After deciding to turn her crochet hobby into a business, Jo Bunclark of Marlow and Chestnut began collaborating with an unlikely partner – her own five-year-old daughter!
After being introduced – and re-introduced – to crochet by her mum, Jo Bunclark honed her skills and now runs her own crochet business, Marlow and Chestnut. Her children are her main inspiration and her designs reflect that – she’s a master designer of cute and quirky amigurumi stuffed animals, all worked in a muted and stylish colour palette. Jo has juggled a lot in the last few years, with the pandemic affecting her main source of income, but she’s remained determined to see this as a chance to live her dream of running a successful crochet business.
Jo’s crochet journey has been a long one. She recalls struggling away at her childhood hooky projects under her mother’s tutelage. “To say I was useless is an understatement,” she laughs. “No matter how many ways she explained it, I honestly couldn’t work it out!”
Fast-forward to 2016, and a pregnant Jo decided to give crochet another go. “I was already in a state of shock, as I’d been previously told I couldn’t have children. I was desperate to make a baby blanket. My mum suggested trying crochet one more time, and I did. She deserved a medal for her patience! My passion grew and grew from there. This time it made a whole lot more sense. Perhaps it was having someone to crochet for.”
And once daughter Evie – now five – arrived, with son Teddy later joining the family, Jo took to crochet like never before. Already a keen artist, she developed the skills to sketch, design and then make her own toys. This grew into Marlow and Chestnut on Etsy, a place to buy patterns and toys handmade by Jo. “Marlow and Chestnut originated from two illustrations I did – one of a Red Panda and the other of a Monkey. We just put a load of names in a hat and picked two out. Quite random, really, but the names suit them really well,” she explains.
PASSING IT DOWN
The enterprise quickly became a family affair, with Evie sketching alongside her mum. Evie is listed on the Etsy page as an ‘assistant, inspiration and chief toy cuddler’.
“Seeing Evie’s face when her ideas come to life is priceless,” says Jo. “She’s always coming up with things that inspire me and ways to improve my designs. Her ideas are brilliant! I can’t wait for little Teddy to start sketching out his ideas, too.”
Design has long been Jo’s passion, an
