"Screen printing felt like coming home again" - A Day With Jane Foster

Jane’s 1960’s home could have easily been lifted straight from one of her illustrations. The most striking element? The bright red, retro KitKat machine that greeted us in her hallway as we walked in and what’s better, the machine still works – that is if you can get your hands on an old style 10p!

The inside of Jane’s home is everything you would expect from the queen of monochrome with all white interiors accentuated by touches black, yellow and red accents. It’s joyful; a treasure trove of mid-century nostalgia, filled with her collections of 1960’s toys, Gant boardgames and original Dick Bruner art.

Fair to say that red is the signature colour in Jane's studio.

Jane's iconic dog, beautifully letterpress printed on a square matchbox.

From a career in teaching music to rediscovering a love of screen printing, Jane’s journey took a creative turn after adopting her daughter. Wanting to work from home and to pour her energy into something she truly enjoyed, she stumbled across an evening class at a local studio in Brighton. “It felt like coming home again,” she told us, describing the moment she pulled her first print in years. These days, she prints most of her pieces from her garden workshop – a space filled with light, ink, and just the right amount of creative chaos. 

An abundance of designs in Jane's studio!

Yellow tips and yellow flowers.

Jane’s ground-floor office is where she works on all her children’s books – all 35 of them! Step into the garden and you’ll find her print studio, and beyond that, a final workshop, where her ideas come to life in every form imaginable.

She doesn’t really sketch, instead preferring to dive straight in with her trusty MUJI pen.

My brain doesn’t like to work with sketches because I can always tell they aren’t the finished article” she admits, “I would rather just start working on the finished project and see where it goes.

Archivist x Jane Foster letterpress notelet packs.

Madeleine enjoying unpacking Jane's new designs with her in the studio.

Spending the day in Jane’s home—surrounded by her creativity, colour, and utterly infectious personality—was the perfect way to get to know our newest collaborator. Her new monochrome matchboxes and notelets are now available, and we hope you find them just as joyful as we do.