About

Paper and Pots was launched in September 2022 but used to be known as Today Sarah Made, which was founded in September 2020. During the pandemic, I publicly set myself the challenge to create something every day and it quickly caught a bit of a following and I started to get messages from friends asking if I would paint something for them. One friend asked for an illustrated map of Loughborough, where we studied for Uni, and afterwards he suggested that I could reproduce it and sell it on to other graduates. I'm very glad I took his advice, and the Loughborough Map became the first product in my online shop and I was surprised to find it sold really well! This was quickly followed by handmade facemasks, handpainted pots and scrunchies and then I started turning my digital artwork into printed products like notebooks and cards.

I've always hated waste and was a big time hoarder of all sorts of rubbish as a child (...still working on this as an adult), because I didn't like the idea of just throwing something away when it could be used to create something new. My most prominent memory of this was my "bottle top phase" when I refused to throw away any kind of bottle tops and collected them in colours. Eventually, after making a giant mosaic picture my parents convinced me to get rid of them, but that feeling of wanting to get every inch of use out of a material before retiring it has never left. As much as I can, I use recycled, or at least sustainable materials in my products, and upcycle old items into new ones. All my packaging is either reused or made from recycled materials as well, and if plastic has to be used then it is compostable.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for new items to go in the shop, so please do get in touch with any ideas!

Sarah x