Our story

Whistlefish was formed by Lyn Thompson and named after a small fish, the three bearded rockling, found in the rock pools of St Ives where it all began.

Lyn always had a passion for art and would sit at her kitchen table hand-pressing dried flowers onto greeting cards or hand-painting floral designs. In her spare time, she started taking these cards to local craft fairs. To her amazement, they always sold out.

After having two children Lyn left the Royal Navy and became a full-time artist, moving around from show to show and heading home every evening to make frames for her art in the garden shed. She soon outgrew her kitchen table and needed a permanent location to store and sell her greeting cards.

To keep up with demand for her designs Lyn printed her first card run, six designs on a two-colour press. And, over the next 25 years, she went full-speed taking Whistlefish (formerly known as Milkwood Publishing) to trade events far and wide.