Nut and Bee

www.nutandbee.com

We caught up with Annette of Nut and Bee last week to find out all about her very cool online shop that’s been making waves internationally for a wee while now.

Nut and Bee sells things with Annette’s sweet, whimsical (and sometimes laugh-out-loud) illustrations on them; including t-shirts, stickers, bookplates, stationery, button badges, magnets and art prints.

Annette is amazingly prolific. She produces three new illustrations a week, and people can vote on the ones they’d like to see on a product. The unicorn gets my vote :)

How did the idea of Nut and Bee come about?
A couple of years ago I was at university, and doodling on my lecture notes every day. When I drew something I really liked I would post it online, and other people seemed to enjoy my little creatures too. I already had a website to sell my crochet toys, which I enjoyed running, so I decided to do something with the drawings as well. I’ve been very keen on cute Japanese stationery and stickers for many years, so a range of paper goods was the natural choice!

When did you set up Nut and Bee online?
Nut and Bee (in its current form) opened for business on December 24th 2005 with three lettersets, one bookplate set and one sticker set. Of course Christmas Eve wasn’t the ideal time, but I had everything ready to go and couldn’t wait any longer!

What do you enjoy most about running Nut and Bee?
It’s really satisfying to create things, and then get awesome feedback about them - it makes my day when someone takes the time to email me about how much they enjoyed their order. I’m also really pleased and proud with how the business is growing. I’ve gone from five products to over 150, I put new drawings online three days a week, and Nut and Bee is well on its way to supporting me.

Are you involved much in the Crafting community in Auckland / NZ ?
I have some crafting friends, and I vend regularly at the Craftwerk and Artisan Craft markets, but not beyond that. I’m really busy at the moment because I still have a day job and I’m doing some postgrad study as well, so I can’t get involved with the community as much as I would like to.

Any little interesting stories you would like to share?
I have a field in my checkout that asks my customers what their favourite animal is. I get some very cute answers in there - lots of people are really specific, like “cats that are small and white”, but others say things that aren’t actually animals, like “ghosts” or types of fruit! That’s OK though, I don’t mind if your favourite animal is the banana :)

Thanks Annette!