Hi, nice to
meet you
Hannah Longmuir | ARTIST & paper company
I’m Hannah. I’m an artist, and I run a paper company designing greetings cards, calendars and other stationery.
I keep sketchjournals about Drygrange (where we live) and places we go and what the kids get up to and the birds we see. They are visual journals that record place and time. Then, back in the studio, I create larger, gentle, detailed drawings using pencil, watercolour and collage. I think of these big drawings as my Gentle Giants – peaceful safe havens that I can get lost in.
My large-scale pencil pieces are highly detailed. I am VERY SLOW. I’m not sure if slow can be counter-cultural, but in a time where AI can create you an image in seconds, I’m taking months to make my pencil-worlds.
I try to be as slow as possible, almost as a protest to the fast, noisy world we live in.
I live in the Scottish Borders with my husband, Ross, and our two kids. Ross and I both grew up in the Borders. I have never found it easy to feel like I fit in. But when I moved back to the Borders, met Ross, and became a mum, I felt a true sense of belonging for the first time. Bringing our kids up in the same landscape as we grew up in feels very special.
I keep a sketchbook as a record of the changing seasons, the world around me, and family life. We live on the edge of a woodland. I could quite happily live out my days drawing the trees and the kids and the birds.
I could live twenty lives over and never tire of recording the seasonal shifts. I find it scary to think that the comfort of spring after winter and the relief of autumn after summer might not be there to hold and comfort my children, and their children, if climate change continues at pace.
I love designing and selling paper goods. I love that through my cards and calendars I get to be part of those moments that make up a life well lived: celebrations, sympathies, thank yous, invitations, appointments, beginnings and ends of life.
For me it is all about building connection – connection with nature and connection with each other.
If you are interested in stocking the paper goods in your lovely shop, please register for a trade account. I would love to work with you.
The Story
So Far...
I officially launched my business in 2011 but the story really began when I was a little girl.
I grew up here in the Scottish Borders countryside and was always bringing home pebbles and caterpillars and feathers and toads to draw. My mum said I needed to live in a paper factory rather than a house because I went through so much paper for my drawings. I’ve been in love with making drawings for as long as I can remember. It is magic to me.
For some reason, I stopped drawing for five or so years when I was in my late teens and early twenties. Those are the only years that I can remember being consistently unsettled. And then, many years later, while working in a library, I rediscovered drawing and it sparked a light in me. I began drawing in all my spare time. I had the idea to combine my loves of nature, drawing and beautiful paper goods into a business. Horribly under-qualified, and without much of a plan, I quit my library job and moved back to the Borders. I acquired the world’s worst behaved dog which meant I had to head out walking for several hours a day to try to exhaust him. I began drawing what I saw on my walks and re-discovered my delight in drawing the countryside.
With much trial and error, I gradually built a business creating lovely quality, sustainable, nature-inspired paper goods. My wonderful neighbour, Brenda, helps me pack and ship orders all over the world. I don’t know what I’d do without Brenda!
My little business is now almost 15 years old and I'm just as excited about it as I was way back at the beginning.
I'm a mum to two brilliant kiddos, which is my greatest joy
Life is very full! I fit my work in around the children. Therefore, I only dispatch orders twice a week. Thank you for your patience!
The Studio
Just before we had the kids, we moved to a house on the edge of the most magical woodland. We are surrounded by bunnies, squirrels, wood-pigeons, deer and owls. Most days we are shouted at by the grumpy heron on the river.
We see tree creepers in the woodland and nuthatches, woodpeckers, long tailed tits, goldfinches and pheasants in the garden. There are allotments here, too, from which we tentatively try to grow some bits and bobs. I’ve recently acquired my first ever little greenhouse. A new phase for my chaotic gardening.
At the moment I have a studio in the house from which we pack and send orders to customers and shops all over the world. It is a cardboard kingdom stacked to the ceiling with product and pictures. I am not tidy. But a new studio is imminent! A garden studio. I am so excited to have a light-filled space to draw and run the business.
Living here at Drygrange, so far, has been a dream. We’ve put down roots and it feels good.
I like pottering about. I collect snail shells. At all times I have weird bits and bobs in my pockets. Seeing a heron makes me happy.
If you’re interested in seeing (lots) more pics of the studio, where I live, and my work, you can follow me on Instagram.
Get the Newsletter
I write a quarterly, seasonal email newsletter
Sign up for updates on new work, products, events and special offers. Subscribers receive a welcome discount code as well as being automatically entered into a monthly prize draw.
