Illustrating Small Business Saturday 2015

Hi everyone! So it's Small Business Saturday 2015 and I'm down in London celebrating it after a huge #SmallBiz100 Christmas fair and celebration in Westminster yesterday.

Today (as I pledged in this article in The Guardian) I'm going to be celebrating the variety and diversity of the small businesses and entrepreneurs in the UK through illustration. We're an incredibly important bunch, and I really think small businesses are worth supporting and recognising, so I've decided to create a series of illustrations inspired by real-life SmallBiz100 companies!

In November I wrote a quick post in the SmallBiz100 Alumni group asking for a little summary of everyone's businesses, helping me grab a little inspiration for my illustrations, and the response was overwhelming! 

There are honestly so many exciting, varied and incredible companies springing up across the country (from forensic educators to candle-makers!) and I quickly picked a few that I thought would capture the diversity of all these amazing entrepreneurs. 

I've posted the full collection here, but I'll be putting these out over the course of the day on my Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr using the #SmallBizSatUK hashtag! So keep an eye out for those. 

I also really, really, really recommend you take a quick look on the Small Business Saturday website and, well, go out right now and see what your local small businesses are doing for the day! Support them, celebrate them, and take a second to reflect on the fact that if you wanted to start up your own business today, to follow your dream, we'll all be cheering you on!

A huge thank you to the Small Business 100 companies that helped inspire these illustrations - Town Mill Cheese, Agile Administration, Golden Hare Gallery, Serendipity Jewellery, Aspect Makeup, Fifth Dimension Chocolates, Ma Baker, Smart Little Web, Frou Frous Cakes, Bils & Rye Gallery, Virtuoso Assistant and Acorn Gallery!