Full Profile
Paula Tew - Next Big Thing
Company: hoshii- Business: Women's Accessories
- Established: April 2008
- Status: Sole Trader
- Based: Birmingham
- Award: £1000
The Concept
An Insight Out participant back in 2005, for the last 2 years Paula has enjoyed a day-job helping would-be creatives take their first step onto the career ladder at Creative Launchpad.
However, rather than shelving her business ambitions, she has continued to develop her product ideas and in April 2008 left Creative Launchpad to concentrate on developing the prototype for her range of kimono-inspired bags through entering The Next Big Thing! competition. The competition is for local entrepreneurs, small businesses and inventors to gain free assistance in developing a spark of genius into a marketable product.Successful entrants to the competition attended a month long business support programme providing them with information on resources for small businesses, presentation skills, and a chance to meet with business fund advisers. The competition launched in November 2007 as a partnership between Birmingham City University and Arbutus Innovation.
Taking influence from her time spent living in Japan; Paula wanted to design 'a simple but unique bag', which used "fun and funky reversible" patterns' for a yoga mat so applying to The Next Big Thing! was an opportunity for Paula to pitch for cash to develop her idea into a start up business.
"The design of the bag is unique," says Paula. "Current mat bags tend to be long tubes which the mats fit into. They are carried vertically with a shoulder strap or horizontally with a handle.
Time for Reflection
Awarded £1,000 to invest in her future company from the Insight Out 2005 programme, Paula recommends the merits of the course: "The main benefit for me was time. Because I was in full time employment it was good to have some time away to reflect on what I was doing. I gained a structure and a support network and it was good to find out other people's opinions on my product ideas."
At the time of her Insight Out course, Paula planned to produce a unique form of multi-functional furniture. However, after extensive research and development of the concept, she ran into difficulties that forced her to rethink the idea; "Although it's still something that I want to do, at the moment it's just too big a job for me because I lack the skills required," concedes Paula.
"I'm a designer, not a furniture maker or metal moulder, so it was difficult trying to find the right help to do the prototyping. And with my job it just got too much."
Oriental Flavours
However, with a background in textile design, Paula is enthusiastic about the bold patterns and reversible nature of her proposed range of bags. "I love fun and funky patterns; the fascination comes from when I was living in Japan and was really inspired by the kimono and traditional costumes, and the way in which they combine patterns together."
Branded
She may have bags of ideas then, but what's her route to market? Would she consider licensing out the product concept to a larger company?
"I'm setting up the brand myself; self-manufacturing. I hope to sell direct to the end user," says Paula. "As the products are going to be manufactured in the UK, it will be difficult to make a profit if I sell them wholesale because of the high mark-up that shops add on. I may however try and sell through several key shops as a way of getting the products out there. But I'm mainly planning to sell online via my own and other e-commerce websites, through retail fairs and maybe through gyms and yoga schools."
The Far Eastern inspired brand name of her company, hoshii (translated roughly as 'to desire' in English) again echoes Paula's love affair with all things Japanese. "It's still early days, but hopefully the brand will allow me to introduce a range of products in the future," says Paula. "I have lots of product ideas in my portfolio which I'd eventually like to bring to market, so hoshii may become quite an eclectic brand in the end, but it will always be about highly desirable, fun and funky products."
David Allen
Core Values
"Reliability, honesty and quality products."
www.paulatew.co.uk