My name is Clare Byers and I recently retired having been a teacher for 37 years. 

   So now I can begin to enable those dreams that have been quietly waiting to be fulfilled, to take flight, and so Maropa Crafts has been created. 

   Growing up in Birmingham post World War II, entertainment was home based and so my mother taught me how to embroider, knit, crochet, basket weave, bookbind and use a sewing machine. Hence my love for things creative began. 

   My monograms for place settings came about as a result of my eldest son’s wedding where he and his bride wanted something ‘special’, ‘different’ and ‘eye-catching’.