Benjamin Brush on Kickstarter

We’ve been working with BleepBleeps for some time and we’re mega excited to have helped them successfully fund their third product Benjamin Brush! He’s a fun wee guy designed to get kids brushing their teeth.

We produced all the creative assets including photography and the video. We worked with press and bloggers to get feedback and spread the word about Benjamin. 

Here’s the video we made for BleepBleeps!

We received lots of great feedback from the press, bloggers and influencers we got in touch with too. Here are just a few of our favourites from Fast Company, Mashable, Swiss Miss and Core 77.

Gold Nuggets from Colette

Welcome to our next edition of Gold Nuggets where we talk with some of our most loved makers, founders and do-ers. Digging into their stories to reveal tips, precious wisdom, and even some music to get your under-the-desk feet dancing.

In this edition we are excited to share words from Sarah Andelman who runs the iconic colette store in Paris. Sarah talks about working with her mum and what they look for in brand collaborations.

Tell us about yourself and your business

Hello, I’m Sarah! Together with my mother, we opened the colette store back in 1997. Our ambition was to open a place where we could showcase great fashion, beauty, design, art and food. Since the beginning, we have always prided ourselves on having an international mix of young designers and more well-known brands. Every week we change the windows and display inside. And every day we receive new products.

What do you look for with brand collaborations?

Each relationship is different but it’s important for us that each partnership feels personal, and that each collaboration is built on respect for one another. It just feels right for all parties.

Our selection process is quite spontaneous but we always pick products we like. We particularly are looking for items that are original, authentic and of great quality.

What was the best bit of advice you were given and who gave you it?

From my mum “just follow your instinct”, and I know I’m very lucky to be able to do it.

What is your ambition for colette?

To keep the excitement alive for as long as possible.

What song motivates you in the store and why?

Anything from the colette podcasts! Here’s the latest...

PWG x Kickstarter Glasgow Meetup

Thanks Bonnie for the photo.

Last week we brought loads of makers + creators together to talk about their projects and share their Kickstarter experiences at the very first Glasgow Kickstarter Meetup.

We had talks from Heather Corcoran from Kickstarter, Danny Kane from Filament PD, and both Vanilla Inkers Kate Pickering + Scott McIntyre. They shared their Kickstarter experiences, and gave some absolutely smashing tips. 

Two exciting makers; Curious Chip + Soundbops brought their prototypes along and it was great to see people sharing ideas and inventions.

The wonderful Vanilla Ink have turned their talk into a really handy (and honest) blog post and you can catch up on the rest on Twitter.

We're thinking about running these every six months or so, if you're interested in getting involved or have any feedback please get in touch and let us know. We are all ears, not literally that's just weird. 

 

Gold Nuggets from Hilary Grant

It's time for some more Gold Nuggets where we talk with some of our most loved makers, founders and do-ers. Digging into their stories to reveal tips, precious wisdom, and even some music to get your under-the-desk feet dancing. 

We sat down with our long time friend Hilary Grant to pick her brain about running her knitwear business and what she's learned about running her business in Orkney. 
 

Image Credit: Ross Fraser McLean

Tell us about yourself and your business

I run a knitwear company under my own name Hilary Grant, on a remote island off the North Coast of Scotland called Orkney. I started my business 2011, designing scarves and knitting everything myself on a hand-operated knitting machine. We're now a 2 person business, with my partner Rob joining me on design and running the online shop and all our knitwear is now produced with a knitwear manufacturer in Scotland. We sell our knitwear online and to department stores and design-led lifestyle stores in over 5 countries. 

What’s the one thing you wish you knew in your first year?

Have goals and celebrate smashing them. Learn from mistakes. 

When you're a small company,  you sometimes don't have the time or even notice when you're achieving things - you're always moving on to the next task. It's good to celebrate when good things happen, it gives you the motivation to move on and allows you to take stock of your achievements. 

Top 3 tips for growing a brand in a remote location

Social media is basically a lifeline for our business when we live in such a remote place. But having really brilliant content is what makes people stick around. It can genuinely be an isolating experience, running a business in a remote place but Instagram allows you to build a little world around yourself with people who support what you do and meet other businesses and creatives who inspire you and you can support in return. 

Physical face-to-face events are so important for us as it gives us a chance to meet the lovely people to support us online. It also gives you the opportunity to make chance encounters with all sorts of people outside our social media circle. We do a lot of pop up shopping events in winter and I think it really means a lot to people to be able to touch our knitwear and feel it before making a purchase. Our knitwear feel so soft and tactile -  one thing you can't show people through the internet!

Instagram has been a brilliant driver for us, but we don't want to rely on it too much. Kaye has been quite evangelical about newsletters for quite some time and we're ready to jump in with that now.

What was the best bit of advice you were given and who gave it to you?

Make a plan and stick to it. We worked with a brilliant woman called Kirsty Scott to help us build a growth strategy. It was the best thing we've ever done for our business.

What’s your ambition for your business?

We like being small as it offers us flexibility. For us the driver for the business really comes from the creative side - so we think about other products we'd like to make, techniques we'd like to develop and figure out how to reign it in to be commercial and accessible to people. We'd love to start working with more interior designers on bespoke projects and large-scale pieces. 

What song motivates you in the studio and why? 

It's hard to choose just one song. If I need to concentrate I'll listen to Disasterpiece. On Friday afternoon, when I'm trying to wrap up everything for the weekend I'll make a point of listening to Yo La Tengo's cover of "Friday I'm In Love". It's good for a Friday dance around the studio and getting into the weekend spirit!