Craft Focus - August/September 2020 (Issue 80)

89 UP & COMING Let your light shine Clare Donnelly, managing director of Native Lighting talks to Craft Focus about working effectively with the right lighting When and how did Native Lighting start? Native Lighting Started in 2019, I noticed that there was a gap in the market for affordable products for crafters that were suited to the many crafts that have now become the fashion. We work with a Scandinavian design company so all of our products have a sleek, minimalist image, no chunky designs Tell us a bit of background about yourself. What’s your career background? I’ve been in the lighting industry for 10 years and worked in many sectors including beauty, industrial, medical and low vision but I was always drawn to the craft sector because I realised how important it was to have the right light on your projects, it’s so vital to have colour changing and daylight simulation technology when working with colours so you can match perfectly. With years of experience selling lighting in the craft industry, I’ve realised there’s a lot of lights on the market but Native’s lights are specifically designed with ergonomics in mind for the crafter. What products do you offer? We have a selection of task lamps and magnifiers. A lot of our products are USB and rechargeable so great for portability and selling overseas as you don’t need to worry about the voltage and correct plugs. What challenges did you overcome as a new company? Introducing a new brand is always a challenge but I’m well known in the industry and our customers know and trust me from my years of experience in the business and have been happy to take on some new designs and technology in lighting. What product are you currently most excited about? The Lumina; it’s such a fantastic light, it has a very long reach so great for bending round a sewing machine or a dress makers dummy, or just working at a table or in the chair. It comes in a table and floor version and has five different colour temperatures each with five brightness settings so you have 25 different light settings. You’ll always find one that suits your eyes to help you work in comfort. Are you planning on expanding into other product areas? We’re always working on new designs, so watch this space. Has the current economic climate and the Covid-19 pandemic affected yourself as a start-up? The hardest thing has been not having face-to-face meetings with potential customers, but technology has been our friend with Zoom product meetings and that has enabled us to keep in touch with our customers. The craft industry has been very busy during this time. How do you market your business? Do you attend any trade shows? Yes, we attend as many trade shows as possible and we normally exhibit on one of our distributers stands, we love chatting to the end users, making sure we feed back any ideas to our design department. We also have some brand ambassadors that regularly talk about our products on social media. Where do you see yourself in five years? As an established brand and a go to supplier for anyone who is looking for a good quality light. +44 (0)1173 709 995 sales@native-lighting.com www.native-lighting.com