Member Article

Lampshade and homeware designer moves into first office space in Gloucester

A Gloucestershire businesswoman who discovered a gap in the market when she created lampshades for her daughter’s bedroom has moved into her first office space.

Sam Spencer set up Orange Frog Boutique when she was furloughed during lockdown after being unable to find the lampshade designs her daughter wanted for her bedroom makeover.

She teamed up with her mother Sue and set about creating their own lampshades, and after showing parents at the local school Sam realised that there was a wider market for her creations.

Fifteen months after forming the business it continues to specialise in lampshades, but has expanded out into cushions, pouffes and a variety of eclectic homeware and gifts.

Orange Frog Boutique has also begun offering a bespoke lampshade service, where customers are able to choose fabrics to design their own lampshade.

The homeware business has now moved its operations into a unit at Space Business Centre in Gloucester.

The new office space will triple up as a manufacturing centre, office for administration and shop for customers to buy homeware and gifts.

Sam is still working part-time as a bookkeeper but says moving into the office at Space Business Centre is the next step toward making her passion for arts and crafts into a full-time job.

“Since we launched the business in July 2020 it has been incredibly well received and I’ve eventually outgrown the home office,” she said.

“In lockdown, we set about doing up my eldest daughter’s bedroom for her birthday and wanted to make it ‘grown up’ using bright paint and recycled furniture. I just couldn’t find a lampshade to complement the design - we wanted something different and not run of the mill.

“So my mother and I set about making our own lampshades. The school mums loved them and when lockdown hit I decided to make some more, which led to the creation of Orange Frog Boutique a couple of months later.

“Our online shop has been a great success and we’re receiving orders from all over the country, from right up in Scotland down to Cornwall. The quirky nature of our products has proved popular and now we’re branching out into other homeware.

“My dream would be for this to be my full-time job and be able to hire staff and grow as an interiors business – securing this new unit at Space Business Centre sets me on my way to that.

“It’s a perfect space for us and the rolling contract reducing all the risk a small business takes when taking up its first commercial space.”

Space Business Gloucester is owned by property investment company AC Lloyd, and is one of their two centres in Gloucestershire which offer flexible, easy in and easy out, multi-use units ranging from 275 to 775 sq ft.

Katy Lawson, General Manager at Space Business Centre, added: “I visited Orange Frog Boutique premises and found it mesmerising, all the designs and colours are amazing and the quality of each item is extremely high.

“I spent quite a while looking because in every nook and cranny there is something unique and amazing. I can well understand people wanting to design their own furnishings in order to be different from buying off the high street and in large stores and I can see how Orange Frog would be just perfect for them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .