Craft Focus - April/May 2020 (Issue 78)

79 PROFILE admin@timeforteadesigns.co.uk timeforteadesigns.co.uk PROFI How would you advise retailers who are interested in stocking your products? Retailers that would like to find out more about our products can simply contact us via email – we would love to chat to you. We are also interested in hearing from shop-owners who would be interested in hosting a Time for Tea workshop in-store. What do you think this year’s biggest papercraft trends will be? I think there is a growing movement towards clean and simple cards. Bright, modern and fun projects are a continuing trend, with bold sentiments and handcrafted backgrounds. Because of this, stencils are getting the comeback they deserve, while the introduction of brushes means ink blending techniques will be increasingly utilised in future projects. I think smaller cards will continue to be popular although I’m expecting to see experimentation with new sizes. DL, gatefold, square cards and those with a dual purpose such as gift card holders are all on our radar this year. I feel that the US-inspired trend of using interactive dyes to create scenes for your character stamps will continue to grow. We have plans to add our own range in the coming months. Do you enjoy working in the craft industry? I’m a crafter at heart so I love what I do. I don’t get to craft as often as I’d like but I enjoy the whole process from designing, testing and researching new products to marketing and meeting our customers via our Facebook Live events or in person. Every day is different and so rewarding – I feel very lucky to be doing something like this. I especially love the Crafting Live sessions that we host on social media each week – we get to chat to people and are always inspired by their suggestions and ideas. What are your future plans for the company? We have some fabulous collections and products in the pipeline. We will be expanding our brush range to include more sizes and looking to introduce new tools and storage solutions. We also have a lot of forthcoming designs with fun, interactive elements, cute stamps and essential dyes, all with a Time for Tea twist. We plan on expanding our Facebook Live Craft Along by linking it to other platforms and making them available to likeminded crafters. I am also intending to host our own workshops in spring and summer.