Coffee With... ( 2009)

Gilly Keith

Friday 4th December 2009

What inspired you to create GKAC? Listening to women and hearing them say how hard it was to find good antenatal classes in London, and when they do, they’re invariably fully booked. A bit like schools these days, you almost need to put your name down before conception! There are...

Adrienne Garrard

Friday 20th November 2009

What inspired you to create Blaguette? During my 20s and 30s I worked as a banker in Asia, but spent all my spare time going to gem shops, markets and making jewellery with my business partner Nancy. Jewellery has always been a bit of an obsession for me and Asia...

Erica Illingworth

Friday 6th November 2009

What inspired you to create Molly Brown? It all started when my daughter Georgia was about twelve and I wanted to buy her a piece of jewellery that she could keep forever. When I was very young my Grandmother gave me a pair of pearl earrings and when I got home...

Karen Tucker

Friday 23rd October 2009

What inspired you to create The London Cushion Co.? I was marketing director at The White Company during a really exciting time of fast growth. Chrissie (The White Company's founder) was having babies but was still very much in control of everyday business and it was really inspiring...

Harriet Hastings

Friday 9th October 2009

What inspired you to create Biscuiteers? I suppose it really came from helping my husband at Lettice and spotting an opportunity to create great gift food. Biscuits at the time were incredibly underdone but they had the potential to be a perfect gift because you can send them...

Sara Berman

Friday 25th September 2009

What inspired you to create Sara Berman? I've always been a creative person and was bought up in a creative household - my mother is a fashion designer and my Dad is a jeweller - so there was never any pressure to be academic at home. I...

Ali Nester-Smith

Friday 11th September 2009

What inspired you to create Happy Box? I used to be a board director for an ad agency and we were forever sending out flowers and chocolates to clients and it suddenly struck me that there was opportunity to offer an imaginative alternative - a more creative response to what...

Donna Ida

Friday 28th August 2009

What inspired you to create Donna Ida? I'm a jeans addict but we're all on a constant quest to find the perfect pair. There are so many brilliant brands out there but there was nowhere that brought them altogether, other than the big department stores which is too often overwhelming and...

Alexa Till

Friday 14th August 2009

What inspired you and your husband to create Alexandalexa? The idea came about after having two children, constantly travelling with work and not having any time to go shopping. When I was in Paris on a buying trip, I was really inspired by all the different brands for children...

Sophie Worthington

Friday 31st July 2009

What inspired you and your business partner to create Ilovegorgeous? It was partly Lucy and I both having children and wanting to dress them in clothes we loved but it was also about us craving adventure and a creative outlet. We wanted a project that would challenge us...

Claudine Davies

Friday 17th July 2009

What inspired you to create Biondi Couture? My mother is Brazilian so I spent lots of time in South America when I was growing up. Over there everything is beach-orientated and their day-to-day fashion comprises mostly of bikinis! Inspired by my travels, I started to wholesale in 2001,...

Alex Finlay

Friday 3rd July 2009

What inspired you to create Fin's? I’ve always known that I wanted to work for myself but just needed the right idea. I was working as a creative consultant for small businesses and spent my life thinking ‘I could do this.’ I came up with the idea for...

Jo Sykes

Friday 19th June 2009

What inspired you to create Jo Sykes? After graduating I worked for Alberta Ferretti and now I consult for a large Italian fashion house so my background has always been in fashion. Over the years I had always felt there was a gap in the market for a label...

Tabitha Somerset Webb

Friday 5th June 2009

What inspired you to create Tabitha? I originally wanted to design clothes but at the time couldn’t afford it. I decided to put that on the back burner and got swept up in the advertising world but soon made the decision that I wanted to make money...

Sophie Cornish

Friday 22nd May 2009

What inspired you to create Notonthehighstreet.com? The businesses now listed on the site were our main inspiration. There were all these amazing brands out there but nowhere that brought them together - we knew we had to do something about it. We wanted to be able...

Melissa Del Bono

Friday 8th May 2009

What inspired you to create Meli Melo? I was working in PR and wanted a bag that could carry everything I needed for the day, but that was still stylish enough to take out for supper in the evening. The market was saturated with logo-emblazoned bags and...

Vinnie Day

Friday 24th April 2009

What inspired you to create Vinnie Day? I was bought up on a ranch in Kenya where TV and magazines were a rarity so we were encouraged to make things from a young age. My father was very conscious that the women he employed to work on the ranch...

Basma Alireza

Friday 10th April 2009

What inspired you to create Blossom Mother & Child? About five years ago my sister and I noticed there was a huge gap in the maternity market in Europe. Having been to the States where it was booming we noticed there just wasn’t an equivalent over here. Our aim...

Chloe Lonsdale

Friday 27th March 2009

What inspired you to create MiH Jeans? I had such belief in the Made in Heaven brand, which my Godfather had founded in 1969, and I saw a lot of potential to revive it and really make something of it. I’ve lived and breathed denim since I was a...

Suzannah Crabb

Thursday 12th March 2009

What inspired you to create Suzannah? I did a degree in Fashion Design and had been working in the industry as a designer and stylist. I was designing a few pieces for friends alongside this, but wasn’t doing anymore than that. A great friend of mine was...

Maria Hatzistefanis

Friday 27th February 2009

What inspired you to create Rodial? I was the beauty editor at 17 Magazine in Greece and saw a gap in the market for a beauty range that solved specific problem areas. At the time, plastic surgery was a fast growing phenomenon and more and more people were trying it, but...

Baukjen de Swaan Arons

Friday 13th February 2009

What inspired you to create Isabella Oliver? It all started when Vanessa and I were pregnant with our first children, Isabella and Oliver. There seemed to be a real lack of stylish clothes and it seemed ridiculous. Vanessa used to be the head designer for Victoria’s Secret and my background...

Karen Watson

Friday 30th January 2009

What inspired you to create The Real Flower Company? I had been working in fashion for twenty years and about five years ago I decided it was the right time to make a change. Going to fashion shows I found I was spending more time looking at all the...

Brix Smith-Start

Friday 16th January 2009

What inspired you to create Start? My husband Philip used to own a store called Woodhouse and I used to be in a band called The Fall. About 10 years ago we both gave up what we were doing and moved from Notting Hill to Shoreditch. There was...

Terry de Gunzburg

Friday 2nd January 2009

What inspired you to create BY TERRY? I'm inspired by everyday life, my own beauty needs and those of the women around me. Interior design, luxurious fabrics, contemporary art, music,especially opera and piano concerts, are also a major source of inspiration. I also love extravagant artists, massive jewels and precious...

Please login below: