Welcome



Set up by British designer Jacinta Walton, Whinberry & Antler design and produce unique fabrics and homewares by hand in rural England. Incorporating a passion for traditional skills by using hand printing methods, and taking inspiration from British wildlife and countryside, Whinberry & Antler hope to bring a beautiful token of the countryside into your home.

Please have a look around the blog and follow us to see how Whinberry & Antler products are made, with step by step photographs demonstrating the traditional skills used on the 'Behind the Scenes' page, as well as other information and updates about the company.

For more information please see the company website www.WhinberryAntler.com or email info@WhinberryAntler.com




Tuesday 18 December 2012

Whinberry & Antler in the Country Living Magazine

Hello,

It has been a little while since I last got a chance to write a new blog post. Things went very well for W&A at the Country Living Christmas Fair, we sold out of all our aprons, lavender bags, draught excluders, tea towels and tote bags and came home with only seven cushions! I got straight back into the print room and have been busy printing and sewing ever since. Vintage in Shrewsbury and For You And Your Home in Cirencester report that they have sold our products well too in the run up to Christmas which is great news.

And I am now delighted to say that we are in the January 2013 edition of the Country Living Magazine available in shops now! Also great to be in the magazine at the same time as a huge article on the shropshire hills! Including the Stiperstones; the home of the whinberry! The team have been kind enough to email over a copy of the page for me... so here it is;

Our Badger badger badger cushion and Hedgehog are on page 13.
I never thought some of my drawings would be in a national magazine!

I have also now decided on my new range... It is time to develop an entirely new range so keep an eye out for that in 2013! I am also going to be focusing much more on the upholstery and fabric side of the business in the start of 2013. I have a big beautiful wing back arm chair that was started a year ago now and desperately needs finishing, plus I really want to get some fabric sample books made up, especially as I already have people requesting these.

So here we are nearly at the end of 2012. When I look back over the past year and compare where W&A was at in December 2011 to where it is now I feel very lucky. Last Christmas I was mainly making orders for my friends and family and now I have had many orders from people all over the country through notonthehighstreet.com and whinberryantler.com, plus two very successful retail shows and products in some lovely shops.  Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me. It has been quite a journey and I could not have done it without you.

And so, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you for reading my blog, it means so much to me, and I hope to see you again in 2013!

Jacinta

Whinberry & Antler

Friday 9 November 2012

The Country Living Christmas Fair progress

Day two is now complete and we have a further three days to go and things are going really well for Whinberry & Antler. We have met so many lovely people who have stopped and talked with us about our products and said very kind things. It's been incredibly busy- busier than I expected! And our stand position is great. It's also been lovely to see some of the other exhibitors I met in Spring and hear that they are also doing well.

Being at the Fair has given me chance to reflect on how the company has grown and developed over the past twelve months: from making my very first Internet sale last December (to a friend!) to selling many products at the fair and online. I shall write a more detailed post when the show is over, but I thought for now that it would be a nice idea to share some photos.. So here you go! Thanks for reading, and come back soon! W&A.

Saturday 3 November 2012

A new stockist for Whinberry & Antler in Cirencester

I am delighted to announce a new stockist for Whinberry & Antler products in the beautiful town of Cirencester, 'For You and Your Home'. In this lovely shop you will find unique British made homewares of rich warm textures. For You and Your Home actively try to support British Craftsmen and women who use local sustainable materials which is great and fits in perfectly with the ethos of Whinberry & Antler. Take a look at the company website which has an online shop, you're bound to find some ideal gifts for your loved ones this Christmas; www.foryouandyourhome.co.uk

Vintage, in Shrewsbury, have also just received their new W&A order, including products featuring the new designs, so if you in Shrewsbury be sure to pop in and take a look! (www.vintage-shrewsbury.co.uk).


Whinberry & Antler will be heading to London on Monday for the Country Living Christmas Fair. I can't believe how quickly it has come around and that we are now in November. When I exhibited at the Fair in Spring, I was generally really pleased with the look of my stand. I did however feel that perhaps the sign did not entirely fit in with my brand, and so this time I have made two really big cushions to use as my signs instead! I think they work really well and I am looking forward to hearing any comments or thoughts on them at the Fair next week.


I must say a big thank you to my partner Finn for all his hard work and support in getting W&A ready for the fair, he will also be my fellow sales person next week!

Hopefully see you there,

W&A.



Tuesday 23 October 2012

A quick glimpse behind the scenes...

