Our Story

Theo T. BearOur Moti­va­tion here at Strauberry Stu­dios is to cre­ate hug­gable “Bud­dies” and great children’s books in order to give back to our com­mu­nity by pro­mot­ing the love of reading.
 
Our Founder Susan Straub-Martin is the pas­sion­ate artist behind Strauberry Stu­dios. Susan began draw­ing at the age of five with a box of 64 crayons. She never lost her love for children’s books and stuffed ani­mals. Susan con­tin­ued draw­ing unique char­ac­ters in her own style in addi­tion to illus­trat­ing inter­na­tional brands for highly respected  com­pa­nies includ­ing Dis­ney and Warner Broth­ers. An appre­ci­a­tion of car­toons and those unique char­ac­ters inspired Susan to begin writ­ing and illus­trat­ing children’s books.
 
As a child Susan was often called freckle-faced straw­berry, which kind of stuck and this is how the name Strauberry Stu­dios came about.
 
Our Stu­dio was estab­lished in 1984, in San Diego, as a bou­tique greet­ing card com­pany. In 1998 we moved to Seat­tle. Susan, the Studio’s founder, sub­mit­ted art­work for a juried show at Mac World in 2009 and quickly became one of the fea­tured artists. Sto­ries grew from Susan’s art­work as the char­ac­ters began to emerge and their voices to speak. Our first two books “Polar Bears Are Left Handed … Who Knew?” and “Once Upon a Fly­ing Fish” fea­tur­ing brightly col­ored full page illus­tra­tions went to press.
 
And with the addi­tion of an expert seam­stress, who just hap­pened to be Susan’s best friend, the hug­gable, wash­able, polar fleece toys based on the char­ac­ters from our books, known as “Bud­dies”, became a reality. 
Explore our world and spread the word!
 
“We bring joy to your heart and soul.”

Susan Straub-Martin CV

 

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