When broadcaster and author Emma Barnett and her husband launched a unique colouring book company, they were surprised that their main customers were adults. Here they talk about meeting at university, managing their business, and Emma’s approach to chronic pain
Emma Barnett and Jeremy Weil hadn’t exactly planned on a third child. After enduring five gruelling rounds of IVF to welcome their now seven-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, Emma readily admits her body has been “put under a lot of stress” in recent years.
And yet, here they are – proud parents once again. Only this time, there’s no pram, no sleepless nights and no maternity leave. Their “third child,” as Emma affectionately calls it, is Colour Your Streets – a publishing company that creates colouring books celebrating neighbourhoods and landmarks across the UK.
In just two years, what began as a bit of family fun around the kitchen table has transformed into a thriving business with a projected turnover of £2-4 million.
“I don’t think either of us could have imagined it,” reflects Emma, a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. It was while on shared parental leave that she and Jeremy returned from a walk in Brockwell Park, close to their home in Herne Hill, south London, and their son asked about colouring in a nearby clocktower.
“We thought there must be a colouring book of it – but there wasn’t.”
So they made their own. Armed with photos of local landmarks and a bit of AI magic, they created their first prototype.
“It was very rough and ready,” Emma says, “but we took it on holiday with friends and the parents got really excited. That’s when we knew we were on to something.”
Their first customer was their local gift shop.
“There’s nothing more exciting than your very first sale,” says Jeremy.
Fast-forward to today, and we’re sitting in a café in that same south London park, now vibrantly illustrated in one of the 170 titles (and counting) in their growing collection. From London boroughs to cities all over the UK, including Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh, demand is so high that suggestions for new locations pour in daily.
So much so that last December, Jeremy left his job at the forecasting company Economist Intelligence Unit to focus on the business full-time.
“Our son now thinks colouring in is my full-time job,” he jokes.
As requests flooded in from across the country, Colour Your Streets quickly outgrew the kitchen table. In the early days, books were stacked floor to ceiling, envelopes were packed into the night, and their daughter’s bedroom served as storage.
“Once, we accidentally posted someone a book that our son had already coloured in,” says Emma.
“Basically, at some point – a few months in – the numbers just became unmanageable,” Jeremy recalls.
“It became clear we had to have a warehouse.” They also hired a tranche of freelance designers – AI isn’t used – some of whom are now illustrating international landmarks, including Brooklyn, the New York borough in which Jeremy was born and spent his early years.
What has surprised them is the unexpected adult appeal.
“We started out targeting five to seven-year-olds,” Jeremy explains, “but the adult market has dwarfed that.”
Indeed, whether for mindfulness or nostalgia, grown-ups are buying in droves, from students to pensioners. One New Zealand customer, who hadn’t been back to south London in 35 years, emailed in tears after requesting books of scenes from Clapham and Battersea where she grew up.
“We realised that, aside from your name and your football team, your local area is one of the few things people really feel passionate about,” says Jeremy. The books offer a multigenerational bonding activity for grandparents including Emma’s own mum, who has coloured her way through south London with her grandchildren.
Visit Colour Your Streets and use the code WELCOME10 for 10% off your first order.
Running a business together, of course, hasn’t been without its challenges and Emma admits there has been the odd bump along the way as the couple navigated not just living but working together.
“Early on I created a separate WhatsApp group called Colour Your Streets so that we didn’t have it in our husband and wife WhatsApp,” says Emma.
“I knew I had to draw a digital line. At the same time, as parents of very small children you are always grabbing time, so things do bleed into one another. There are definitely moments when I say, ‘I can’t talk about work right now’,” she adds.
“It’s always me, not Jeremy, who says that.”
“We do our best to have date nights where work talk is off the table – if we can stay awake,” says Jeremy. You imagine that could be especially tricky for Emma, an award-winning broadcasting stalwart, courtesy of her stints at the helm of the BBC’s Newsnight and Woman’s Hour, and who last May, in the midst of the couple’s burgeoning business, took over as one of the presenters on the Today programme. It requires a very early alarm call twice a week – 3.21am to be precise.
“I’ve always liked odd numbers,” Emma shrugs. “And I think it is also about stealing time.” Like any parent of young children, there’s always a bit of a juggle going on: alongside swotting up on the day’s news items on the way into work in the small hours, Emma will quite often do an online food shop, too. Jeremy has long accepted she has a relentless drive.
“Emma has this saying, that she likes to be inconvenienced by life,” he says. “She’ll force us all to go to a tenth sight on holiday when we’re ready to crash – and it usually ends up being the best part.”
“I have definitely dragged him along to lots of cultural events over the years,” Emma admits.
“I like to wring the last dregs out of every day. At the same time we have both influenced each other. Especially since having children, I’ve had to lean into Jeremy’s more laid-back approach.”
Both acknowledge that they have grown up together, having met as 20-year-old students at the University of Nottingham. Emma, then president of the student theatre society, was in a budget crisis when a friend introduced them.
"She said, 'This is Jeremy. He’s good with that stuff. And he’s single.' So I was very practical and very direct and very northern, and then very quickly asked for his number."
Jeremy was all too ready to give it, having told their friend that he thought she looked rather lovely. They went on their first date a couple of weeks later, during which Emma says she knew instantly that Jeremy was the man she would marry.
"In fact, I called a friend on the day and told her, so I have a witness," she says.
It took Jeremy a little – but not much– longer to decide she was the one, and seven years later, the couple, who are both Jewish, married at a west London synagogue.
By then, Jeremy was well aware of the "bone-grinding" pain Emma lived with due to endometriosis – a chronic condition in which tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus.
Emma was finally diagnosed with the disease aged 31 after what she has described in the past as 21 years of suffering.
"I only started speaking out because I was outraged," she says of her decision to talk so candidly about the impact on her life.
"I couldn’t believe no one knew anything about it."
She’s since written a well-received book covering her experience (Period: It’s About Bloody Time), as well as one shining a light on the reality of maternity leave (Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers From the Front Line of Maternity Leave).
Nine years, five rounds of IVF, one miscarriage and two pregnancies after diagnosis, the condition remains a "work in progress".
"They don’t have a cure. Dark humour is required," she says.
"I have better days and worse days. I feel like, since having our second child, and a lot of IVF, I’ve put a very unwell body through a lot of stress to have our children. It’s been very hard since stopping breastfeeding."
Latterly, she has tried to overhaul her diet in a bid to help manage the pain.
"I’m taking my body a bit more seriously," she says.
"I’ve tried to cut out ultra-processed food and I don’t eat as much gluten. We both eat a lot of nuts, and I exercise twice a week. So ironically, I’ve never been stronger and fitter and healthier in my life than I am now at 40."
It’s no surprise given her immense appetite for life that Emma was unfazed by her 40th birthday milestone. She celebrated with a "boozy" lunch with good friends, which she jokes was "commensurate" with her experience as a serial luncher.
"I was very happy to turn 40," she says. "I don’t really believe in age. I believe in life."
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