Craft Focus - October/November (Issue 75)

97 PROFILE of the world collections are booming at the moment, and our little placemats in their own cotton carry bag and pencil cases are great sellers, especially in bricks-and-mortar stores. Do you have any new launches coming up? I’m very excited that we have finally brought a long-held plan to fruition. We’re launching our Pond Life design at Autumn Fair and Top Drawer this season – it’s going to get a whole new generation pond-dipping and wanting to learn all about the habitats and species to be found, both common and endangered. We’ve had so much fun with it and learnt so much ourselves! Does the company exhibit at any shows? We exhibit at Top Drawer, Maison & Objet and NY Now regularly, and often at Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival and Ambiente. We also attended Autumn Fair for the first time this year. How would you advise a retailer who is interested in stocking your products? Give us a call or come to our stand – we’ll really enjoy advising you on what best to start with – we’re always happy to begin with small orders and a sample for customers to try. What have been your key business milestones to date? So many! Growing my small company has been the biggest challenge of my professional life, like a business degree without the coaching or credit, and from a standing start. Basics like learning to cost production professionally, finding reliable manufacturing partners and getting bank support were the early challenges. Then came surviving the summer lull in cashflow and setting up for export, where The Department for International Trade was very helpful. There’s definitely a (probably boring to anyone but us) book in it! What’s next? We’ve got lots of new plots brewing. One area is bespoke, which has become quite significant for us and we have various projects on the go in this area. Export is also continuing to grow, and we are constantly moving into new markets. At Maison & Objet earlier this year we had enquiries from 31 countries. +44 (0)1722 325 304 eatsleepdoodle.com

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