Profile: abigail*ryan homewares

Our business started, almost completely, from our meeting! Ryan and I met each other on the business forums on Etsy in early 2008, where we both had our shops at the time… our relationship grew, and soon, we were having a long distance romance, travelling back and forth between Glasgow and Belfast.

When in Glasgow (being self-employed we could stay with each other for weeks at a time), Ryan would work with me in my jewellery studio and we very quickly realised how much we loved working together and how well creative ideas sparked between us. We knew we wanted to collaborate together on a project, initially thinking jewellery or handbags – but then fell on the idea of making fabric, as pattern design had always been so important in my jewellery, and Ryan also loved pattern and textiles (being an accessories designer)… it all grew from there and organically became a homewares line as we felt that would be a great fit for the designs we began creating. We are very much ‘all or nothing’ people, so decided to set this new venture up as a company in its own right – launching a website/online shop and blog, along with a Facebook page etc.

That was the beginning of  abigail*ryan homewares… and our first pillow and tea-towel lines! We have since expanded into other products and will soon be launching abigail*ryan Heirloom which is a collection of one-off patchwork floor cushions and quilts, made from our own exclusive cottons and locally milled Irish linen… they are a labour of love.

There were a few challenges for us when we started. First off, this was a self-funded project so we had to finance it somehow, by hook or by crook, and that was difficult. We launched in the middle of the recession in the UK, so business was slow in general and neither of us had much spare capital – so we knew that we had to invest in the business and all the initial stock and equipment ourselves! We did huge amounts of research making sure we were finding the best materials for the most competitive prices and which product lines would be best for us to create, which helped greatly – knowing we were making the right choices and spending our money wisely. It added a lot of extra time to everything we did, but we were safe in the knowledge we were making the most informed decisions we could about where to invest those precious pounds!

Secondly, logistics were a little difficult for us! Not only in a personal sense – living hundreds of miles apart, separated by the sea – but physically…there were times when we needed to be in Glasgow but all our sewing things, or stock, were in Belfast etc, so it involved a lot of planning and roping in some help to overcome these issues. This was all, thankfully, resolved when we decided to move in with each other last year, so it’s a HUGE improvement to have everything under one roof (as well as each other)! Things are much easier for us now, and a lot more focused.

I think we would have jumped on the PR train sooner! We are only now really beginning to be pro-active about press releases and packs, following up those releases with phone calls and making connections with members of the press to gain exposure and editorial.

I (Abigail) was lucky enough to have started my jewellery business back when blogging was really taking off – my blog alone led to a huge amount of exposure and press, and really acted like a ‘domino effect’ letting people know my work was out there! ‘Big’ bloggers were keen to feature new and exciting work and it was an incredibly well-oiled machine (and exciting time) that has led many of the well-known designers and artists of today to have such great careers.

I think I was a little naive, when we started abigail*ryan, about just how much the blogging world had changed. It’s not enough anymore to have a blog (although it is certainly a bare minimum) to promote and launch a new business; you need to use other (and varied) social networking avenues, and the goal posts for getting featured on those big blogs has certainly changed. It’s harder to get an ‘in’ when you don’t have an established relationship with people for your new brand. It’s just a different world now, even just six years on! [Rena's note: an example of going beyond blogging - peek at this cute Cushions video they made!]

SO – I think, even if you are very shy (which we are) you should certainly realise the importance of PR right from the get-go and devote a significant amount of time to it (and money, if necessary). That would be our best piece of advice… and it’s really not that scary! Honest ;)