Meet Amber Cooper-Davies, paper-cut illustrator, bookbinder and experienced teacher. Amber has a host of other craft skills, including Pyrography and Glass Etching, where she shows her beautiful drawing skills too. She joined London Craft Club as a craft teacher in 2017, and is also now the creative behind our sister company Craft Work. Over tea I asked her some questions about her creative life.

Sonia: How would you describe your style?
Amber: I love bright colours and bold patterns; it's part of what has drawn me to working with paper- the spontaneity of just throwing things together and seeing how they come out! I enjoy laying out my options, swapping elements in and out and then getting down to the nitty gritty of settling the intricate details.

Sonia: What's the strangest thing you've made?
Amber: I’ve made lots of strange things over the years, I particularly like experimenting with paper to see what kind of structures can be incorporated into my books, but I’d have to say the strangest things I ever made were during my ‘postcard’ phase! A friend and I initially sent regular postcards we thought were weird or funny to each other, but things escalated to the point where I found myself writing my message in white pen on the reel inside a VHS tape, or on long colourful strips hidden in a homemade matchbox camera!

Sonia: If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?
Amber: If I wasn’t doing this, I think I’d probably like to do something practical, like being a carpenter or mechanic- I don’t think I could leave my putting-things-together instinct behind (I love constructing IKEA furniture!) It’d also be really lovely to work as part of a team as sometimes being a creative freelancer can get a little lonely, which is why I find it so refreshing to teach my skills to others.

Find out more about Amber here

Instagram @amberillustrati

Twitter @amberillustrati

Facebook @craftsamber