companions a new lease of life.
  My own edenbear creations are vey slow to evolve as they are entirely sewn by hand and only when my time allows without interruption.  I make very few bears in a year but my inspiration and creativity is bubbling over with ideas and I'm looking forward to turning my attention back to my own designs.