Highs And Lows

If you ever want to extend your life, take a stand at a show! I find you have to exercise extreme willpower not to look at your watch during the quiet periods, otherwise you will literally find yourself counting the minutes.

That said we had a really good time at the Spring Fair in Birmingham last week. We had a record number of wholesale orders, and some really positive enquiries from retailers ranging from London department stores to Garden Centres and some lovely independent shops. I already know from last year that some of the enquiries can be real slow burners, taking months to come to fruition, but it gives us chance to manage our stock levels, as cotton prices have risen yet again, and it is getting harder to get hold of Organic Cotton yarn.
It was really nice to hear so many positive comments about our ranges from trade professionals, and it was really gratifying that so many could see the quality difference immediately.
After such a high, our week at the show ended on a sad low, with the loss of Gertrude, our gorgeous bulldog. We have had her from 8 weeks until nearly her 14th Birthday, so we are very aware how lucky we've been, and anyone who has met her will know what a character she was, always making her presence known. If you had called the office you are very likely to have had loud snoring in the background - I promise you that was Gert not me! Since I gave up my "proper job" to run Ochre And Ocre, Gert and I have spent most days together in the Ochre And Ocre office, so I have to admit to finding it a very quiet space this week. Luckily there is much to do following up from the show, catching up on office work, and sorting out stock and displays for our next big retail show, Country Living Spring Fair, keeping me occupied and my mind busy.

February Already!

Is it me or is this year flying by already! Our big wholesale trade show (The Spring Fair)is fast approaching, closely followed in March by Country Living!
 I met up with the super talented Rachel Spivey this week, at her rather lovely Leamington studio, to get the last few shots done for our brochure and online. As usual though, half our time was spent gassing about business and assorted stuff, before getting down to the actual business of photographing our new placemat range. (Check out her website by the way - she's updated it with some lovely new wedding pics).
We had to use our ingenuity when it came to finding a suitable "table" to shoot the mats on - and ended up with a coffee table balanced on top of a dressing table! Hopefully you will be none the wiser from the pictures!!

The brilliant and very patient  Lindsey has tidied up our brochure and it's winging it's way to the printers - even after several proof readings, I still spotted a major error this morning on my final read through - sometimes you just read what you want to read rather than what is actually in front of you. It's a relief to have that sent, as next week all our focus will be on the wholesale side of Ochre And Ocre. We've already had some positive responses from our mailing to the independent shops, so I'm hoping the new colourways will get a good reaction from our lovely retail customers.
I'm really pleased with how our new placemats have turned out - printed here in the UK, they have a really nice finish, and the fabric texture effect has worked in printing.
Now we just have to wait for our new Organic Cotton stock to arrive later on this month, and hopefully start selling!

January Blues..and Red's, Greens and Ochres

Our first ever January sale is over, and now it's onwards and upwards with 2011. There is a lot of forward planning this month; we have our Wholesale show in two weeks time at the NEC, where we will be showing our new colourways in the British Collection. Followed a few weeks later by the Country Living Spring Fair; a lovely show where it is hard not to spend all your takings!
I always get excited about new additions to the range, and I can't wait to see the first reaction to the Isabella Red and Madelaine Ochre. The Country Living Fair will be the first time I get a face to face real punter reaction, as the trade show buyers tend to be planning ahead, for the Autumn season.
We have been putting the finishing touches to our new brochure, with help from the very talented Lindsey Joyce. I tend to put together a very rough mock up of how I want each page to look, along with the text and pics, and Lindsey somehow manages to turn it into a professional looking brochure.
In preparation for the launch of the new colourways, I've also started to make Lavender Hearts in the new colourways. As boredom tends to set in quite quickly, I try to batch the tasks - spending a few hours one day cutting them out, sewing on the brand label another day, and so on, until it's time for the final stuff and stitch. A lovely fragrant job, which I tend to do sat in front of the tv at night, aided and abetted by Mr Ochre!
Right - it's swatch cards next, a night ahead of me of double sided sticky tape and piles of swatched fabric. 

New Year - January Sale!

