Member Article

Simon Cowell First Customer For Newcastle Sunglasses Designer

Emma Reilly, who last week won a Prince’s Trust Enterprise Award, met the music mogul at the glittering London bash, which was hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales alongside Ant and Dec. Cowell, who presented Emma with her award, immediately donned a pair of her distinctive orange ‘Whitley’ sunglasses from her new range while press and attendees looked on. Cowell said: “Emma’s a star in the making. Her award is richly deserved and she should be very proud of herself. I’m having these sunglasses though, I think they’ll be great for when I’m back in LA.”

The 34 year old, who runs her own design business called Brave & The Bold has launched a range of designer sunglasses, inspired by the North East coastline near her Newcastle home. She is aiming to raise £6,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in order to get the business off the ground.

Emma has been assisted by The Prince’s Trust after suffering from bullying at a young age. She developed a debilitating social phobia that made it almost impossible for her to leave her home as a teenager. When she did, by her own admission, she used to ‘hide’ behind dark sunglasses.

Using that as her inspiration, she’s started with three distinctive designs in the range, which will retail at £35. She has pledged to donate a pound from each sale back to The Prince’s Trust and has already drawn up new ideas to increase that range to 12 if her Kickstarter bid is successful. “Seeing one of the most famous and successful people in the world wearing my sunglasses was a bit surreal. Simon was really enthusiastic and asked a lot about the inspiration for the designs. It’s safe to say he now knows loads about Whitley Bay beach! “The Prince’s Trust has been incredibly supportive and I owe them so much. But now I want to make a big success of Brave & The Bold by letting the product speak for itself.”

Potential backers can find out more and make a pledge for their very own pair at Kickstarter.com (Search Brave & The Bold).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Louise Jake .