Meet the stationary Goddess: Katie Leamon
This October we are celebrating the Hindu festival of Durga Puja, a festival that pays homage to the Hindu goddess, Durga, and during this time we aim to celebrate and showcase the achievements of our business partners, staff, and customers – all of whom we believe are total goddesses in their own rights.
We are bringing you the stories behind some of the most amazing women across our business, and as our final instalment of the goddess guide we have a snippet from Katie Leamon, founder of a beautiful stationary and card business.
Katie’s products combine impeccable design with a luxurious aesthetic whilst also all being made from sustainably sourced materials.
We spoke to Katie and gained some words of wisdom from her here:
Can you tell us a little bit about your business and what you do?
We are a design led card and stationery business based in London. We design, print and curate a range of high quality cards, wrap, notebooks and other stationery items.
I founded the business in 2010 and as it grew my family joined me and we now run it as a family business with my partner, mum and sister all having key roles.
Who or what inspired you to start it?
I have always loved stationery, ever since I can remember. I studied textile design at university and always lent towards paper as a medium so it was inevitable that my designs now encompass those two passions. I love paper textures, finishes and the satisfaction of using and creating beautiful materials and so that inspired the business and how I developed over the years.
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in business?
Our industry has a lot of female founders within it, or couples in business so I have never found it a challenge from the industry pressures side of things. However I have struggled to manage it since having children, as I’m sure all new mother’s feel with work. It becomes a matter of prioritising and working more efficiently which I do now.
I also think we are very lucky that we run it together because it means we can juggle our boys and family a little easier, that said it is still very challenging when faced with deadlines, sleep deprivation and striking a healthy work life balance.
