Welcome to my blog! I have chosen to write my first blog post on the story of how my business started…
I have always wanted to have my own business based on what I adore doing – art. I completed a degree in Textile Design which really helped me to narrow down my specialism and develop my style and eye for design! Last March, myself along with many other final year University students found out that our University experience was over with a flick of a switch. Or in my case, clearing out our desk spaces, followed up by an email stating we would no longer be returning to University. To counteract this, I had to come up with a creative way of making the most of a difficult situation. I challenged myself to produce designs which I could not only use for my degree but with commercial designs in mind that would look fabulous for both interiors and fashion products. As soon as I graduated from University in June, I started designing products ready to open up an online Etsy shop, which is where my business began.
Being surrounded by nature for most of my life, I love to use this natural beauty to influence my designs. I spent the summer painting new designs inspired by my local gardens, Rosemoor. I experimented with printing my designs on various fabric types and soon discovered that printing on to silk really enhances the colours and showcases an incredible amount of detail, keeping the beautiful painterly textures! Experimenting with designing and making various products over the last 8 months has allowed my business to develop. Just before the first lockdown, alongside my studies I took part in a short course in professional Interior Design. This encouraged me to explore in more depth my love for interiors and creating quirky and gorgeous products for your home. Lockdown enhanced the idea of this as we were spending so much time in our homes where being surrounded by beautiful interiors made such a massive difference to our wellbeing. Therefore, I decided to make my own interior products to represent this idea.
2020 was a strange year for all of us, however one of the positives was seeing people move towards shopping with small businesses and shopping local. This is something I am very passionate about and hope that everyone continues on this path! I use local services to create my products. My fabrics are printed using an award-winning UK based printing company who source all their fabrics from UK mills. I use a talented Devon-based seamstress to make my cushions. All paper printed items are printed using a local printing company.
This is a very short piece on how my business came together but I hope you can see the hard work that goes in to every one of my designs. I hope you love them as much as I loved creating them!
Caitlin x
