The creator of a teddy bear company loved by the likes of Joanna Lumley and Phillip Schofield has died at the age of 90.

Tributes have been paid to the "greatly admired" artist and family man John Blackburn, who had a "magnetic" personality.

Mr Blackburn created Canterbury Bears in 1979 with wife Maude following a request from a friend looking for a traditional bear to gift to his grandmother.

"It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of John Blackburn, renowned artist and Canterbury Bears’ founder," the firm said in a statement.

"The family and the team are dedicated to honouring his legacy of art and artistry. He will be missed by all who knew him."

Over the years, the soft toy business boomed and would become popular with celebrities, with the likes of Phillip Schofield showing off his own Canterbury Bear.

Last year, the business partnered up with 21 stars from the world of music and TV to create denim-covered bears for a charity auction.

Stars including Joanna Lumley, Michael Bublé and Boy George all donated pairs of jeans to help make the toys.

The project was a smash, with Joanna Lumley commenting: "The skill, beauty and darlingness of that adorable blue creature is absolutely fabulous, I couldn’t love my bear more.”

But it is his work as an artist that art historian and writer Ian Massey believes he should be best remembered for, along with his "magnetic" personality.

Ian, who wrote a monograph on the artist that was published in 2019, told KentOnline: “Having first come across his work in the 1980s, it stayed with me for years, and later I got to know him well. We were friends for 16 years.

“He was a humanist, a factor that is reflected in his work. Also, he had the ability to be both incredibly serious and magnificently funny; he was warm and generous, and very much a devoted family man.

“I don’t think John knew how respected he was as an artist by the art community, but he was a true artist, a really rare being, and he was greatly admired.

“He will be so greatly missed.”

Before bears, John became well-known within art circles in the early 60s when, living in New Zealand, his paintings were exhibited in the Circle Gallery in Auckland. He would later experience a renaissance in the 2000s.

He was born in Luton in 1932, and first moved to Kent in 1946 to attend the Margate School of Art where he would study textile design.

Three years later, he was conscripted to the RAF, and would find peace away from his service days and post-war Britain by travelling in Asia, before settling in New Zealand.

It was here, in 1956, he met wife Maude McKinnon, who holds her own place in history as the founder of the first modelling agency in New Zealand.

Children would follow and between 1956 and 1959, Victoria, Kerstin and Mark were born, at a time when John began to consider whether or not he could make it as a painter.

He wouldn’t have to wait long to find out and following his success in New Zealand, which resulted in a private collector buying John’s ‘Encaustics’ series, John moved back home to England with a new-found artistic confidence.

In 1962, following his return to England, John was offered a place in the famous Kettle’s Yard gallery in Cambridge by Jim Ede, a prominent art collector.

He was at the height of his fame when his daughter Victoria became seriously ill with a life-threatening kidney disease in 1967. The long-standing impact of Victoria’s health issues would have a profound effect on John’s family and professional life.

As he withdrew from commercial art, his pieces from the 70s represent the hard times his family endured, with his ‘Hostages’ series exploring the fragility of human existence through colours, textures and form.

As the 70s drew to an end, John and Maude decided to take on a 3,400-mile charity walk around the coast of the UK to raise awareness for kidney transplant and kidney diseases.

After this, with a need to let out his creative energy, John was given the chance to put his textile design days to good use by making a hand-made teddy bear for a friend to gift his grandmother.

From this, Canterbury Bears was born and would become a hallmark for quality and attention to detail. As his children grew up, they would become involved with the family business, and in the 2000s, Kerstin helped lighten the load on John and Maude’s shoulders.

In 2013, John was appointed MBE in the New Years Honours for his services to manufacturing and export.

However, before this, John had made a return to the art scene, with 2006 bringing his first commercial gallery appearance since 1967 when Victoria became ill.

The exhibition at Folkestone’s Metropole Galleries would launch John back into the game, with critical acclaim coming his way for his ability to create texturally complex surfaces and his distinct painterly touch.

When asked about his work, John commented: "I suppose, that’s what my painting’s about; life itself is terribly dangerous, terribly cruel, terribly rewarding. All these things at once.

“This multi-faceted, wonderful jewel, which we all live with and die with, is there. We’re saddled with it, like it or not."

Earlier this year, major exhibitions in the UK and New Zealand celebrated his 90th birthday and an artistic career spanning seven decades.

He passed away at the age of 90 following a short illness and was surrounded by his beloved family.