Meet the Artist behind the Bearleigh Bears...

Dural, a leafy north-western suburb of Sydney, Australia is home to Susan Leigh and her 'Bearleigh Bears' creations.

Susan's great love affair with teddy bears started in 1999 when she was still living on a farm teeming with animals, 60km from Johannesburg, in South Africa. Susan ascribes her great love for teddy bears to not having a teddy as a companion during her childhood years.

After immigrating to Australia in 2003 with husband David and their two daughters, Susan joined a bear-making class.  This sparked the desire to create her own unique teddy bears. It was, however, only after attending a design course in 2006 with well-known Australian bear artist Jennifer Laing, that her dream turned into reality and the first Bearleigh bear was born.

Susan recalls the very first bear she made: "It was an 18cm teddy bear which turned out really well and now has pride of place on my mother-in-law's dressing table".  Today, many years and many bears later, Susan creates her own Bearleigh Bears, which she describes as a more modern style teddy bear.
© Copyright by Susan Leigh 2008
Web design by Ilze Linssen
For her very huggable creations Susan uses only the finest quality mohair, alpaca and recycled fur fabrics. She feels that her creations are continually evolving as her passion for designing her own creations grows.

Susan exhibits at various shows such as The Sydney Teddy Bear Fair, Mittagong Teddy Bear Show and the Teddy Bears & Critters show.

"I am yet to start a collection of my own, but I admire a lot of artists' work such as Jennifer Laing, Silvia Durrer, Lyn Parker, Merilyn Pursell, Karen Alderson, Ilze Linssen (a few of which I have done workshops with.)" Susan adds.

Highlights of Susan's bear-making career includes selling four bears at the first show she exhibited at and winning 1st and 3rd prize for her creations at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney in 2006.

Her advice to beginner bear-makers is: "Practice, practice and practice.  Do not be afraid to try something.  So what if you end up with a few extra heads", she smiles.