I just thought I would share this photo, as I always think it's really interesting to see the actual work space of designers and crafts people. So here's mine. It's a bit hectic at the moment, that may be something to do with a certain Christmas Fair...?

One day, when I live amongst the hills of Powys, I shall build a workshop in my garden. That's the dream.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Free tickets into the Country Living Christmas Fair




I have a limited number of tickets available to customers who place online orders via the www.whinberryantler.com before the 1st November 2012.

A selection of these are tickets offering free entry into the show (a fantastic saving of £16.50 on the door) for Wednesday 7th, Thursday 8th, Friday 9th and Sunday 11th November. I also have a selection of Gala evening only tickets for those who want to avoid the crowds and enjoy a free glass of wine!

In the meantime, I shall get back to cutting the hessian to make some new extra large cushions which shall be making their debut at the Fair. Hopefully see you there.

W&A

The cosy textures of hessian, becoming more and more appealing as the days get shorter and cooler.


Thursday 11 October 2012

Country Living Christmas Fair 2012 tickets competition

I have two tickets for the Country Living Christmas Fair to give away to someone who can come up with a great idea or names for the different designs in the Whinberry & Antler range! I'm looking for something reflecting the nature of W&A's  British and hand made products inspired by our countryside.

The tickets will get you and a friend into the country living fair for free between Wednesday 7th and Sunday 11th November (except Saturday) at the Business Design Centre, London. Tickets are £16.50 each on the door so this will be a great opportunity to save money on entrance! And I'm sure you would be able to find all your friends and family some very special unique gifts for Christmas. Plus it's a great way to kick off the festive season as the team at the Country Living Fair always to a fantastic job of decorating the Business Design Centre.

To enter, simply comment on this post or visit our Facebook page.

I look forward to some suggestions...

W&A

Wednesday 10 October 2012

A Badger Lampshade

So today I finally got around to making my first lampshade! I think I'd put it off as it all seemed a bit fiddly but it actually wasn't too bad. I printed two badgers onto a piece of cotton for this lampshade- I think it looks nice, but next time I shall use the smaller repeat fabric or more prints of the larger images. So I'm going to order another 24 frames to take some to the Country Living Fair.

This one can be found hanging in my parents study. The natural cotton works really well, especially when the light is turned on, it gives off a lovely warm glow. Hopefully they will sell well at the fair, and then after that they will be available at www.whinberryantler.com.

Thanks

W&A

Tuesday 2 October 2012

A scurry of Red Squirrels and a Wisdom of Owls.

Today I have been printing the new owls and squirrels onto all things W&A cotton based. I'm really pleased with both designs. The owl will be too big to make into lavender bags, but it looks great on the aprons. The red squirrel is very cute and definitely has the 'ahh' factor, which should make him popular. Once I have made a selection of new products I shall start photographing them all to make them available online. Here's some photos of them, including me wearing and showing two of the new products...

Thursday 20 September 2012

Country Living Christmas Fair prep underway

Well, I'm slowly working through the check list for the Country Living Christmas Fair in London this November. Started printing the new designs yesterday which was great!

I've also just ordered a child and adult dress mannequin as I felt that the aprons were not displayed as well as they could have been at the Spring fair. I've also just received a lamp shade kit in the post today so we will be making a prototype this weekend, I'll post a picture of it when it's done!

Many thanks for coming back to read the W&A blog! See you soon.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Presenting the Fox, Red Squirrel, Mouse and Barn Owl

Well, it took a little longer than expected to get some good drawing done and get the new designs ready, but I picked up the new screen today so I shall be printing the new Whinberry & Antler designs tomorrow. I am looking forward to taking them to the Country Living Christmas Fair at the start of November (7th-11th) to see what people make of them. My favourite is the fox, but foxes and badgers are probably my favourite of the British wildlife!





Tuesday 21 August 2012

Just a quick one...

Just a brief post to say the first apron has been sold! And no surprises it's a badger! For any small businesses reading this who may be considering joining Not on the Highstreet, I would highly recommend it.

Monday 20 August 2012

Aprons now available online

The Whinberry & Antler adult aprons are now available to order online! Just waiting to get the opportunity to photograph the children's aprons to do the same. Please go to the website to have a look (big thanks to my brother Seb for modelling them for me!)

