Our Story
I'm there for you.
Self-love. Hope. Be You.
Have you ever wanted to comfort someone you love, but had no idea what to say? SHB Studio makes gifts with a message for the moments that matter, especially the ones other brands forget: finishing treatment, a new chapter, a "not yet", or simply a hard week.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain!"— Saadi of Shiraz, Bani Adam
Saadi wrote those words eight hundred years ago, and they're still the truest thing I know. None of us carries a hard season alone, not really — and none of us should have to. A small kindness, said at the right moment, is how that truth becomes something you can actually hold in your hands and give to someone else. That's what every piece at SHB Studio is for.
How it began
Hi, I'm Shabnam. I came to the UK in 2007 as a graphic designer, and later started again here with my husband and our young daughter. During Covid, at our kitchen table in Norwich, my daughter and I started making little ceramic birds and hearts together — just the two of us, with the radio on, while the rest of the world had gone quiet.
My first pop-up was in the middle of that same quiet. It was Covid, when hardly anyone spoke to each other in the street, let alone stopped at a stranger's table. I was so shy I could barely stand there, let alone find the words to talk to people — until a lovely lady stopped, and bought everything I had made. That was the moment I understood a small handmade thing could open a conversation nothing else could.
Not long after, Anne-Mette Christensen from The Jade Tree in Norwich — such an angel of a woman, who has since passed away — offered me a space to sell my handmade pieces there, alongside the other artists who made and sold their own work in the shop. That was where SHB Studio properly began. From there came Willow Gallery in Poringland, Anteros and the Love of Norfolk market.
I still smile at how unready I was for some of it. For my first big pop-up in the city centre, I didn't even own a gazebo — so I turned up with my garden umbrella instead, and stood under it all day like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Listening to my customers shaped everything after that, from ceramic jewellery to sterling silver for sensitive skin, and my stall at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital showed me how much a few kind words on a gift can mean. People would stop, pick something up, and tell me who it was for and why. The gift was never really the object — it was the fact that someone had stopped, thought of them, and said I'm here for you.
SHB stands for the three words that helped me through my own hardest time: Self-love, Hope, Be You. Self-love comes first because you can't pour care into someone else's life from an empty one. Hope is what lets you believe things can be good, for you and for the people around you. And being you — fully, without apology — is what makes the love and the hope real instead of performed.
What you'll find
- Handmade ceramics, made by me in Poringland, Norfolk
- Designed and assembled jewellery, made at SHB Studio, Norfolk
- Carefully curated gifts from trusted suppliers, each one chosen for its meaning
Giving back
Part of the sales from my pop-up stall at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital goes to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity. Since 2024, the stall has given nearly £2,000. (Online orders are not part of this donation.)
I believe a community only gets stronger when we take care of each other, one small act at a time. That's what I hope SHB Studio adds to — not just a gift, but a little more kindness moving between people who need it.
Thank you for being here.
Shabnam, Founder, SHB Studio