Landscape inspires graphic designer’s business start-up
SEEING the wonders of the world made graphic artist Lisa Poulsen realise there was no place like home and she has set up a business, Inspired by Caithness.
The 27-year-old, from Thurso, returned from her travels and decided, while on maternity leave last year, to give up her job at a local kitchen design studio to start a company that would sell her locally-inspired art.
Now Lisa, who turned her entrepreneurial dream into a reality with help from Business Gateway Highlands, has secured her first order from the Castle of Mey – just weeks after starting to trade. Its shop will now stock the contemporary image she has produced of the castle in greeting card and mounted art format.
The Napier University Design Futures graduate said: "The order from the Castle of Mey is great as it provides me with a platform to showcase my work to the thousands of people who visit the castle every week.
"My aim is to produce art that encapsulates the beauty of the landscape around me in a contemporary way, providing visitors, and locals, with an opportunity to buy something truly eye-catching that is inspired by and made in the region.
"Travelling made me realise how important Caithness is to me, but if it hadn’t been for Business Gateway I’d not have had the confidence to go it alone. I still remember the buzz I got from attending the start-up workshop – I was so excited and invigorated by it. My development officer has been wonderful. Her assistance with my business plan helped me see, in black and white, that running my own company didn’t just have to be a dream, and without the funding assistance, I wouldn’t be where I am now."
