Let your creativity RUN FREE
WHILE OTHER girls longed for Barbie dolls at Christmas, Joanne Hawker was busily circling every craft kit she could find in the Argos catalogue. It’s one of many childhood memories she has of her early passion for all things creative. Although using Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bath pens to doodle on the bathroom radiators didn’t perhaps go down that well with her mum.
Luckily for Joanne, however, her mother was also creative and helped to nurture the little girl’s fledgling talent. ‘When we were growing up, Mum was always drawing or doing needle punch [a type of embroidery],’ she recalls. ‘My primary school was also very creative. We made curtains, tablecloths and candles. We also linoprinted, bound and pressed our own schoolbooks. I found the concept of being given [readymade] exercise books to write in very weird when I moved up to middle school!’
Today, Joanne has
