We Made It: Our Year In Review
2017 is the year we took a huge leap of faith in order to make our dreams a reality.
Our entire childhood is a montage of getting stuck in, being creative, and making up elaborate stories together. Then in 2011, whilst studying at Sixth Form, we penned the name Buttercrumble. We shared our creations as Buttercrumble for fun and feedback before studying at the University of Leeds. This is where we had our Eureka moment! We could do what we love and support others whilst creating a living for ourselves.
We were brought up in a small seaside town where we had no business network and no investment so we had to start at the very beginning. It was the support of our university, family and previous employers that allowed us to launch Buttercrumble. They made it happen but it's the wonderful people we met this year who helped us sustain and grow.
Here's how we made it - one year in business - our year in review.
January
February
January
Abigail (being the brave one) had the courage to leave her agency role in December 2016. The Butter to the Crumble took the helm to guide Buttercrumble to success in January, helping some lovely clients onboard.
February
We teamed up with the supportive Studio12 to speak at Leeds Arts University. In addition to returning to The University of Leeds to talk about our design experiences. Thanks guys!
March
April
March
Abigail did an amazing job leading Buttercrumble through the winter but it was finally time for the Butter to meet the Crumble (creating a rumble in the process 👍). Cue Chloe to the stage. We completed an exhibition, workshop and two live illustration performances in March.
April
Wearable Histories launched, a collection of limited edition silk scarves, that received national press coverage. The project introduced us to friend and fellow biz-boss - Lucy Jones - who has supported us with our photography this year.
May
June
May
We slayed a dragon of a project with our 20㎡ medieval board game at The Royal Armouries. The fun continued at Leeds Dock with our illustrated map that features around Leeds.
June
We celebrated National Freelancer's Day as IPSE's Freelancer of the Year finalists. We had a glitzy night in London with some amazing entrepreneurs - holla!
July
August
July
We returned to The Big Smoke in July to perform live illustration at Bubble London. We illustrated 180 children, buyers and influencers at the Business Design Centre. In addition, we shared our branding know-how with a seminar to kids industry experts. Shoutout to all you lovely faces we illustrated!
August
It was time to reflect on eight months in business and the wonderful support network we had built. We coordinated the guerrilla newspaper, Sketcheasy, with creatives for creatives.
September
October
September
We collaborated with one of our favourite brands, Anthropologie, to inject some customer interactivity into their Leeds' store. We invited customers to illustrate and create stylish paper dolls inspired by the in-store collections.
October
As winners of art&'s RAW Talent award we performed live illustration at their York show. This marked the completion of their mentoring scheme we benefited from along with 11 other artists who have been an absolute joy to meet.
November
December
November
Alegre Media x Buttercrumble - a collaboration that will soon be landing on our portfolio - watch this space!
December
We ended the year by travelling over 1050 miles with a monster named Moz. We certainly didn't have this in mind when we started the year but what an amazing surprise it was! We loved partnering with John Lewis to celebrate their hotly anticipated Christmas campaign.
We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone we've met and worked with this year. We couldn't do it without you! Here's to building long-term working relationships with brands and people we love.
Happy New Year!
