I have always loved teddy bears. My first teddy bear was given to me while my mother was still in the maternity ward. My dad ran out to get the largest bear he could find at the local toy shop, because only the best was good enough for his little daughter. The bear was jointed and made from yellow shorthaired mohair, and in the beginning it was larger than me.

The lovely yellow teddy bear, who’s name simply was ”Bear”, followed me faithfully through my childhood. Later, when I moved away from home, he came with me to my new pastures.

Bear has retired now, and lives in a rocking chair next to the fireplace in our house. He is satisfied that I have become an “Ambassador for the preservation of the species”

In 1992 I moved to London to do nursing studies. At the same time I had developed an interest for toys and had a small collection of old and new Steiff bears and animals. One day, I visited a teddy bear fair in London where both professional and amateurs exhibited their bears.

This experience became my teddy bear making beginning.

The first bear I made was made from red woolen coat fabric, had shoe button eyes and a woolen nose. He also had a little medal and was thus named, ”The red Bearon”.

My friends loved him, and I immediately started sewing more bears. I found a mohair fabric shop in Luton, from where I still get my fabric, and I experimented with my own bear designs.

I seriously caught the ”bear bug”, when Angel Hughes from ”Tobias & the Angel” in Barnes bought some of my first bears for her shop.