Two Norwich artists have opened their own NR3 print studio in the hopes of hosting workshops and discussions.

Hope Brooks, a screen printer and illustrator, and Lacey Law, a woodblock printmaker and tattoo artist, have opened The Cardinal Hand after seven months of work .

The pair met while studying illustration at Norwich University of the Arts about 10 years ago.

"We've been concocting this idea of a shared studio space for a long time and at the start of this year we decided to go for it," Hope said.

"And since then we've been building on it, thinking about making it a more social space.

"Lockdown was great for lots of artists because we got the chance to just create.

"But lots of us then got lonely and eaten up with imposter syndrome - we needed community with other artists."

The space on St Augustine's will primarily function as a private studio for the pair but they also want to invite others into the space.

Hope said: "We'd like to start doing our workshops, discussions, classes and show and tells, inviting other artists to do workshops, having artists do residencies."

Both Hope, 29, and Lacey, 30, designed windows for the city's independent businesses during this year's Norfolk and Norwich Festival.

The printmakers came up with the name through their joint use of religious iconography in their art, specifically Catholic symbols and the use of the colour red.

"We were inspired by St Augustine himself as something associated with him is the hand holding a flaming heart," said Hope.

"We also wanted it to sound like an old pub rather than a print shop."

The pair will soon be releasing a Kickstarter to help them cover the cost of opening up the studio.

Both artists - @motheroffools, @laceyolivialaw and @thecardinalhand on Instagram - have online shops where their prints and illustrations can be bought.