Last week we highlighted how alumna, Sarah Turner (née Bolster, DAHS 1998), has had to adapt her sustainable business Little Beau Sheep to the current challenges of the pandemic. This week we are continuing this conversation with alumna Ellie Pryer (DAHS 2011). A Fine Art graduate from the University of Oxford, Ellie launched ERA Calligraphy and Stationery Studio two years ago.

We spoke to Ellie about her business and how she has overcome the many challenges during lockdown, she said: “Since 2018, the business has evolved to include three main areas of work; luxury wedding stationery, corporate calligraphy (for clients including Cartier, Sotheby’s and Boodles), and teaching Modern Calligraphy workshops. However, all of these areas of business are events based, and rely on people being allowed to gather in groups, whether for weddings, corporate events, or calligraphy workshops.

“In early spring when Coronavirus and the resulting lockdown happened, it quickly became clear that I needed to find an alternative way to run my business until my normal work could resume. I realised that with millions of people being confined to their homes, calligraphy was the perfect relaxing, mindful distraction from the uncertainty that we faced, so I modified my Modern Calligraphy workshop format to create a Modern Calligraphy Kit for people to order to learn calligraphy from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

“The kit includes all of the tools, equipment and worksheets that I provide in my normal workshops, as well as a 40 minute video tutorial to allow people to follow along with the demonstrations in the video and the instruction on the worksheets too. Although recent months have brought so many challenges with them, I cannot wait for my usual corporate and wedding work to resume; the lockdown has really demonstrated the flexibility that I have as a small business owner to adapt to the changing times.”

Learn modern calligraphy with Ellie here.