I've been working as a guide for the past 13 years and have been lucky to travel all over the world with work. Originally from Wales, I first came to Svalbard 8 years ago and the Arctic is where I've called home since 2016. Working as an Arctic Nature guide I spent a lot of time out in the mountains, skiing, guiding on glaciers and dog mushing.

The whole time I've still been painting and creating, inspired by the incredible beauty of my surroundings. It's hard not to feel moved by the grandness of the mountains, the spectacular Northern lights, the majesty of the mighty Polar Bear and the affection of the Polar husky. I hope my work captures a little of this charm and Arctic magic. In 2019 I joined my first Christmas market and was thrilled that other people also seemed to like my work. So I got busy and started to sell some souvenirs in local shops too. But the life of a guide is busy and requires you to be out in remote areas for long periods of time, so my art remained more of a hobby.

When coronavirus hit, our little island went into lockdown. With Svalbard's economy largely dependent on tourism we were suddenly all out of guiding work. So it was time for my sideline project to take centre stage!! It began with a little Etsy store, connecting with shoppers all over the world that were stuck in isolation but found they could travel vicariously through my stories of adventure and special gifts that captured the spirit of this fascinating place. In this time I spent a lot of days wrapping special little parcels and dogsledding with my huskies to the post office to send the packages on their way. I knew that at some point everyone would come back to Svalbard and I wanted to use this time to create a variety of products that evoked the feeling of the Arctic and capture a special moment that guests could take home with them. It was important to me to think that in the difficult time we found ourselves in during the coronavirus pandemic my little company could help other businesses near where I grew up. Hence a majority of my products are manufactured in the U.K. What cannot be made there is handcrafted within Europe. I strive hard to source responsible and high quality products that should last as long as your trip memories do.

No longer selling from my kitchen table, with a lot of hard work and determination, I have been able to expand my business selling to numerous companies here on Svalbard, out on expedition ships and now the mainland of Norway.

I hope you like what you see and perhaps it will even inspire you to visit the spectacular Svalbard one day!