Hedgehog Adult Apron


I would also like to mention a new retailer for W&A products; Willow & Stone, Falmouth. They sell some really lovely things, I came across their company whilst looking for some door handles for myself and I am so pleased that they now stock my products. They have a great online shop, as well as having just moved to a bigger premises in Falmouth itself. I highly recommend taking a look at their website if you're looking for top quality, original and British homeware accessories: http://www.willowandstone.co.uk/ . As well as that, I am using the early part of this week to complete another order for Vintage, in Shrewsbury (https://www.facebook.com/vintage.shrewsbury). Only three weeks since their first order, so it's great to know that W&A is doing well in it's hometown!

And so attention really is turning to the Country Living Christmas fair. I have completed some new designs (think fox, field mouse, red squirrel and barn owl). So now I just need to order a new silk screen to start printing them in time for the fair! I'm also trying to develop the ceramics range in time, as well as hopefully set it up so that customers can purchase gift vouchers to use online... So if you know anyone who may like our products, but you can't decide on an exact one then maybe a gift voucher could be the ideal gift!

Whinberry & Antler now also uses instagram, so if you're interested in what goes on behind a business, and want to see how things are made, then just like our facebook page to stay updated! (I'm all about photographs and visual so it suits me perfectly!) 

Anyway, a big day of printing draught excluders lies ahead tomorrow, so it is probably time to leave the office and call it a day. Still working out the best ways to photograph them to put them online... but in the meantime, they are available at both Vintage and Willow & Stone.

My day of squeegees and inks which lies ahead...


All the best, hope to see you on facebook and back on here soon!

 Thanks for reading.

W&A

Friday 13 July 2012

W&A featured in LandLove Magazine and Fabric now available online

I have just uploaded the fabric so that it is now available to purchase by the metre from www.whinberryantler.com.

In other news, our notonthehighstreet.com shop is doing really well, considering it is still very early days for it. It's been really good so far for getting the W&A name out there too and it's really nice to know that people like my products.

Also, not too long ago, whilst on my way to London I was at WH Smiths in Birmingham New Street station where I picked up a copy of LandLove Magazine and whilst flicking through came across this page featuring Whinberry & Antler products. I was by myself at the time, so I was very tempted to share my joy with the people around me whom I did not know, however I did manage to contain my excitement in the end! Safe to say I purchased a copy.


I must say a big thank you to LandLove Magazine for using my products and also for sending me a pdf of the page for me to use. It's a really great magazine with lots of really interesting articles not just about homewares, but about the British countryside, traditional crafts and trades, and some very tasty recipes. For more information just visit their website; LandLove.com.

Thanks for reading.

W&A


Monday 2 July 2012

Some pictures of the fabric...

Hello again,

I just thought I would quickly upload some images of the printed fabric. They are shown with a ruler next to them so you can get an idea of the image sizes;


Badger Fabric



Hare Fabric

Hedgehog Fabric

I have also just received twenty limited offer 'buy one ticket, get one free' coupons for the Country Living Christmas Fair running from 7th - 11th November at the Business Design Centre in London, so if you would like one, then just send me an email with your name and address to info@whinberryantler.com. It will be the ideal opportunity to get all your Christmas presents sorted without that horrible last minute panic.

W&A

Friday 22 June 2012

New Website and New Products.

All things web-based have been quite busy for Whinberry & Antler the past few weeks. The new website has now been launched with new products available to buy online- tea towels and tote bags all made in the UK using British made cotton (still keeping it all about 'made in Britain'). I must say a huge thank you to my friend, Gareth Davies, who has helped me enormously in re-designing and re-building the company website, which now runs much faster and is available on all things Apple.


Hedgehog Tote Bag

Badger Tea Towel

You will also now be able to find Whinberry & Antler on notonthehighstreet.com as the shop has now been published. It's been really good to take the opportunity to edit and refresh some of the text for W&A as well as take some new product photos. Soon to come will be the adult and children's aprons once I have taken some good photographs of them.


So progress is steady and things are certainly moving forward nicely, it feels like W&A has grown and developed a lot since the company was started only ten months ago! I'm spending tomorrow printing fabric on the roll so I will be able to make that available to buy online once I have built a stock up.

Thanks for taking the time to read another post about W&A progress, I hope you like the new products and stay tuned for more!

W&A

Monday 11 June 2012

Badger Badger Badger Print Print Print

Well, it has taken a fair bit of tweaking the custom made screen printing table, but we have finally printed the first batch of Whinberry & Antler fabric!

It feels like a little milestone has been met, and I'm really pleased with how the fabric turned out. This week I shall be printing the Hare and Hedgehog designs onto fabric and then shortly after it shall be available to buy by the metre from www.WhinberryAntler.com.

