With Stormy Knight

Can you give us a quick background on how Stormy Knight came to be?

In university I studied illustration, after graduating in 2006 I got a job as a graphic designer. After a few years of working for retail and corporate clients I got the itch for something more creative. I joined a screen-printing studio and spent my evenings designing and printing batches of greeting cards and selling them to local shops in Bristol – some of them were bonkers but over time I learnt what was more commercially successful. I visited top drawer to have a look around and from the moment I set eyes on the greeting and stationery section I knew it was where I wanted to be – so I signed up for the next show and the rest is history! Fast forward a decade, and our quirky, fun (and sometimes a little cheeky) designs can be found in some of the best design-led card and gift shops across the world – we’ve even stacked up a few awards!

We loved watching the growth of your family on social media, can you explain to us what role family plays in your business?

One of the reasons for starting my own business was to allow me a flexible work/life balance, and since my daughter Phoebe arrived in 2021 it’s become even more important. You could say that Stormy Knight is a lifestyle business, but juggling your own business and looking after a toddler can be REALLY hard, so you learn to be efficient with time and to grab moments whenever you can.

I’ve designed cards with her sleeping on me as a baby and have even been known to sketch during long car journeys! Being my own boss allows me to be there for Phoebe and I hope she will grow up knowing that it’s possible to follow your dreams and have the career you want!

Stormy Knight has become an even more family-centric company lately, with my sister Kelly recently joining the team. Kelly is the yin to my yang – she loves organization and processes and she balances out my creative (and sometimes chaotic!) style of working. We converted our loft last year to make a home office and phoebe can often be found joining us to ‘help’ us work.

Sarah and her Family Team at Top Drawer UK

One thing we love about your range is that it’s so diverse, but also sits together as a collection very well. We know you do some of the illustrations yourself, but how do you come to find other artists whose style works so perfectly with yours?

The brand has really evolved over the years, and working with other illustrators has played a huge role in that. I spend a lot of time on Instagram, searching for, and bookmarking illustrators whose work I love. There are so many that I’d love to work with but it’s important to make sure that they fit in with our brand. We always make sure that their style compliments our brand, I like to see something that is unique and doesn’t feel like it’s been done before. I will usually brief the illustrators on the designs – giving them the captions and art direction on the image content, but ask them to execute it in their style.

We’re always so blown away at how companies like yours release new and unique collections year after year. As a creative person, what do you find the most difficult about coming up with seasonal releases and what do you do if you’re feeling creatively fatigued?

I do feel the pressure to come up with new, different and exciting designs each year – in a saturated market it’s important to stand out and offer your customers something unique! Though working with different illustrators saves me from getting creative fatigue. When I used to design everything myself, it was easy to get creative burn out but this allows me to keep things fresh and feel motivated. One of the hardest things with seasonal releases is the timing – it always creeps up on us! Our focus for Christmas 2024 will be more ‘extra special’ designs that you send to your nearest and dearest rather than packs – we love special finishes and that’s where we see our place in the market.

Images of Cards from Stormy Knight with ‘Special Finishes’

Do you have any fun facts about the business that you can share with us?

The name Stormy Knight came from a nickname that an old boss gave me when I worked as a graphic designer. My maiden name was Knight and he said I was always like a whirlwind and my desk looked like a storm had just hit it…

As a business owner, what are three things you can’t live without?

My Mac, iPad and apple pen (can I treat them as one thing?!) these are tools of my trade and allow me to design from sketch stage through to art work, adding special finishes and prepping for print – I couldn’t be without them!

Music – I can’t work in silence, there has to be something in the background. My favourites are arcade fire, the strokes, and a bit of old school funk.

Google calendars and trello- it’s boring but it’s sooo important! I’ve got quite a busy brain and things can get chaotic if I don’t write things down properly. I’ve spent the last few months trying to put processes in place to allow me to be more organized - and having a calendar that combines my work and life commitments as well as some serious to do lists and work flows really helps me focus and keep track of important things. I think this is the third time I’ve said how chaotic I am… I’m not painting the best picture of myself am I?!

*Sarah Knight Winning an Award at The Henries*

This may be hard one, but answer if you can! Do you have an all time favourite card? Feel free to share a few options!

Bottoms up (Fig. 1) – when I discovered Eleonora’s designs I laughed so much and had to work with her! This is a bestselling card and always makes people chuckle.

Happy birthday pickle (Fig. 2) – Holly’s cards are so popular and she’s a dream to work with. This is my favourite – I love their little faces and it’s cute without being slushy.

Shrimply the best (Fig. 3) – this is one of the cards I designed whilst phoebe napped on me! It just makes me smile, it’s such a cheesy pun but it works.