Crafty wood team set to branch out
AWOOD crafting business is proving a chip off the old block as it embarks on the next stage of its growth.
Husband and wife Stewart and Jacqueline Morton-Collings, 41 and 40, set up for For Me and For You Designs, based out of their Broken Cross home, in 2013.
It manufactures wood and papercut pictures - as well as wooden brooches, plaques and tableware - and originally started as a hobby.
But it has grown to the stage of having products on websites Etsy and Not on the High Street.
And now the couple need to expand and have secured larger premises on Gunco Lane to move into in the new year.
Stewart said: “We have grown to the point we are on top of ourselves at home and are falling over stock.
“The new place has a big workshop area where we can really start to push in terms of production.
“There’s a studio downstairs so we are going to have our very own shop space instead of relying online and on the Treacle Market.
“Since getting its products onto major website the company has seen year on year sales increase by 270 per cent.”
In looking to meet this growth the couple, who have two children aged seven and four, sought help from Enterprising Macclesfield, a community interest group that offers support to businesses.
It has a team of business professionals who give their time on a voluntary basis.
The group had three coaching sessions with Stewart and Jacqueline to develop an 18 month strategic plan to shape the direction of For Me and For You Designs.
It was off the back of this that products appeared on Etsy and Not on the High Street and financial advice was also given as well as guidance on prioritising time and tasks.
Jacqueline said: “We found the support offered by Enterprising Macclesfield to be absolutely invaluable.
“We were not sure what to expect from the sessions, but they enabled us to look at our business from a perspective that we hadn’t considered previously.”
Visit www.formeandforyou.co.uk.