Hi, I’m Julia Griffith, a writer, artist, illustrator, maker of things, collector of ideas and the person responsible for every little hand drawn detail in my fantasy shop that you’ve just wandered into.
Hope’s Books grew from a fairly simple belief: that books, pictures and small everyday objects can make us smile, make us think, bring back a memory or sometimes just make an ordinary day feel a little bit nicer. I’ve never been terribly interested in creating things simply because they are fashionable. I tend to make the things that make me feel something or make me stop and think, Oh, I like that.
I write children’s books, reflective books for grown-ups and nostalgic books that take people wandering back through earlier decades. I will only write about things that can help someone. For example the children’s books all have learning as their basis and that is then hidden in a wonderful story with pages to colour in. I also draw and paint sometimes with a serious idea behind the picture, sometimes because something has made me laugh and occasionally because an idea has arrived in my head and absolutely refuses to leave until I do something with it.
A lot of my work starts with real life: people I’ve met, places I’ve loved, things I’ve noticed, conversations I’ve remembered and quite often involving a certain English Cocker Spaniel called Hope. Hope has gradually worked her way from family dog to book character, model, shop mascot and she even sits on her throne at our monthly market stall. If we’re being entirely truthful she is the senior management.
I like things with a bit of heart. I like humour that doesn’t shout. I like artwork that makes people feel something, books people want to pick up again and gifts that mean a little more because there is a story behind them.
And that is really what Hope’s Books is, a collection of stories, pictures, thoughts and bits of imagination gathered together in a one of a kind little shop filled with my original art and my slightly unusual imagination. I don’t want to follow the crowd to an impersonal preset temples online shop focussing on efficiency and profit. I want you to experience something different, personal and handmade.
Have a browse around the rooms, just as you would in a real shop. Stay as long as you like.
Take care
Julia x
Everyone needs a little Hope in their lives.
