Meeting Jenny Maizels
We spend all of our time extolling the virtues of North Wales. When that place is your home, and is as varied and beautiful as North Wales is, it isn’t a hard job! However, we can get a little tired of our own voices. So I was thrilled to discover that Jennie Maizels, the successful illustrator and founder of the Sketchbook Club, is also a huge fan of the area.
So don’t just take our word for it. Here’s why Jennie loves this corner of the British Isles!
Loving North Wales
Jennie’s family hail from Menai Bridge on Anglesey. In fact her grandfather, Glynn Jones, was a long-serving Mayor of the town.
“North Wales feels like my spiritual home. As a child, I spent every holiday in my grandparents’ cottage on the banks of the Menai Straits. I now stay in my Mother’s house in Llangoed when I visit, where my two teenage daughters are obsessed with White Beach – we have spent days there! “
Jennie’s mum, Maggie Jones Maizels has also had a successful career illustrating and lecturing: “The only time we can’t visit is when my mother takes part in the Open Studios for Anglesey Art Week, when she fills her house with her beautiful paintings of Welsh cottages on slate.”
“It is so rare to get isolation and peace in this busy world. Anglesey still offers incredible beauty without the crowds. Our favourite places are Penmon Lighthouse, Beaumaris for its shops, cafes and fish and chips on the pier, Red Wharf Bay and surfing in Rhosneigr. It has also become a tradition that we climb Snowdon at each visit, the views from the top are so stunning. We love eating out at Dylan’s in Menai Bridge after a quick drink at The Gazelle to watch the sunset.
I love to paint and draw around the island, the light is very special. It is no surprise that so many artists have chosen Anglesey as their home.”
All about Jennie Maizels
Jennie Maizels was born in London in 1970 and, rather excitingly, her first commission was to design and make the window displays of Harvey Nichols department store as part of London fashion week! She also created displays for The Body Shop and Dillons Bookstores, before her interests in working in 3-D lead her to creating pop-up books.
After leaving college, a chance introduction to Kate Petty, a talented children’s book writer, proved to be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership – a total of eight books over sixteen years. With over a million copies sold worldwide, it’s no wonder I already had a copy of one of her books, in this case ‘The Global Garden,’ on my own daughter’s bookshelf!
In 2009, with 20 years of pop-up books under her belt, Jennie turned her creative talents to iron-on patches. With two young daughters, and not being able to sew, she was looking for something fun and pretty she could iron over any holes that appeared in their clothes. At the time, the only patches that were available were rather dull and tucked away in haberdashery departments.
Having re-invented this simple product, the iron-on patch is now everywhere! With stockists including Liberty and The Conran Shop, and a growing distribution network around the globe, Jennie loves seeing how creative people are using the patches – from personalising pencils cases to customising Converses.
Most recently, Jennie has been keen to get others enjoying her passion for illustration and creating wonderful sketchbooks – something that she always does when on holiday. The Sketchbook Club was born.
If you have an urge to be creative, but don’t know where to start, or as Jennie puts it – “have a fear of the blank page” – then the Sketchbook Club is for you. Jennie talks you through how to start and introduces techniques and skills to help you along the way. You can either subscribe to Jennie’s online modules, or head along to one of her workshops.
Jennie lives in Hampshire with her husband Marcus, daughters Millie and Rosie, a clowder (yes, that is the collective noun….I just had to look it up!) of cats and a dog called Dotty.
Visit Jennie’s website for further details of those wonderful iron-on patches, the Sketchbook Club and much more.
If you would like to come on holiday, and see for yourself why Jennie Maizels loves North Wales so much, view our selection of holiday cottages here.