Badger Badger Badger fabric drying shortly after being hand printed.

In other news, a very good friend of mine has redesigned the W&A website so it will be viewable on ipads and iphones alike and will run at a much faster speed! I have also been editing photographs for the W&A  shop on www.notonthehighstreet.com, so hopefully that will go live soon too. I will be sure to blog a link to it as soon as it is up and running.

Thanks for reading,

W&A

Wednesday 16 May 2012

New W&A products added to Etsy and Folksy

Well, it has taken a little bit of time, but I have now uploaded the tea towels and new rectangle cushion designs onto Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/whinberryantler) and Folksy (http://folksy.com/shops/WhinberryAntler). I am undecided yet as to whether to carry on printing the tea towels in colour or to just stick to all imagery being printed in black, as quite a few people suggested at the Country Living Fair. What do you think?

Green Hedgehog and blue Badger tea towel

Maroon Deer tea towel

New rectangle Deer cushion

Close up of the new rectangle Hedgehog cushion


Monday 30 April 2012

Busy and Exciting Times

Well, things have been very busy here at Whinberry & Antler. I certainly need to blog more often as I have lots to tell you, but I will try and break it up with some photos.

Firstly, I have now booked for the Country Living Christmas Fair which will take place from the 7th-11th November later this year. Whinberry & Antler will have a slightly bigger stand this time and you will find us on the main Mezzanine, which is a great spot for us. I am sure I will have to expand my little team this time as I have a feeling that things will be very busy indeed.

I have also been editing new images for the catalogue and for a web based company called Dalani (Dalani.co.uk). W&A products are on sale with them on until the 1st May in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Poland. I really like the text they have given to go with each product- it's nice to see what other people come up with when they are describing W&A products. I should have lots of sewing and printing to keep me very occupied very soon!

One of the new Cotton Tote Bags featuring Deer design



I also went along to a charity fundraising event last week organised by MFG Solicitors in Telford to help raise money for Age Uk Shropshire Telford & Wrekin Diamond Appeal. I set up a table of Whinberry & Antler products, as well as donating a W&A Welsh lavender bag to the raffle prizes.

The Whinberry & Antler table at the Charity event held organised by MFG solicitors and held at the Rybrook Mini dealership in Shrewsbury in aid of Age Uk Shropshire Telford & Wrekin Diamond Appeal.
Whinberry & Antler products are also part of an exhibition organised by local wildlife artist, Rory McCann. The xhibition is on for one month at the Shropshire Wildlife Trust Centre. You can find out more details by following the link;

 http://www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/WhatsOn/events_pages/Drawing+inspiration+from+nature+-+Exhibition


In other news, I went to visit a company, Digital Ceramics, in Stoke last week in relation to developing a new range of British designed and made ceramics for Whinberry & Antler. It was really great to look around their small factory and workshops and I am looking forward to working with them to build up the Whinberry & Antler home ware range. My plan is to make sure I have the ceramics completed to debut at the Country Living Christmas Fair. Watch this space....!

Tuesday 10 April 2012

New Whinberry & Antler Stockist

A selection of Whinberry & Antler cushions and lavender bags are now available at Cotton Duck Interiors (www.cotton-duck.co.uk), based in Holsworthy, Devon. One Badger cushion was very quickly snapped up, which was excellent news!

I have also just sent my image and text off to Vogue, to be featured in the article 'A Royal Abode', which will hit the shelves in June. Very exciting.

This is the cushion to feature in Vogue Magazine in June. I made this cushion to order for a lovely lady I met at the Country Living Fair who wanted two to give to her friend as a birthday present.


In the meantime I am back to building up new stock and designs. Bye for now.

Tuesday 27 March 2012

The Country Living Magazine Spring Fair Experience

Well, what a whirlwind week it has been!

I am back in sunny Shropshire after an amazing time in London at the Country Living Magazine Fair.  I arrived last Monday with the van to drop everything off, and decided to leave the actual setting up until Tuesday. Arriving at my empty stand made me realise quite how small it was! But I think it was actually a great set up as it was open on one side so that customers would be able to see my display really easily. I also paid for a single spot light which was angled into the corner and it made a huge difference.

The Whinberry & Antler stand shortly after we moved in.


I had a great time with my brother Seb (www.sebingham.com)setting up and designing the W&A stand.  We tried to keep things quite simple so that the products would take centre focus. I was really pleased the finished look of the space and I really must say a big thank you to Seb for his help, especially as he is coming to the end of his graphics degree and is busy enough with that!

