A new studio - first peek!
Once again, I found myself moving furniture around the house, and setting up a new studio. Hopefully, for the last time, since I’ve ran out of bedrooms to use… but a loft renovation is on the horizon, so who knows?
The first light tests at the table I’ll use for close-up food & product photography
If you’re new here, here’s what’s going on:
2021-2023: I used to have a leathercraft workshop downstairs, in the rooms that are now our livingroom & diningroom. I worked full time with my husband, creating beautiful leather goods by hand for our brand Minustudio.co.
Early 2023: opened our coffee shop called Howling Wolf (Ben’s dream has always been to have his own cafe/restaurant). We put leathercraft on hold. I was planning on returning to it after a few months of helping set up the coffee shop. However, the coffee shop proved a great success and it grew quickly, leaving no time for my passion for leathercraft.
Late 2023 - I decide to downsize to a smaller studio, since my brother shared a house with us, and the 3 of us had no space to relax into after a long shift at the coffee shop. Moved to the ‘box room’ upstairs with the intention to carry on working on my leathercraft business whenever I could step away from the coffee shop, whilst Ben will remain devoted full time to Howling Wolf. Turned the downstairs rooms into dining/ livingroom.
Early 2024 - I’m still working full time at the coffee shop, and I’m managing a team of 10 -12 employees. I’m making time for photography, a branch of Minustudio.co, but I can’t find the energy or inspiration for leathercraft anymore so I decide to put my shop on hold and focus all my attention exclusively on photography
Mid/late 2025 - after a few big photography campaigns and a whole year of trying to heal from burnout, I slowly start pulling away from the coffee shop, delegating more, and retreating into my tiny studio as much as possible
September 2025 - I’m again a full time creative, with admin-only contributions to the coffee shop. Since my brother has moved to his own house, we decided it’s time for me to move my studio to the guest bedroom that’s been sat vacant since 2024.
As we set it up and saw myself into this much bigger, brighter room with soft Northern light and a view of our garden and the fields beyond, I saw myself dreaming of old passions again. Whilst photography remains my one big, burning passion, I am slowly planning a small collection of leather goods to be released later in autumn. I don’t envision returning to leathercraft as my main creative outlet, but I want to keep that pursuit alive, through a few small, intentional shop drops throughout the year.
If you have been following my journey in the past few years and shared my heartbreak as I had to give up that business I built from scratch over the length of 8 years, I hope you will share with me the joy of this new, small beginning!
There are still so many more leather camera straps, journal covers and other beautiful things I want to make and photograph, so make sure you follow @minustudio.co on Instagram for more updates about the next shop drop!
Thank you for reading this far, and for supporting me along this creative journey! From leathercraft, to product, lifestyle and food photography, coffee shop shenanigans and all the small moments in between, these past few years have been an intense rollercoaster and I am looking forward to a softer lifestyle in the months (and years!) to come!
