LEARN SOMETHING NEW
A 60-second insight into a new personal challenge. This month: silent retreat
stay up until 3am to catch up on what was our real, core business. We went up to Yorkshire to visit Sally’s mum and felt so bad leaving her that we literally made the decision to move on our journey back. The break clause in our shop lease happened to be two days later, so that was it. The move gave us a way of simplifying our lives – we no longer have employees. It’s now a simple family business, our two daughters and us, run from our home in Ilkley. The decision worked out – we now spend lots of time together as a family, and I love working with Sally so closely.
If you fancy it, just try it. It was a learning curve for us to work out how to take art and make it into a product, with our first ‘own’ tea towels, then to learn about things such as pricing, suppliers and wholesale. It’s that same challenge for every product – each is unique, whether a mug, placemat or wash bag. You’ve got to try it out and work on it, until you get the satisfaction of being able to say, “I get this”.
The things you use should make you happy. We only make products that we’d like to buy and own ourselves. Our favourites include the Good Morning mug – it’s so bright and cheery when you open the cupboard door – and it’s made from bone china, so feels lovely in the hand, too. Or there’s our chipmunk nibble bowl. His fat cheeks make us smile every time we use it. We try and apply that sense of fun to everything we put out – even our packaging uses illustrated tape and special stickers.
Good design is timeless. The longevity of some things is surprising. We’ve got designs we’ve been selling for seven or eight years now. It’s partly because we don’t really follow trends, instead choosing things that make us laugh or that are a bit silly. But it also shows that the artists we were working with then are just as good now.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. We joined the Giftware Association and turned up to the members’ away day. It was slightly intimidating, but we met some heads of massive companies who were really friendly. They invited us in for a chat and mentored us through the why and how of trade shows. Our first show was a real turning point in being able to take our work to a much wider market.
Good business is all about good relationships. We’ve always worked in a collaborative way with artists – it’s not a case of getting their design off them, printing it and selling. It’s an on-going relationship. It feels like we’re promoting each other, but not in a corporate way. Our manufacturers also tend to work for themselves, so it’s lots of small businesses working to make each other’s lives better.
If you do something you love, it doesn’t feel like work. There’s not much I don’t love about what I do. There are the exciting bits, like product development, or unboxing something new. I get to spend lots of time playing with the kids and I can pause to have a tea and a chat with Sally. If it’s a sunny day, it’s fine to down tools for a while and have a picnic. Generally, everything is pretty sweet.