Where tough topics meet tender hearts
Creative Educator | Workshop Facilitator | Illustrator
I throw creative mischief back at life's challenges. With a sewing machine, a gluestick, and a wardrobe full of hoarded fabrics.
UnlikelyGenius delivers creative workshops for all ages. Think heritage textiles. Sustainable making. Memory-keeping. The kind of hands-on, messy, creative time that reminds you who you are when life's thrown everything at you.
The Reality
Life throws things at us. Grief. Anxiety. Major life changes. Loss. The weight of everything. Occasionally a sniff of joy.
The traditional response? Move on. Get over it. Tick the box.
But that's not how humans actually heal. We heal through connection. Through play. Through creating something with our hands. Through time that's just... for us.
What We Do
Heritage textile and sustainable making workshops for people who want to show up, create something beautiful, and process life at the same time.
For all ages. For anyone. For the messy middle of being human.
We create space where:
🧵 You learn real skills (sewing, textile work, sustainable crafting)
🎨 You make something you're genuinely proud of (an ACTUAL thing)
💚 You connect with your hands, your creativity, your emotions
🌍 You do it sustainably (reclaimed fabrics, deadstock, zero waste thinking)
☕ You just... exist for a bit. Without pressure. Without performance.
Memory-making workshops. Heritage skills workshops. Sustainable textile sessions. Workshops rooted in story, creativity, and the understanding that making things is how we process life.
All designed around one simple truth: you're more capable than you think, and your hands remember things your brain forgets.
How This Works
We start with YOU. Your story. Your needs. What life's thrown at you. What you need to process or celebrate or just... survive.
Then we create. We use heritage textile skills, sustainable materials, and time-honoured craft techniques. But we do it TOGETHER, in a way that feels joyful, not preachy.
You leave with:
✅ A real thing you made — something uniquely YOURS
✅ New skills you can keep building
✅ Space you gave yourself to just be
✅ Connection — to the craft, to your emotions, to other people in the room
✅ The understanding that you ARE creative, you ARE capable, and your hands know what to do, even when you brain is doing more loops than a fighter jet.
The Workshops
Heritage Textile Workshops
Learn sewing, weaving, textile skills using reclaimed and deadstock fabrics. Build confidence. Make something beautiful.
Memory-Making Workshops
Transform treasured clothing and fabric into keepsakes. A longer series of sessions where you turn sentimental materials into something tangible. For bereavement, commemoration, life transitions.
Sustainable Making Sessions
Create from waste. Learn that beautiful things don't need new resources. Make tiles, cards, bookmarks, brooches from scraps. Prove to yourself that "waste" is just a story we tell.
Crafts & Creative Sessions
Whatever you need. Textile work, mixed media, hand-making. Rooted in YOUR story and needs.
All ages. All abilities. All welcome.
My services
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Workshops & Creative Learning
I design and deliver hands-on workshops that make learning feel like play - because that's when the magic happens.
Using creative making, storytelling, and a healthy dose of mess, I work with museums, heritage sites, schools, and community organisations to create experiences that stick.
Workshop themes:
- Textile crafts and sustainable making
- Creative writing and illustration
- Heritage and storytelling
Perfect for: Museums | Schools | Community groups | Heritage sites | Cultural venues
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Interactive resources
I specialise in creating the design and concepts for fun, interactive, educational books, games, toolkits, and learning resources.
Steeped in storytelling, quirky characters, creative thinking, and positive mindset development, I love adding puns, humour and wit too if that's your thing.
What I create:
- Educational games and activity books
- Climate and sustainability resources
- Mental health and wellbeing materials
- Neurodiversity and inclusion tools
- Resources that make difficult topics accessible
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Book illustration
I am fascinated by how storytelling and information is transformed into captivating visuals and admittedly, I hero-worship book illustrators.
If you have a non-fiction or children's book that needs illustrating (about the environment, animals, health, or wellbeing in particular), I'd love to chat with you about it.
Specialisms:
- Children's picture books
- Educational non-fiction
- First-time & self-publishing authors
- Environmental and nature topics
- Emotional literacy and mental health
Part of something bigger
UnlikelyGenius is one expression of Creative Mischief — three interconnected businesses, all throwing creative mischief back at life.
UnlikelyGenius throws creative mischief back at the tough stuff - grief, anxiety, and the idea that education has to be boring. Creative workshops, books, illustration, textile work
ISWaS throws creative mischief back at climate doom, passive learning, and the idea that young people don't care.
Lovely Magnifique throws creative mischief back at traditional weddings, cookie-cutter ceremonies, and anyone who says "but that's how it's done."
Same philosophy. Three different ways of showing up.
Creative mischief for the highs, lows and messy middle of life. 🩷
Ready to get mischievous?
Workshops are for all ages. All abilities. All emotions.
You don't need experience. You don't need to be "creative." You just need to be willing to show up and try.
Current clients & collaborations:
“It opened neurodivergent minds!”
Parent, Bradford Museum workshop
Featured interviews:
