When I was 9, my dad caught me sitting out at the back of our house quietly drawing our neighbour’s house across the road. Years later he would take this drawing out from a box in the storage and tell me how shocked he was that I could capture all the details of that neighbour’s house.
It’s lovely to have you here, welcome! I am a professional calligrapher, bottle painting artist and engraver based in Ealing, London. I specialise in elevating your brand, events and weddings through my art, adding that luxury detail and fine touch to blow your guests away.
MEET MICHELLE,
London Calligrapher & Artist
A bit about me
01. A LIFELONG DOODLER
I’ve always been that girl who would scribble and doodle on everything. Whether it was a napkin, a takeaway coffee cup or a banana, I could not contain the urge to get my pen out and make some marks. I eventually learnt to carry around a sketchbook and pens, which helped!
02. THE BUSINESS LIFE
Most people are surprised to find out that Willow Rose Studio is actually my third business baby! I also run an escape room business which hit 6-figures revenue in the first 4 months and I then went on to co-found the award-winning The Nook, a yoga & wellness studio.
03. MY LITTLES
If you follow me on Instagram you will often hear me talk about my ‘littles’ – my cheeky 4 year old, Oliver, and feisty 1 year old, Caitlin. They keep me on my toes and are the absolute loves of my life. And of course they love hanging out in my studio, though I barely get much done whenever they are around!
My Story
He found a local artist who specialised in watercolours, and I would then spend every Friday night of my teenage years painting with him. Growing up however, art was always just a hobby. Nobody around me wanted to be an artist and I never saw it as a career choice.
At 17, despite wanting to be an artist and musician all my throughout my childhood, I flipped a coin and picked engineering to study in university. Which led to me spending nearly a decade as a Process Engineer and working in client management.
In early 2017 I finally left the world of engineering to build my first business alongside my husband Jonathan, which we then expanded to be the largest in the region by the following year. In 2019 we founded our second business, a now award-winning business we launched when I was 8 months pregnant with my first child.
I found the process of building businesses so creative, challenging and I could also use the skills I had gained working with clients on multi-billion pound projects during my corporate life.
But the lockdowns forced us to shut our businesses temporarily and it was during this time that I properly picked up my calligraphy pen and paintbrushes again, and decided to create Willow Rose Studio. I knew I was finally on the right path in my life.
Today I spend my days writing calligraphy for brands, creating wedding stationery for lovely couples and engraving bottles for corporate events, alongside running my other businesses and juggling two little ones. Some days are chaotic and it's a struggle more than a juggle, but I absolutely love what I do and wouldn't have it any other way.
I was doing well in in my senior role and was quite good at my job, and for the most part it was cushy.
But something was missing. I yearned for that something more.
I knew I had a creative soul and had to feed it, so I signed up to every creative workshop I could find in London - silversmithing, ceramic painting, live portraits, and in 2015 I attended my first calligraphy workshop.
I loved it and it became a hobby alongside my busy corporate job.
Things you might not know about me...
I am wildly afraid of heights, and I do my best to avoid it even if it means admiring the views “from down here”
I can’t resist a good cheese platter. Or chocolate - of most kinds.
‘I can’t swim or ice-skate, but I am hypermobile and can be scarily flexible!’
I have a diploma in Piano and musicianship from when I was 16, but I don’t do anything very musical these days!’
