Laura Stoddart knew that she wanted to be an illustrator by the time she was eleven years old. Her mother and great aunt were both illustrators so in some ways you could call it the family business. But it wasn’t until she went to art school in Brighton, followed by a masters at the Royal College of Art, that she began to develop her own unique style. Inspired by nature, antiques and certain periods of fashion, she is particularly known for her exquisitely dressed figures carrying giant flowers and outsized objects such as balloons and presents.

Her very first commission after leaving the Royal College in 1996 was to illustrate the Royal Mail Christmas stamps, the youngest professional artist ever to do so. As a freelancer, she went on to create instantly recognizable images for clients such as Crabtree & Evelyn, Gardens Illustrated, Vogue Entertaining, Kate Spade, Portmeirion, the RHS and Unicef, before setting up her own company in 2016.

Laura lives on the Devon/Somerset border with her husband, also an artist, their two children, two Bedlington terriers, Birdie and Violet, and a cat called Dot. When she’s not working, she can often be found trying to tame the somewhat wild garden around her house or rooting around local antique markets for items to add to her many collections.