Spirals

Spirals

The starting point for everything that followed.

Like most students, after leaving The Royal College of Art, I was very well qualified on paper, full of ideas, energy and ambition BUT was flat broke, didn’t know anyone and no-one knew me, so where to start?!

In my case I had a break by way of an invitation from The Duchess of Westminster, who had seen my student show, to visit her workshops just outside Chester and see if I could turn my student ideas into reality.

I met some stellar people there including Jeremy Fry and Alex Moulton (not to mention The Duchess herself) who encouraged me to start small and keep everything as simple as possible.

These were wise words indeed which somehow vectored me towards coming up with the simplest product I could imagine and that turned out to be an eggcup made from a humble spring.

This was a classic case of part accident and part design but once I had organised manufacturing in Manchester I quickly got my first order from Habitat and in a whirlwind of activity suddenly found myself making a big profit and winning the UK Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award…so not a bad start!?

That first little product taught me so much about how to make things but moreover how to ‘make things happen’ and it’s fair to say that I haven’t really looked back since.

I stayed in touch with Jeremy Fry and Alex Moulton who always seemed to keep an eye out for me and I am still in touch with The Duchess who has ever since been a loyal and treasured supporter.