Sarah’s interest in pattern and design goes right back to her childhood when living in the sleepy Cotswold village of Naunton  where she’d draw and create clothing to keep herself amused. She made a pencil skirt at the age of about seven that her parents allowed her to wear on the train to visit her grandparents. By the time she arrived at Temple Meads Station, to the horror of her rather posh Grandma it had fallen apart !“ 

Undeterred and with the encouragement of her family she carried on making. A seminal moment was when a Junior School teacher, Miss Pentecoste, chose the bookmark Sarah had made to grace the pages of her storybook.

She began to believe she had a talent and spent hours carving a chunk of wood to make a pair of clogs and then there were the jute hanging baskets, one made for every family member, it was the 70’s ! Many other projects followed the ‘Grease Lightening’ stretch satin trousers, the psychedelic guinea pig hutch and the endless French knitting that was as long as the street, stretching from her front door to her friend Christine’s house at the other end of the road. 

So into the 80’s and Sarah was destined to achieve great results in A level art and at degree level, gaining a first at Loughborough University in Printed textiles.

Fulltime employment soon followed in the design studio at Sock Shop, where Sarah designed the brightly coloured hosiery and funky socks that were hugely fashionable at the end of the 1980’s. The popularity of the printed tights  gained licensing contracts with many of the fashion designers of the time so Sarah gained experience working alongside the teams of Viviene Westwood, Helen Storey and Joe Casely-Hayford.

With the invention of computer aided design and the use of an Apple Mac, Sarah’s work reached another level. No more endless painting of colourways and tedious repeats, the computer did it for you. 

When Sock Shop relocated to The Lake District Sarah decided to persue a career in freelance design and was lucky enough to work with many high street names, John Lewis, Next, Debenhams etc. 

Three children followed and the freelancing happily fitted Sarah’s lifestyle for many years until she began to question her work life balance and creative control when working for others. This is when Sarah Kelleher Cards was created, the first trade fair being PG Live, Islington in 2014. Absolutely amazed and delighted to gain several orders at her first show Sarah totally loved the whole experience and industry. The customers and fellow publishers were all so friendly, helpful, and encouraging. Since then Sarah Kelleher Cards has gone from strength to strength, stocking hundreds of independent stores from one end of the country to the other and a few of the bigger players too.

Sarah has been out of the limelight for the last year due to illness but she’s back and will be exhibiting at Autumn Fair in September. Pop by, say “Hello” and have a look at her new Fabulous Foils card range, it still has the trademark handmade feel but with gorgeous opulent gold foil to add depth and glamour.

Autumn Fair 1^st-4^thSeptember 2019

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