Adventures in Soft Furnishings
It's early, early, Monday morning and we're driving through the West Country from London
and back to the calm and quiet of Newlyn at the toe end of Cornwall. My husband
and I - I get very regal after midnight - are exhausted, hungry and a little
bit tetchy. I have swags under my eyes
so voluminous that they would be deemed
excess baggage by Ryan Air. We have spent the last 6 days hawking my company,
Betty Boyns, kitchen linens and
oilcloths in the capital to the well healed, House and Garden crowd of the
Spirit of Christmas Fair in Kensington. We live in one of the most inconvenient
places in the country, every journey has the 'getting in/out of Cornwall' add
on, but like most down here we manage. So the two in the morning drive past St
Michaels Mount is a reality and despite the tetchiness we love it - I think.
Retail shows, can be like war, sudden bursts of activity
followed by mindless boredom. You grow very attached to your fellow stall
holders and tales of daring do flow like wine - wine which also flows ... um
like wine once the sun is past the yardarm or ‘Ping Pong’ hour. We are sharing
a stand for the first time, with Jurate Jakstaite the creative brain behind JJ
Texties. I like Jurate very much, she says what she thinks with a look of a
slightly mischievous fairy. We met a few years ago after introducing herself in
her quietly assertive manner. Her jacquard designs, produced as blankets,
cushions and capes are manufactured in her native Lithuania with a soft
luxurious fine wool in lovely muted shades of greys and browns with images of
Labradors, bears, sheep and seasonally, Christmas themes. Her 'must have'
winter warmers can be found in various shops in Devon and Cornwall including
... ( she's getting back to me with her stockists) I have a couple of her throws which I love
to snuggle up with of an evening in front of the fire, imagining I was by the
chilly Baltic to the distant sound of the Archers. We're very much in to our
home comforts at Chez Newlyn - even the dog has her own slippers.
Jurate has adopted the role of my surrogate mother,
despite being 15 years younger than me. Finding a piece of chicken and ham pie
in my hair, after a 5 minute lunch break between the customer and credit card
onslaught, she says " Paula you are very messy. You need to take time to
look in the mirror" I apologise for my slattern ways, find a mirror and agree. I am a mess and I
have accidentally accessorised my
chicken and ham hair with a cheese and onion crisp corsage. I have a hole in my
favourite grey wool tights and I might be wearing my jumper inside out or is
that the style? You just don't know these days.
I look on enviously as the Kensington great and good glide by manicured,
pruned and groomed as I scrape pastry from my fringe. You can take the girl
from the country but not the country from the girl.
Through the week I have a lot of conversations about my
designs, my home in Cornwall, my hubbies suits ( he's very dapper) and our pets
and their sad demise and this year, due to our gorgeous new Cornish Hen design
- chickens. Did you know that Bantams can roost in trees and that in London
there are thousands of chicken keepers and
many hundred of hen pods are sold each year to the city inhabitants. And so our
Cornish Hens and Goosie Goosie design ' fly'
out. Oh and little girl told me
the difference is a duck goes quack and a goose goes honk, I decide to relay
this too my customers when they ask. I hope they don't think I'm being
facetious.
Marketing gurus tell how we should sell. How to 'convert'
the speculative customer into a buying customer. At 'Spirit of Christmas' our
stand shows off our gorgeous matt oilcloth a treat, it brings people in,
everyone loves it, everyone touches it tenderly. We engage them in
conversation, talk of the quality and it's'
UK made credentials with a will to 'convert' but equally chatting to
them about something that you both feel passionate about, family, pets, the
Archers overly eroticised storyline will create a connection and maybe a
'conversion'. Ultimately if you're nice to people they might buy from you, if
they don't you might have had a jolly nice chat and they'll remember you
engaging repartee and pastry hair. Not sure what Dragons Den would make of it
but I'm glad to be a designer of fabric that makes people smile, that someone
will don one of my aprons and make the mundane washing up slightly less
mundane. The moonlit drives might be worth it after all.
Betty Boyns products can be bought from our stockists and
online. Or by phone .
Bettyboyns.co.uk 08450 219 550
No comments:
Post a Comment