Hayley, Derby’s Kiwi Kiwi and the Bear, chatted to us about running a “weird little colourful indie biz” with husband, Aaron (Bear). K&TB In 2015, it was started as a hobby., They now sell art prints and reusable face pads, scrunchies and pin pennants.…
I’ve always been a craft lover and loved trying new things until something finally stuck which turned out to be tie-dye. After spending several months tie-dying all the fabric I could see, I wanted to go one step further and add artwork to it. I learnt to hand embroider. The result was a wall of embroidery hoops that contained tie-dye, 2005 emo lyrics and a bit of Taylor Swift. That Taylor Swift hoop was quickly retired.
Around this time we invested in an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil, this right here was the game changing moment for me, I just didn’t know it yet. I started to drift over onto a blank canvas and began playing around with little doodles and eventually adding more art to my lettering which, was weird for me as drawing just wasn’t something I ever did – like, at all.
I didn’t study art, I didn’t consider myself artistic – crafty yes but artsy not at all. I was following IG tattoo artists and illustrators that I found inspiration from and at this point it occurred to me that I could contribute my artwork to the community. I was terrified of putting my drawings out there in the world.
It was when I discovered the amazing creative community on IG, that art could be anything I wanted it too. It could also mean whatever I wanted to it to mean to my life. Then I was free to create. I had the most amazing time and felt like I was exactly where I needed to be.
So in 2018 we decided to take Kiwi and the Bear a little more seriously, we wanted it to feel more like a brand, something that really reflected who we are – a couple of weirdos trying to live life a little more positively while still remaining sarcastic and foul mouthed. We wanted a place where we could be ourselves!
My illustrations were made available for purchase as prints along with the embroidery hoops. It felt so liberating, so fresh, so scary, and so exciting. As we made things in our home, we started to develop more products with our hand-dyed fabric. It’s selfish but it’s also the best way to find ‘your people’, those that love the same things as you, customers and friends and even better sometimes both!
Our new products and our new direction arrived at the right time. My chronic illness made it almost impossible for me to continue hand embroidery. I’ve had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since I was seven, two hip replacements and two shoulder replacements later, what hasn’t been replaced is painful and awkward and waiting to be replaced!
I dislocated my thumb while drying my hair, that’s all it took, they couldn’t get it back into place in A&E and soon after, I saw a specialist that showed me my x-ray, and explained that I actually had five chronic dislocations. I’d just learned to live with them. When you’ve been disabled since you were a kid you become really adaptable especially when you’re a stubborn Taurus, so when someone tells you that you can’t do something because of your disability you find ways around it. I couldn’t physically carry on with the hand embroidery, I was grateful we’d discovered things like our pennants and illustrations, so removing the hoops didn’t have to be the end for us, if anything it felt like the start of a new chapter and I found a way to keep drawing and making even with the dislocations.
When people realise I make and create what I do with my sad little hands they often don’t believe it, but for me it’s the most natural thing to keep going, stay positive and stay medicated. It’s also helpful to have a high level of pain tolerance. It also helps with really long tattoo sessions, I think nearly every tattoo artist I’ve spent time with has said that I sit like a rock, I mean come on I have to look for the positives in this disease right?
Positivity is a huge part of what we’re about as a brand, it’s strange to say as two emo kids in their 30s who almost always opt for black everything, but somewhere around my 30th birthday I wanted to be kinder to myself. Every day is a struggle for my body, so I wanted to be positive. At this point, I fell in love, out of my comfort zone, with colour. I had never been able to wear colour, so suddenly I was sporting fun dungarees. I realized I could be a vibrant emo. I found my sweet spot and I’ve stayed here ever since.
One of my most favorite tattoos was on my 30th birthday. It was an amazing moment in my life.
I used to leave gaps on my body for so long that I was afraid to go to a tattoo studio. However, when I turned 30, something changed. I began to love my body and not the disease that caused it.
I booked a session for a tattoo with Mike Love My first hand poke tattoo on the sternum was my first. I was truly, really pushing my limits. This piece is so important to me, it marks the beginning of a new era for myself, I faced my fears and got ‘1989’ hand poked into a space I never thought I’d be able to get tattooed, yes it’s my year of birth (I’m a proud 80s baby if only just clinging on to the very end of the 80s) but it’s also a nod to my favourite Swift album, and this one her legal team can’t take away.
Since I was 16 years old and Aaron was 17 years old, we have been together since then. Our tattoo journeys often end up intertwining. We have a few “couple tattoos”, for instance he has “Player 1’ on his inner wrist and I have “Player 2”. We’re huge nerds and play video games together any chance we get, and after 15 years together it feels pretty safe to include our story on each other’s bodies. We have plans to make a few matching pieces that tie in with our Walt Disney World memories. I showed Ariel my Ariel item, and Aaron showed Mary Poppins his umbrella and bag on our last Halloween trip. Lady Chappell Tattoos, yeah we’re those kinda nerds too, and it was so freaking magical!
The one thing I’ll always thank younger me for was being obsessed with filling my arms leaving my legs bare for when I was more educated about the industry. So my legs are home to my most favourite pieces that I’ve collected through my 20s, my absolute favourite is my Rachel Baldwin piece.
Tattoos have had a profound effect on my relationship to my body. I got tattooed as a teenager (I know, it’s embarrassing!) As a sick kid, I believe this was to gain some control over my body. I thought I had none.
Eventually getting grew into a way to love my body, my body art plays a huge part in my body confidence and I’m finally at a point of accepting that I’m like a colourful weird little marshmallow and proud.
Occasionally someone will ask why I describe myself as a marshmallow, it’s actually a kind of sneaky way to refer to myself as chubby (also fluffy, plump and pink it’s the actual food version of me). I don’t use it to replace chubby because I’m ashamed, because I’m not, it’s been a really long journey to dig who I am. I use it because when you refer to yourself as chubby or fat in a positive way, you’ll more than likely experience someone with good intentions trying to tell you you’re not fat. Most people have received an “omg you’re not fat babe” once in their chubby and proud lives, some people can’t see it as anything but a negative, so it’s easier for me to refer to myself as a “leel marshmallow” so I just get to live my fat and proud life. Marshmallows are cute, and it’s nice to see someone thinking of something pink or chubby.
We have many plans for Kiwi and Bear’s future. First, we will take a nap with the dogs, then we will celebrate our 15-year anniversary. Then we will continue adding illustrations to the shop. Hand lettering, illustration and custom dyed pennants are still available. Most items in the shop can be customized. I hope to continue doing freelance illustration for companies who share our values.
Our biggest goal is to create a zine on chronically ill people. This was something we began working on before everything got turned upside down. There’s also talk about possibly releasing our first ever pin, which makes sense with our ever growing collection. We are just trying to stay connected with the community that we love. Making the things we love and making new friends.
