I wrote this interview two years ago, but when I launched my new website design I started over all my blog posts. Last week I was talking with Marc, the traveler & entrepreneur that we met in Penang, and he totally recommended me to go back to my creative style and inspirational blog posts.

That’s why today I want to introduce you again these two artists from UK. When Zanna contacted me I immediately fell in love with their work at Papio Press, and I died for asking them lots of things and knowing more about their work. So here you have the result!! ☞

How did you two meet and when did you decide to share your passion and skills to open a business?

Harry and I met at University where we were both studying Illustration at the University of Gloucestershire. At the end of our second year we were increasingly feeling the pressure of how we could make a living when we had graduated, so decided to try to take our futures into our own hands. Most days we can hardly believe how well it’s been going since then, we really never expected it! Papio Press gives us a lot of creative freedom, which we love, and has ended up being an almost obsessive passion for the two of us.

How is your “real life”?

Harry is originally from Nottingham, and I’m from Penzance in Cornwall. We’re both very family orientated which means we spend a lot of time on trains making visits! We graduated from University a few months ago and moved into a little flat together in Cheltenham! Now, both of us work part-time for other Online Businesses, which has been great because we have got a lot of useful advice from our bosses. The rest of the time we’re working for Papio, our dream is that one day we’ll both be able to do that full time!

What’s the most amazing experience you have ever lived?

I think going to University has probably been the best experience of my life. The last three years have been incredible – it sounds cheesy but I feel like I’ve grown into myself, I feel more confident and capable, and I met Harry and made some wonderful friends.
I’ve also been lucky enough to visit Yosemite in America, and that’s been an experience I will treasure. So much of my work is inspired by nature, and Yosemite is bursting with it. I think I’ll carry the memory of walking up the side of a crashing waterfall with rainbows everywhere for the rest of my life!

What does the name Papio Press come from?

It’s a really simple story actually, nothing exciting! We were really struggling to come up with a name for the business when we first started… The only thing we knew was that we wanted to call it a Press and we thought it would sound nice if we alliterated the name. The word Papio eventually came because it sounds kind of like Paper, but it’s more fun to say! We like to think it’s a happy name – Papio Press!

What’s your inspiration and work process?

Both of us are very inspired by nature, though Harry has a bit of a soft spot for more geometric designs. We’re lucky that we usually get to draw whatever we want, but that can be a bit tricky sometimes with the whole world of imagery open to us! I usually have illustration on the brain 24/7 and I’m always taking pictures in my head, testing things out and trying to visualize what might work. Eventually, something will pop up and I’ll think, ah that’s it! And get drawing as soon as I can.
Sometimes our work has to be a lot more design orientated than that though; when you’re working with products you always have to bear the restrictions and purpose of the product in mind. We recently started designing a range of customizable business cards, so our process for that starts with considering what people need from a business card before anything else!

 

Your favorite blog or website?

At the moment I’m loving social media, and getting totally obsessed with Instagram! The people on there are too nice!

How do you see Papio Press in 5 years?

I would love for both of us to be working full time for Papio in 5 years! We’re heading down a more stationery/accessories sort of route at the moment and I’d like for us to stay that course. It would be lovely for us if we could get our products stocked in some of the bigger shops too at some point, like Paper Chase, Waterstones or John Lewis, though those are pretty out of our league right now! It’s all very exciting though, and I feel really lucky every day that I get to wake up feeling excited about work and life!

If you want to follow their work, here you have their links:

www.papiopress.co.uk
www.twitter.com/papiopress
www.instagram.com/papiopress
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PapioPress