The finished Whinberry & Antler stand. We thought it would be a good idea to have aprons printed with the W&A logo so that we would be part of the brand too.

The fair opened on Wednesday, which was the longest day as there was also the gala evening, so we were open from 10 am - 9pm. It was very nerve-racking as the first set of visitors started to appear, but once sales were being made (the first product sold was a badger cotton bag) I got into the flow of chatting to people and making sales. I found that people were really interested in the processes involved with making the imagery and really liked that I made most of it myself. Sourcing all my materials from within the UK was also very important to my customers. I also had help from my brother's girlfriend Kat on the first two days, she was really excellent at helping me and I will definitely be hiring her services again in the future!

The simple white shelves worked well being staggered and different lengths, I think it broke the wall up and made the display more interesting to look at.


All the products sold very well, but I can easily say that the hare was the most popular image. I also had a lot of trade enquiries which was great, so I need to spend the next couple of days getting in touch with the people who gave me their business cards. Over all I had an amazing response to the Whinberry & Antler products which was so reassuring and has really boosted my confidence in what I am doing. I must say a big thank you to all the people who stopped to chat and give me some feedback!

The main hall in the Business Design Centre on Sunday morning (this is only half of it- it's a pretty big place)


By the end of the week, I had sold about 75% of my stock, so I probably got that about right, as I didn't want to end up with empty shelves. Break down on Sunday was pretty chaotic. Three hours to take everything down, pack and be back on the road, with nowhere to park your van whilst unpacking. The stress of this was not helped by the council sending in a fleet of traffic wardens at about 4pm either. Luckily we escaped before getting any tickets, but many other exhibitors were not so fortunate.

Overall I had an excellent time and really did learn a lot. Nothing went wrong or got left behind- I think this was largely down to all the list making in preparation. I got to meet other much more experienced exhibitors who offered me an invaluable amount of advice and I must thank them too;  Twig (http://www.twiguk.co.uk) , Deliart (http://folksy.com/shops/deliart), Zinnia (http://www.zinniashoes.co.uk) and My Aunt Agatha (http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyAuntAgatha) to name but a few.

So, what's next? Well, I will be booking to go back to the Country Living Christmas Fair with some new designs. I am also going to push with getting my products into shops now. Also, stay tuned for a Whinberry & Antler cushion making an appearance in Vogue magazine!


Lastly (but by no means least), I must thank my parents, Jackie and Nigel, for van hiring and driving, helping me with sales, helping with break down, and just generally for the huge amount of support they have given me. I really could not have done it without them.

Sunday 18 March 2012

The night before the big event begins...

Well, the van is now packed and I am just sorting out my press releases to take to the fair. I have gone through my checklist again and again making sure I have all the adhesives I could possibly need (blue tack, cello tape, masking tape, glue etc)! I still have a few cushions to complete, but generally the house is looking like a home again, rather than a factory.

I'm glad that I booked my drop off slot for tomorrow as it means I have all of Tuesday to make sure my stand looks ready to go on Wednesday. To help prepare I have read quite a few blogs by previous first time exhibitors at the Spring Fair and looked at their before and after photos. I shall endeavour to record on my blog how everything goes and include photos of the various setting up stages in case I may be able to help others too in the future. It is a bit daunting being a first timer. I definitely feel confident and excited now though! London.... Here we come.

Saturday 17 March 2012

Final preparations....

So, with only two days to go before departing for London, its feels like there is a lot to do but it will all get done- but still, I will keep this brief....

I have spent this morning printing the paper bags with my brother Seb. The bags are for customers to use once they have purchased a W&A product (hopefully lots of them will get used!) I am going to take lots of photos of my stand at the fair, so for those who can't come and visit, you ca see what it all looks like.

I have also now printed all my aprons and tea towels, so for anyone attending the Country Living Fair, be sure to come and see those.

Right then, time to get back to sewing on labels... But here are a few photos to look at to show the mornings activities, including Spider the Border Terrier, now three months old.

Spider the Border terrier... the new face of Whinberry & Antler?

Printed bag with the screen

Lots of bags drying. With 200 bags to print we had to rig up some drying lines.


Tuesday 28 February 2012

Working hard for the Country Living Magazine Spring Fair .

So I thought it was probably time to write again.

Still preparing for the Country Living Magazine Spring Fair! Not entirely sure what to expect so just trying to ensure I have a lot of stock made and that I will be as organised as possible to avoid any nasty surprises once I'm in London!  I have quite a lot of cushions made now and a fair collection of lavender bags.



