International Women's Day 2024

To celebrate International Women's Day, Rosie and Cath sat down to share the history of the female-founded, female-led small business, and to highlight some of the brilliant female artists we work with. Watch the conversation between Rosie and Cath below or read on for the highlights.

In the early 80’s, Cath turned her love of photography and politics and her hobby of physical photomontage into a business – she printed her work onto postcards and sold them to alternative bookshops across the UK. Soon she found there was a rich community of feminist cartoonists whose work aligned with hers, and she began to amplify their voices by publishing their work on postcards. Cath's presence in the community eventually worked towards an exhibition of women cartoonists, and the production of her book The Inking Woman, co-authored between Cath and Nicola Streeten. The Inking Woman book and exhibition was a celebration of over 150 female cartoonists from the eighteenth century to present day.

Fast forward 40 years, with Cath’s daughter Rosie now at the forefront of the business, we’re still avid believers of supporting women cartoonists and artists, and we currently publish a wide variety of women cartoonists, artists, illustrators, and designers.

From cartoonists like Judy Horacek, The Surreal McCoy and Amy Hwang, to artists and illustrators like Max Made Me, Hot Foils, Veronica Dearly and Jelly Armchair and designers like our in-house designer Claire – we support and represent an ever-growing range of styles from women of all ages.

We've come a long way since Cath's kitchen table 40 years ago, but celebrating and amplifying the voice of women artists has always been at the core of our business, and as we keep growing as a publisher, it will remain at the heart of the way we work. We wouldn’t be where we are without the women we’ve worked with along the way, and we won’t be changing anytime soon!