Menu
Penguin came about when I wasn’t feeling too creative at work one day and on my long commute home, I doodled a penguin saying “hello” in my notebook. He then became a regular doodle in my notebook doing all sorts on that commute; sometimes I’d be snowed under with work, so I’d draw him behind a big stack of paper, almost helping me out. Other times, it’d be a rainy London day and so I’d draw him sunbathing on a beach or my personal favourite, floating away with a bunch of balloons to get away from it all.
Penguin then evolved from doodles in my notebook to featuring in his own calendar, that I gifted to family and friends in 2014. It only took many of my family saying “you should sell these,” two years and a redundancy later that I created the Penguin calendar for 2017 and the rest, as they say, is history.
I believe in the importance of celebrating the smallest moments throughout every day, whether you’re counting down to a big trip, planning your next exciting project, completing your to-do list, or celebrating a friend’s birthday with a card and a lovely note in the post.
My shop combines my two passions, my love of paper and of creativity. I now create a wide range of cute and colourful products, including calendars, notepads, greeting cards, postcards and pin badges. Most of which feature my cute mischievous penguin character. My aim is that when my products arrive through your letterbox they bring a smile to your face, whether they are a gift for a friend or for yourself.
I’m Sian, the designer behind Shiny Shrimp. I have loved to draw and play with paper for as long as I can remember. You’d regularly find me in the art & crafts area at nursery school, I’d create magazines for a readership of one (my sister) telling of all the gossip amongst our teddies and as soon as I found that you could draw for a living by being an illustrator or designer, that was decided!
I studied an Art & Design Foundation at the University of Hertfordshire and graduated in 2010 from the University of Wales, Newport (now University of South Wales) with a BA Hons in Graphic Design. Since then, I’ve worked at print management and marketing agencies in London, working on many corporate, financial, sport and charity design projects before going freelance in 2016, when I started creating for my online stationery shop in earnest.
Some highlights have included a collaboration with Pink Coat Club and subsequent mention in Love Sewing magazine, two successful Kickstarter Campaigns, 124 current products in my shop, 1450 sales on Etsy (at time of writing!), many in-person craft fairs and participated in my first online Christmas markets in 2020.
Please take a look at my shop for a variety of cute and colourful gifts and cards or the blog for a peek behind the scenes. Simply get in touch if you’d like to work together.
Sign up for The Penguin Post, which is my monthly newsletter where you’ll be the first to hear about new products, sneak peeks and offers.