Flamingo and Bear – How it started

Hi and welcome to my first ever blog post, it’s been such a crazy time over the last year or so! 2020 was a big year for me, the year started off with me giving birth to our baby boy Jacob who is just the most beautiful little boy inside and out. A global pandemic started right alongside figuring out how to take care of a baby, I also deciding to close my last business where I created wedding stationery.

I have always loved painting and wanted to do something creative, so I started my wedding stationery business, however after a few years it just didn’t feel right but I could never understand why, and then after having Jacob and creating artwork for his nursery I instantly fell back in love with painting again, and I got the feeling back that I used to have. It transported me back to when I was creating art in school (when I was in the art room every second I could be). After I painted one animal I just knew this was what I needed to do.

So I closed my wedding stationery business and began my new adventure with Flamingo and Bear and not a day has gone by when I haven’t loved what I do (even the admin parts). I love the values I have created for F&B and I believe I can make a difference to the planet whilst also creating artwork for your little ones nursery’s, bedrooms and playrooms.

The name Flamingo and Bear came to me in about 2 minutes, it just felt right. So why that name you might ask? Well there’s a little inside joke in our family about flamingos. On the way to my parents holiday home I could have sworn I saw something pink in the fields and was sure it was a flamingo. I mean it probably wasn’t and I still to this day do not know what was in that field but now on that journey it’s a game to spot the flamingos (that’s probably not funny to anyone else but us) but it has lead to a lot of flamingo birthday cards and flamingo related gifts!! The bear was perfect as well, as in our family we always write baby bear, mommy bear and daddy bear in cards. This has been going on for as long as I can remember and it’s something I have now passed down to Jacob. So this name just feels like it was meant to be. This business feels like my baby (well my third baby after Jacob and my cat baby Millie).

Sorry if I’ve bored anyone with that story but I really hope you will come on this journey with me where there may be a baby, a cat and a few magical animal illustrations along the way.

Love Laura