THIS IS ME &

MY DESIGN AESTHETIC

Whilst we live in a world that's turning increasingly digital, but my heart still lies with beautiful, tactile paper.

I have a love for pairing traditional, luxury printing methods, such as hot foiling and letterpress, with contemporary design to create something truly magical - think 'classic reimagined'. I embrace trends, but I don't rely on them - at their core my designs focus heavily on both classic and more modern typography, layouts and carefully curated colour palettes to create an intentional, refined cohesion that I hope is versatile and timeless enough to still look beautiful for years to come.

I also enjoy a bit of botanical illustration so sometimes you'll see this peek into my designs too - I think they make pretty envelope liners myself and contrast beautifully against the simpler styling of the invitation itself.

My name is Ryan and I design modern and refined wedding stationery from my home studio in rural Pembrokeshire. I'm a fluent Welsh speaker and take pride in being able to offer a bilingual creative service designing gorgeous stationery in both Welsh and English.

Originally a full time Graphic Designer, I graduated with a first class degree in Graphic Communication back in 2014 and went on to join a successful print company that specialises in creative solutions for leading high street retailers. During that time I worked closely with clients within the fashion retail sector; designing window displays, look books, advertising materials and store signage. It was in this role that I developed my understanding of professional printing, and fell in love with different paper stocks and fancy print finishes. The nature of my role then developed into a broader creative narrative, focusing on seasonal marketing campaigns and how to visually communicate a brand's story or product. This meant that most of my time was spent developing new concepts (and creating mood boards which I'll quite happily sit and do for hours on end), as well as liaising with other creative agencies, photographers, videographers and stylists as I co-ordinated and art directed campaign photo shoots primarily in London.

But then here's a plot twist; I'm now a qualified teacher. Why the change in direction? I met my wonderful fiancé, fell in love and my life plan and priorities shifted a little. We're our very own tale of country mouse and city mouse - we met whilst both living in Cardiff, however he was raised on a farm in rural West Wales. We knew that we wanted to eventually move out of the city and settle down somewhere greener and quieter, half way between our two family homes. This would have made my previous career and travel back and forth to London more difficult and so I decided it was time for a change. Aside from my creative drive, I have always been passionate about language and learning so teaching through the medium of Welsh felt like the right alternative for me.

Of course, I still felt I needed a way of expressing my creativity after leaving the design industry and so I found myself in what I think is a very fortunate position - being creative and artistic became a hobby rather than my main career, and honestly that sits so much better with me. I started working on wedding invitations for friends and family in 2017 - I felt so much joy communicating their love through paper and being a small part of each couple's most special day. I love chatting all things weddings and I tend to get (almost) as excited as you do about your big day! With that combined with my knowledge of print, it felt like the perfect creative outlet for me...and so Dwynwen was established and now here we are.

If you've read all of this then I love how thorough you are! It's all about that attention to detail.

Ryan x

THIS IS ME &

MY story