Introducing Emma, the creative force behind the Meanjin/ Brisbane-based stationery and jewellery brand Fox & Cactus, along with her husband Tom. With their knack for crafting jewellery and stationery that'll make you giggle, Emma & Tom's creations are simply irresistible!
How do they do it you ask? Well it just so happens that they are both artists AND animators. They run the store out of their home in Queensland, Australia and spread colour & fun across the world online. Talk about couple goals!
Emma loves all things cute, bright, and happy with a sprinkle of sass and adorable grumpiness. She illustrates the majority of the artwork for the store, while Tom is the glue that stops Emma from falling apart and the creator of all their amazing 3D products.
We were lucky enough to sit down with Emma who spilled the beans on her creative process, where she goes to for inspiration and all the fun bits in between.
Keep on reading to hear all about the juicy deets!
"I love that I get to make people laugh with my art and that I get to draw butts on so many things and people are cool with it."
Finish this sentence. I feel the most myself when I'm...
Drawing funny and silly things. :)
What's one thing you couldn't live without?
Such a sappy answer but the other half of Fox & Cactus (and my husband), Tom. He hypes up everything I make and does all the hard behind the scenes work like cutting the stickers so I can have time to design even more stickers.
What are your passions outside of your small biz?
Pretty much all of my passions and interests became a part of my small business (oops) but I also do pole dancing as a hobby and my way of staying active. It’s super fun and a great way to build muscle (you can start with absolutely 0 upper body strength which is what I had lol).
Were you always the arty type? And if so, what is the first thing you remember making?
I have been into art and drawing for as long as I can remember! I was a big Neopets fangirl back in my early teenage years and would draw all of my pets for art contents. I even made a Neopets club at my school and we would hang out in the library drawing them (how embarrassing).
What sparked the beginning of Fox & Cactus?
I had been a planner girl since high school but knew nothing about planner stickers until a friend introduced me to an Australian Planner group on Facebook. I had no idea you could make your own stickers for anything you wanted and started by making myself bath bomb stickers (I was deep into my Lush obsession back in 2016). I posted my planner spreads in the Facebook group and people started asking me where I got them from because they wanted to buy some and it basically just snowballed from there!
The first Fox and Cactus product was actually hand cut dog stickers that I drew on my iPad, but after that did really well Tom convinced me to get a Silhouette cutting machine and we started making planner stickers to sell too!
"I get a lot of inspiration from TV shows, movies, and internet memes, but honestly the majority of my inspiration just comes from inside my very weird brain."
What do you most love about what you do?
I love that I get to make people laugh with my art and that I get to draw butts on so many things and people are cool with it.
What is your favourite Fox & Cactus creation at the minute?
I’m loving our “Hydrate You Hoe” vinyl sticker. It’s the right amount of insulting and motivating to get me to drink water. I’m also obsessed with the washi tape I’m creating for our anniversary event, but that’s not out yet so shh.
Where do you go to for inspiration?
I get a lot of inspiration from TV shows, movies, and internet memes, but honestly the majority of my inspiration just comes from inside my very weird brain.
What is something you wish people knew about what your products & what goes into making them?
Honestly I am such an open book on social media (probably too much so, oversharing club founder) that most people know everything about every process we do lol. But I do wish I could properly convey just how long my art takes me because I really am a perfectionist. And I don’t mean that as a flex, it’s actually really annoying and I wish I could work faster.
What has been a recent challenge that you've overcome in your small biz?
A less fun answer here but our home office was directly impacted by the tornado that hit the Gold Coast on Christmas and it made for a very rough start to 2024. The ceiling on both our office spaces were damaged and we had to reschedule our biggest event of the year (Boxing Day) until January. Thankfully everyone still showed up for it, but it was very stressful and our ceilings still need to be repaired. Never expected a tornado to be a challenge we would need to overcome for our biz lol.
What do you see in the future for Fox & Cactus?
Hopefully many more years of fun products (and many more drawings of butts)!