The armchair is well under way, I think it will be quite spectacular once it is complete! It will most certainly be the talking point in the living room of its future home.I promise to put up some photos soon once the weather has picked up so I can get some shots of it outside of the garage.

I have ordered lots of aprons, both childrens and adults, from a company in Lancashire who produce cotton and manufacture the products themselves- Keeping it all British! There is also a good stock of Whinberry & Antler draught excluders featuring the marching hedgehogs, to keep out the cold air. I have also decided on my display now for the fair.... but I think that can stay a secret until the big event itself.

In relation to the business side of things, I am in the process of getting my merchant account number so that I may take card payments at the fair in March. A heads up to anyone who may be interested in doing this in the future, it is not a quick process- in fact it takes about four weeks altogether. I also have my public liability insurance now, which you need to attend any markets or fairs. I have also written a press realease for W&A. Around 20 copies of this, will be handed in at the Business Design Centre in London at the start of the Fair for any journalists who may be interested.... fingers crossed.


Anyway,  I should get back to it, I am halfway through making ten large cushions.



Thanks for reading, come back soon!

(oh, and this is our latest addition to the family; Spider the Border Terrier. It's very hard to keep up the work when he's around!)


Thursday 2 February 2012

Count down to the Country Living Spring Fair

With just under two months now until the country Living Spring Fair much of the focus at Whinberry & Antler is now on preparing for the event and trying to ensure that things can go as smoothly as possible (chip and pin, insurance, company sign, displays, transport etc) My handbook came in the post this morning and there certainly is a lot to read.

I have just completed the online profile, please click on the link to have a look and find out a bit more about the Fair- http://www.countrylivingfair.com/spring/page.cfm/Action=Exhib/ExhibID=637

As well as making lots of stock at the moment, I am also reading two very inspirational and motivating books, which I would highly recommend to anyone stuck in a job they don't enjoy or just needs that extra push to of positivity;

'It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be' by Paul Arden

and

'Become a Person of Key Influence' by Daniel Priestly which was very kindly given to me by Fay Easton.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

New Products on W&A website

Well, I have just spent the past couple of hours sorting out some more product photos and uploading them to the W&A website, as well as changing a few other things.



The enter page now features a photo of one of my favourite places to be. It shows a view of my local Shropshire hills, Earls hill, Pontesford Hill and the Stiperstones. I's only a short walk from my house and it was my favourite place to walk my Rough Collie Jade before she passed away last year. She loved bounding up and down the hills and rolling around on the grass! I thought it would be nice to show you one of the places that inspires me to create products that celebrate our countryside. I hope you think it looks nice too.

One of my favourite places. Always so lovely and quiet, all you can hear are the birds and the sheep

Monday 23 January 2012

BBC Radio Shropshire

Today I received a phone call from BBC Radio Shropshire asking if they could come over and do a short interview with me about my business as part of the governments campaign to get people exploring the possibility of stating their own business in these times of mass unemployment- particularly amongst young people. It went really well and we discussed what it was like to start your own business- the highs and lows (although it is mainly highs!) and then recorded a short interview... tune in to BBC Radio Shropshire (96fm) tomorrow morning at 8 am or listen back to it on iplayer if you miss it or come from slightly further afield.

I shall get back to my drawing now...

Thursday 19 January 2012

Apologies, it has been a while.

Firstly I must apologise, it has been some time since my last post.

The first festive season went well for Whinberry & Antler- sales were made online through the company website and through Etsy which was great- as well as the first international order to the USA! I really must thank many of my family and friends who showed their support for Whinberry & Antler by choosing some of my products to give as Christmas presents (which I hear were well received!). I'm thinking about starting a page to show some of the products in there new homes, but I shall have a little think about that.

At the start of December I went down to Bath for a couple of days to use a photography studio and make more labels (as I need a press to emboss them). We took lots of photos to use for the first W&A catalogue which I will put up once they are edited. We also had some fun and messed around a bit (after all, life is about having fun), as you can see below!


 Today I have opened a Whinberry & Antler shop with Folksy. For anyone who does not know it, it is much like Etsy in that it is a platform for designers and makers to sell their products to a wide customer audience through the internet. The difference is though that Folksy specialise in, as the tag line reads, 'Modern British Craft'. Please do have a look  and support the shop through Facebook and twitter http://www.folksy.com/shops/WhinberryAntler

Well good bye for now, I shall be writing again soon with more photos of new products, including the new Kingfisher design! See you soon.