Craft Focus - Feb/Mar (Issue 65)

Can you tell us a little about the history of Heritage Crafts? The company started in 1987, when I turned my hobby of counted cross stitch into a business. Heritage now produces high quality kits and is one of the most respected cross stitch design companies in the world. It is still very much a family business, and we work with a talented team of artists to provide a diverse range of products. Can you outline some of your key product ranges? We work with several brilliant designers who all complement each other and produce a range of images that are incredibly important to us. These include John Clayton’s Elegance Ladies, Peter Underhill’s Cats Rule and other quirky images, and Karen Carter’s Owls and Collections. What are your best-selling designs? At the moment, our most popular kits are Karen Carter’s Owls and Peter Underhill’s quirky designs. John Clayton’s Ladies are always among the bestsellers, too. Other much-loved cross stitch kits include The Willow Pattern by Susan Ryder and Sitting Pretty by Valerie Pfeiffer. Why should retailers be stocking your products? There is always good demand for our designs and we back all this up with advertising, editorial coverage and other publicity. We also give a lot of support to our retailers, including free laser models and images for their websites. We usually send orders off on the day they are received, which is always appreciated by retailers and their customers. We also distribute regular Susan Ryder, managing director at cross stitch specialist, Heritage Crafts, reveals what’s new for 2018 a stitch in time 78 craft focus