‘I’M STILL LEARNING EVERY DAY’

Paola Dyboski-bryant, 52, runs her bubble-making business, Dr Zigs, from Snowdonia.

I will always remember my son Ziggy, now 13, collapsing into fits of giggles as a toddler while I blew bubbles towards him. But coming in a single-use plastic bottle, and shipped from China, I was aware of the environmental impact. ‘There has to be a better way,’ I’d thought. I’d graduated in 2009, did my master’s degree in marine conservation and worked on a project monitoring whales and dolphins. It opened my eyes to the damage plastics can do to wildlife. So, in January 2011, after some online research, I learnt how to make bubble mixture. I had so much fun making them for Ziggy that I decided to sell some locally. I bought bottles online and got a local printer to make some labels. One bright morning I took my new bubble mixtures and sold them on a local beach from my car. Once my work project finished, I had time to think about my bubbles. People loved them, so on a shoestring budget, I set up a website and began selling at local markets and on ebay. I developed a range of low-plastic, giant bubble toys. My kits contained bubble mixture, fair trade cotton ropes to dip into it to make giant bubbles and sustainably sourced wooden wands and coconut buckets to hold the bubble liquid. At first I worked from my kitchen, but as sales grew I moved house and set up a workshop in the garage.

Soon, my bubbles were being sent all over the UK and I set up a bubble factory in a nearby converted barn.

Determined to succeed

Now I employ five people and my bubbles are available in 16 different countries, from Australia to Iceland. My range has expanded to include peanut butterscented bubbles for dogs, catnip ones for cats, a kit to make frozen bubbles and one for painting with. It’s been tough at times. There’s no manual on how to run a giant bubble business, so I’m still learning every day. Luckily, my determined nature means that I refuse to give up.

But it’s amazing to think that just a £20 investment now supports my own and my staff’s livelihood.

We now send our bubbles into refugee camps, as well as into children’s hospices and care homes, spreading zillions of smiles along the way.

✱ drzigs.com

‘On a shoestring budget I set up a website’