Craft Focus - Feb/Mar (Issue 71)

Tell me a little about Craft Buddy – how long has the company been in business? Craft Buddy was established in 2011 by my brother Dino and I, while we both had other jobs. I was based in Amsterdam at the time, working with a Dutch retail group, while Dino worked in finance in London. We started the business by selling crafts online, and after a successful first trade show, we began to work with a large TV shopping channel. By 2014 we were fortunate that our products were on the shelves of John Lewis, Hobbycraft and Paperchase. International business has been important from early on; we received our first export customer in 2013 and we now ship to businesses in more than 10 countries. We still consider ourselves a small company, but we have a really solid foundation from which to continue our global expansion. What are your core brands and product lines? Across cardmaking and papercraft we have Dawn Bibby Creations and our signature Craft Buddy brand. We also have Crystal Card and Crystal Art kits, and more recently, we collaborated with Lynette Jasper to produce our exciting Pretty Gets Gritty collection. The Crystal Art range was incredibly popular in 2018 – what has the response from customers been like? Massive. Crystal Art has been a huge trend in 2018, but people may not know that we launched our signature product, the Crystal Card Kit, back in 2014. It developed a cult following then but has only exploded into the mainstream in the last 12 months. It’s been so exciting to see how well received our products have been during this time. There is now massive awareness on social media, particularly Facebook and YouTube, and we’ve started to supply our products to many large retailers across Europe. We regularly make an appearance on Hochanda TV and QVC Germany. Thanks to Crystal Art, we have entered countries such as Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Australia, as well as new sectors like toy and gift. The range offers a winning combination. It’s a family craft that adults and children both enjoy, and it is very relaxing. It’s stunning to look at and has practical value, either as wall art or a gift. We think Crystal Art is here to stay, sitting alongside perennial favourites like puzzles and adult colouring. What sets Craft Buddy apart from its competitors? A focus on innovation. We’re a young company, and although we’ve been established for nearly eight years, we still get excited when we develop and source products that we think can be winners in the craft market. We follow trends closely, with the ultimate goal of developing items that enable the end user to make beautiful, on-trend pieces. Do you attend any trade shows, either in the UK or overseas? We have a packed trade show programme in Q1 2019. In the space of four weeks, we are exhibiting at Creativeworld, Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Spring Fair and CHSI Stitches. In most cases, there are no breaks between the shows – in fact they overlap with each other – so logistically this will be challenging. Then again, this brings out the Gary Wadhwani, co-director at Craft Buddy, tells Andrea Ashfield about the company’s meteoric rise and his plans for future expansion Crystal clear 82 craft focus