‘My toys are part of the family’
Charlotte Morris, 46, started collecting bears as a child. Now her toy company is bringing joy to the world. She lives with Will, her husband, in Launceston, Cornwall.
‘When I was a child, my dad would travel a lot, and every time he came home he would bring me and my sister a bear. My collection grew and, with it, so did a lifelong love of cuddly toys.
Later, my parents opened three shops and I ran one of them, selling traditional bears to collectors. I learned a lot about the business and met my husband there when he came in to buy his mum a gift.
When my mum fell ill, we closed the shops. I was newly married and we’d just bought a home, so I got a job at a bank.
But my love of bears wouldn’t go away. I’d spotted a gap in the market for affordable collectable bears. The traditional collectables sold for hundreds of pounds, way out of the price range of most people. I thought I could create my own limited-edition range that would be collectable, but a lot cheaper.
Will was very supportive and said I should give it a go, so in 2006, we sold our house and moved into rented accommodation. While we lived on beans on toast, I had £30,000 to launch my business, Charlie Bears. It was a leap of faith, but I hoped it would pay off.
I engaged the help of a designer who had connections to Thailand and, after visiting, set up production there.
I was so excited to receive my first collection of 12 bears. There were 600 of the first bear, Jake. They filled every room of the house, even surrounding the laptop on my dressing table, which was my office!
I went to a trade fair in Birmingham and got orders for all 12 designs. Then I got an interview at shopping channel QVC. The day after the interview, they made an order that cleared me out of stock. That first year my turnover was £117,000, so I used it to make more stock. We moved to Cornwall and opened a warehouse near my parents’ house. We also set up a museum for people to visit and started collectors’ clubs.
Then, four years ago, I was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. The treatment was tough, but I kept designing collections for the next five years in case I wasn’t around. I got through it and, thankfully, I’m in remission now.
The business is going from strength to strength. We now turn over £10m annually and our ‘bears with personalities’ are sold in 100 outlets across 37 countries, including Hamleys and Fortnum & Mason.
Easter is very busy for us. Our spring collection includes Daffodil The Bunny and April The Lamb, and it’s very popular with parents. I have around 2,500 toys dotted around my house. And, of course, I still have the ones my dad brought home all those years ago.’
• Shop for Charlotte’s bears and join a collectors’ club at charliebears.com