Member Article

Vintage inspired designs aim to create magical memories

The British love of giving is fuelling the UK’s £6 billion gift market, which covers everything from greeting cards to luxury goods. Specialist gift company Bessie & Flo is aiming to make its mark in the sector with a range of unique products to commemorate new life.

Angela Lock, short-listed for the 2015 Spark Business competition, run by Stockport Business and Innovation Centre (SBIC) is the designer and founder of Bessie & Flo, and has already secured a partnership with established ceramics company Hudson & Middleton.

Bessie & Flo’s product range currently includes ceramics, jewellery and stationery with a vintage flavour. With the market for children’s gifts growing, and the British appetite for all things retro flourishing, Angela hopes her designs will catch the public’s imagination.

Angela says: “I have four children and have many friends with children and I always struggle for gifts that are beautifully designed. I’m sure that the gifts that Bessie & Flo offer will be treasured forever - heirlooms of the future.”

Angela believes her 20 years’ experience as a designer and her desire to have control over her designs will ensure Bessie & Flo’s success. She explains: “After such a long period designing for others, I wanted to put my own designs into production and see my ideas come to fruition and flourish.”

Having struggled to have her own family, Angela is keen, once a website is in place, to create a forum for families to share the story of their much longed for baby. She says: “Once a month I will nominate a family to receive a Bessie & Flo gift bag and a rainbow brooch to celebrate their ‘rainbow baby’ - a baby born after a stillbirth or miscarriage.”

Angela believes winning the 2015 Spark Business competition at SBIC and a package of support worth £15,000, including a year’s free office space at SBIC which is owned by Stockport Council and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, will ensure her business starts from a solid platform.

She concludes: “My business would benefit hugely from all of the expertise on offer. The office space would be life changing, as I am currently working in the corner of a room in my house.”

You can visit Bessie & Flo at www.facebook.com/www.bessieandflo.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Welton .