While in my first year at University I began to have mental health problems which started gradually and escalated through the year, through the year I battled eating disorders and episodes of depression and mania. I was too ill to return to university for my second year and was forced to leave my course and move back home.

It took years of struggling to help me get onto an even keel, during this time I tried to return to university unsuccessfully and had to come to terms with the fact that the stress of full-time education would mean that I was unable to finish my degree. Stuck at home unable to study or work I fell into making textile animals - this was a revelation as it was the first thing in years that I enjoyed doing and held my attention.

I began designing more and more animals and soon began to improve, and having something to focus on was helping my mental health as well. But with very little money I realised that to continue being able to buy the fabrics I needed I would have to start selling what I made. I started by having a small stall at Hexham Christmas Market, my confidence was low and I didn't expect to sell anything- so when I sold out I was thrilled!

The drive I have to make my business a success stems partly from, a desire to keep doing something I love and partly to keep doing something that helps me keep well and I can make a living from. But I also want to develop to the point where I can start taking on staff and grow my business bringing jobs and work experience opportunities to the North East in a very specific area- textiles. I would like to create a British company making quality handmade goods from scratch using skilled workers.

So far the response to our business ethos and products has been over whelming in their positivity both from customers, retail professionals and press. We feel that we are offering a truly unique product and extensive market research has failed to turn up any traders or companies that are offering anything similar to our products.

I think we have found a great balance between traditional skills and qualities and a more modern innovation; enabling us to create an exciting small company that will hopefully be able to expand into an iconic North East company employing a range of people from the region.