Kilcoe Studios

The West Cork studio where wild 
 flowers become beautiful cards

From watercolour flowers to sustainable packaging, Sonia Caldwell’s business proves that greeting cards can be both beautiful and environmentally conscious.

In the artistic heartland of West Cork, Sonia Caldwell’s Kilcoe Studios celebrates the intersection of nature and craft, transforming native plants into delicate watercolour greeting cards, calendars, and prints.

The venture began modestly in 2012 with a collaboration that would set the course for everything that followed. “The Kilcoe Studios calendar started as a project with Brown Envelope Seeds,” Sonia recalls. “I did some illustrations for their catalogue and we thought that as it is such a seasonal business it would be nice to do a calendar while we were at it.”

That first calendar focused on fruits and vegetables, but over subsequent years Sonia’s artistic compass shifted towards Ireland’s native plants. “I am an artist who is interested in plants but I have no academic expertise so am very much an amateur observer,” she explains. “The annual exploration of new plants is so fascinating and there is so much to learn.”

Botanical Artwork

What began as a calendar evolved to include greeting cards, allowing the botanical artwork to reach an even wider audience throughout the year. Operating from both the original Kilcoe location near Skibbereen and a newer workspace in Ballydehob, the business has steadily grown while maintaining its intimate connection to the West Cork landscape.

Sonia’s creative process is shaped by the rhythms of the seasons and the discoveries made on woodland walks. Each year, she commits to painting twelve new images for the annual calendar, working from a theme and rough plan that remains flexible enough to accommodate serendipitous finds.

“I always pick a small amount and take it back to my studio where I paint it indoors, and in many cases the final images are made up of different times I pick the plant,” Sonia explains. “My style is similar to traditional botanical style but with less emphasis on scientific detail and more on the habitat.” The research extends beyond the visual. Sonia delves into the folklore and history surrounding each plant she depicts, adding layers of cultural meaning to her watercolours. 

Green To The Core

Sustainability is fundamental to how the business operates. “When I started Kilcoe Studios there was never a question of using plastic in my packaging,” Sonia states firmly. All cards and calendars are printed on FSC certified paper, envelopes come from a UK supplier using recycled paper, and the boxes are made from post-consumer waste. Even the plastic covers for some products aren’t plastic at all - they’re PLA made from corn starch and suitable for home composting.

“I go the extra mile in other things too,” Sonia adds. “We use refillable ink pens and not disposable biros. The tape for packaging is also paper-based and compostable.” Printing is handled by City Print, a family business in Cork city, keeping the supply chain local and personal.

Postal Lifeline

For Kilcoe Studios, An Post is a crucial business partner. The relationship became especially vital during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Sonia found herself at the village post office three or four times a week. “Our local postmistress worked hard to keep it open while other rural post offices closed down,” she recalls. “It was then that I decided I would rent a workspace in Ballydehob. One reason was that I could walk to the post office to deliver orders.”

That Ballydehob workspace now serves as the dispatch hub for both wholesale boxes to shops and smaller online orders, testament to how integral reliable postal service is to a rural creative business.

The business has grown organically through wholesale relationships with shops. Marketing focuses primarily on the annual calendar launch, supplemented by social media when time allows. In the shop, tourists and the Irish diaspora, drawn to images of native plants that evoke home. Gorse, that bright yellow symbol of Irish hedgerows, proves particularly popular.

Sympathy Cards

Kilcoe Studios focuses mostly on blank cards. “I know many people use them for sympathy cards,” Sonia notes. “After that, they are used for everything.” The Christmas season is very busy, both for card sales and the calendar, and Sonia sees deeper significance in the tradition. “Winter is a time to reflect and take stock, and that includes the people in our lives. A card can contain a handwritten message, and maybe we should do that more - add in a little message,” she reflects. 

Kilcoe Studios cards are available online at www.kilcoestudios.com and at the workshop in Ballydehob.