We have had a great initial reaction to our first ever sale at Ochre And Ocre. I was determined that it should be a "proper" sale, with genuine reductions. As an ex buyer I know all about special "sale buys", and I hate getting conned by the not so real savings. Another bug bear of mine is when you purchase something in a sale, then two weeks later it is reduced even more. It does make you feel like you should have held off a bit longer, to save those extra pounds - everything in the Ochre sale is only being marked down once, so as to avoid upsetting those customers who have purchased already.
Some of the lines in the original Chateau collection will remain marked down to clear, but all the print ranges, Organic Cotton table cloths and napkins will have new pricing for 2011.
Since we originally launched Ochre And Ocre in 2008 all the prices have been held. But in order to run a profitable business, (a sensible goal I think!!), we have to increase our pricing for two reasons. When we first bought the range the sterling to euro exchange rate was strongly in our favour, but this has declined hugely over the past two years. Another more recent issue is the price of Cotton. There are major cotton shortages worldwide, and Organic Cotton is even more scarce. I read on the BBC Website this morning that Next are increasing their prices by up to 8% due to the cotton prices. As a "small" company, we are at the back of the queue against the bigger retailers in trying to grab some of the remaining Cotton stocks.
Allowing for all the above factors, because we are only "small" we are fortunate to have small overheads, and more flexibility than some of the larger firms, so our price increases are modest, and still allow us to be competitive. It will be interesting to see how 2011 will pan out, but I am optimistic of a good response to our new additions to the ranges this year,  and am grateful to have a loyal and growing band of customers.

Christmas Holiday!

My last blog of 2010 - so a chance to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and lots of health, wealth and happiness for 2011.

A special thank you to a few key players whose support has been invaluable.
Ms Rachel Spivey for her amazing pics - Lindsey Joyce for adding that magic touch to my unfinished artworks! Phillippe Oligario for keeping the website looking trim, and my long suffering husband for allowing Ochre And Ocre to take over our home / life / weekends! Not forgetting our loyal customers, without whom there would be no business!

As a "home worker" the current weather does not have the same impact as when I was office based - with minimal commute, there is no excuse not to carry on working, although psychologically I still find something about the snowy weather that makes you want to shut down the computer and go and play in the snow! However it has impacted our deliveries, with couriers refusing to pick up from us, we can't offer our guaranteed next day service, and the Post Office under siege from all the delays it has become impossible to offer our usual 48 hour turnaround. I just hope come January it will all be back to normal.

We are closing for our Christmas holiday from 1pm on Wednesday 22nd December until January 3rd, when our sale starts. We are closing a day earlier than originally planned due to the weather conditions. There are a few piccies attached to give you an idea of the conditions here - and hence why a trip to the Post Office is not so straightforward!

We are holding our first ever January sale from January 3rd until January the 17th. With over 90% of the range included in the sale, we have some big markdowns in order to clear our stocks ready for new ranges arriving at the end of February. More about the new ranges next year........

So have a good one! x

Christmas Build Up

With all our Christmas shows finished, it is nice to be able to catch up in the office again. The bulldog is certainly pleased that her daily routine is no longer disrupted by early mornings, and late nights with shelving and boxes moving in and out of the house.
The weather has certainly been challenging over the last few weeks - I won't even start my rant about courier companies who have used the Scottish weather conditions as a reason not to bother collecting / delivering parcels here. I know we are based in the middle of nowhere, off a dirt track, but if dear old postie has been able to make it up here most days, (and the Ocado man thank fully!), there really is no excuse. I have to sing the praises of the Postal service - as our first class parcels seem to have been arriving without a hitch.

The scenery has certainly been pretty here in the Malverns, last week we had a very heavy frost, and the whole Common had an ethereal, Narnia like feel to it. I took a few pictures of the garden to show just how thick the frost was.

With Christmas, and our last posting day fast approaching, orders are still coming through steadily, and lots of people have been taking advantage of our free gift wrap service. I have to admit though, after spending hours wrapping gifts up for other people, I'm not that keen to wrap my own gifts! Boxes and ribbon sounds like a better plan!

Planning for next season is full steam ahead, sorting out our new brochure, setting up new lines, and preparing for our first ever January sale!

Eco Dining

I am always amazed by how many interesting people I get to meet and chat to, now that I run my own company. Back in September, I received a random phone call from James Strawbridge who was after some Organic table linen for a new venture at the family farm in Cornwall.  You are likely to have heard of his father, Dick Strawbridge, from his 'Scrapheap' days, ‘Coast, and also from  'It's not easy being green', which James was also involved with.

Dick is also an exceptional chef and this year has been seen competing in the prestigious BBC show ‘Celebrity Master Chef’. This is where our Ochre And Ocre table linen fits into the story, as there are very few companies out there, who sell Organic table linen, of a high quality, in colours other than beige, so we were thrilled when Dick & James decided to use our Organic table linen for their dinners at Newhouse Farm in Cornwall. 

James sent along a few pictures of the tables laid up which I thought I'd share with you. 

If you fancy joining Dick, James and family for lunch, or an evening meal, you can get more information on their events section on their website.

 Photo 1: Ochre And Ocre Organic tablelinen

 photo 2: The team (left to right: Jim Tomson, Charlotte Strawbridge, Dick Strawbridge, James Strawbridge, Holly Strawbridge)

 photo 3: The table laid ready

Photo 4: Dick Strawbridge