What you can expect at Sarah Leask Studio

Sarah Leask Studio is a company of one. I create the illustrations and run the business (and everything that encompasses) all from my home studio in Aberdeen. My most important roles are coming up with fresh ideas, creating the artwork, designing unique products, order fulfilment and providing the best service that I can to all of my customers.

Colour and patterns are hugely important to my work and everything starts with a watercolour painting or hand drawn illustration that I have made.

I work directly with UK based manufacturers and print companies to always bring you the highest quality products.

Story time…

This small business baby of mine started back in 2017, sort of by accident and grown from a place of always striving for more. Having recently graduated from Gray’s School of Art, I was in that strange limbo period of life where I didn’t quite know where I wanted to go next and how best to carve a career that was right for me. I started creating artwork on the side of my kitchen sales job and doing craft fairs whenever I wasn’t working at the weekends. I was living in Aberdeen, often thinking of home, and I really wanted to make art as a reminder of Shetland. I dug out my watercolours and painted a map of The Shetland Isles. It was for myself but also for anyone else who may be feeling the same. The response was amazing, from friends and family initially, and later from tourists when I started to sell through a few local gift shops and convenience stores. From there I ran with the idea, booked into my first trade show and painted many parts of Scotland, the islands in particular, as I really wanted to highlight the beauty of them in my work.

The drinks bottle artwork that I make came later when I decided I would do my brother's wedding stationery for him - they didn't have much choice in the matter! I had been really interested in creating wedding stationery but hadn't really had the opportunity to do any yet so it was perfect. At the time, they were really into nice gins and wanted to use gin bottles as table names for their seating plan. I illustrated 11 bottle designs and from there I realised that the idea had a lot of potential for my product business too. My Scottish Gin tea towel went on to be one of my best-selling products, along with the Scottish Whisky tea towel, also inspired by a separate wedding stationery commission!

Since then, the business has grown steadily. I made it my full-time career in 2022 and I have been so lucky to have worked on many exciting projects. There are now over 300 products to shop from, my work has been stocked in over 100 gift shops across the country, I’ve created bespoke merchandise ranges for clients including Shetland Wool Week and I get to do what I love for a living.