Sussex calligrapher talks about appearance on Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: ‘I can’t believe I’ve got a signed Little Book Of Calm’

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An East Grinstead based calligrapher and wedding stationer will be appearing on Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation this month.

The Letterpress episode of the TV programme airs on Sky Arts on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm), and features Florrie de Havilland, owner and creator of de Havilland Memories. Visit dehavillandmemories.com.

Florrie, 31, said she was thrilled to get on the show. “I’m a massive Bill Bailey fan,” she said, adding that it was ‘incredible’ to meet the comedian in person.

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Florrie explained that her business offers wedding stationery, signage and calligraphy, as well as watercolour commissions. She said she is one of only two calligraphers who have been accepted into the Guild of Master Craftsmen.

East Grinstead based wedding stationer and letterpress printer Florrie de Havilland will be on Bill Bailey's Master Crafters: The Next Generation on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm, Sky Arts)East Grinstead based wedding stationer and letterpress printer Florrie de Havilland will be on Bill Bailey's Master Crafters: The Next Generation on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm, Sky Arts)
East Grinstead based wedding stationer and letterpress printer Florrie de Havilland will be on Bill Bailey's Master Crafters: The Next Generation on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm, Sky Arts)

She said: “I’ve just finished a watercolour painting to go on the back of an invitation – a watercolour map for a customer. It all sort of goes in together and then once I’ve finished their invitations then they normally book me to do all of the welcome signs and menus.”

Florrie said she set up her business up in September 2023 having previously been an an engineer. She said: “I fell ill in 2018 and I had a lot of time – I was off work for two years – just to think about what it was that I wanted to do. I knew the engineering I was doing wasn’t giving me the creative outlet I needed. I really wanted to start doing something creative, like calligraphy, watercolour based.”

Florrie said she got another engineering job when she was better but said the occasional 16-hour days were tough so she decided to go full time on her letterpress business instead. She moved back to the UK last year, having spent almost eight years living in Germany and working as an engineer in the space sector. She explained that she had also worked for six months at a family-run print shop, where she learned skills like printing invitations.

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Florrie said: “They had a letter press machine, like one that I have now, and so I said ‘right, I’d like to do a course on this.”

East Grinstead based wedding stationer and letterpress printer Florrie de Havilland will be on Bill Bailey's Master Crafters: The Next Generation on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm, Sky Arts)East Grinstead based wedding stationer and letterpress printer Florrie de Havilland will be on Bill Bailey's Master Crafters: The Next Generation on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm, Sky Arts)
East Grinstead based wedding stationer and letterpress printer Florrie de Havilland will be on Bill Bailey's Master Crafters: The Next Generation on Tuesday, December 17 (7pm, Sky Arts)

“It’s been invaluable to my business,” she added.

Florie said she got involved Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters after seeing a poster for the casting call on Facebook. She wrote her email and they invited her to apply to be on the show. In the programme three junior crafters learn the letter press in a barn from two master crafters who show them techniques and set them a challenge. There is also an experience day where the participants learn a similar skill.

Florrie said there were three filming days earlier this year. She said: “The first day of filming was going to mid Wales and we learnt some lino printing, which was very interesting. I haven’t done that since I was at school and I swore to never do it again!”

The second day involved the crew coming to Florrie’s house. She said: “They came to places of inspiration and just did filming of me and my surroundings. Then the last day was actually in the barn for the challenge, which was where Bill Bailey was with the two master letterpress printers.”

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Being a fan of the cult comedy show Black Books, Florrie decided to try something funny herself.

She said: “I found that you could buy The Little Book Of Calm – I didn’t realise it was an actual book.”

Fans of the sitcom will recognise this as the tiny book that Bailey’s character Manny accidentally swallows in the first episode. Florrie, who describes herself as ‘the least smooth person ever’ said: “I managed to go up to Bill Bailey at lunchtime. There was a unique opportunity that arose where it was just the two of us and the other people were talking. So I could go up to him and I said ‘oh, you know Bill, I’m actually really quite stressed. I’m getting a bit nervous about this and I don’t really know what to do’.”

She continued: “You could tell he was thinking ‘why is she coming to me about this?’”

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At that point Florrie ‘whipped out’ her Little Book Of Calm, much to the delight of the TV star. She said they then had a great chat about ‘everything under the sun’, including the TV shows Bill Bailey had been on, as well as concerts, calligraphy and crafts.

Florrie said she also got her book autographed: “He signed it! I can’t believe I’ve got a signed Little Book Of Calm from Bill Bailey.”

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