Meet The Stockist: Hannah Zakari

♥ What’s your name and where do you come from?
My name's Rachael and I run/own Hannah Zakari in Edinburgh.
 
♥ How long have you been in the boutique business and what made you get started?
I've always been creative and have made and customised stuff for as long as I remember. I studied Clothing Design at the Scottish College of Textiles and after leaving I eventually became a manager in a high street clothing and accessories chain (guess what one?!). I can't say I enjoyed working in other shops very much but the experience has now put me in a great position to be able to run a shop of my own so I guess it worked out in the end!

♥ What’s your shop like and what do you sell?
Hannah Zakari was online only for nearly 6 years but last year we took the step into a 'real life' bricks and mortar shop. It's just like the website and we sell lots of different stuff but the emphasis is on jewellery and everything is handmade or designed by indie designers.

I think the focus really has to be on showcasing the work, so we've gone for a quite minimal modern look with just a few interesting and quirky touches to set off the pieces we sell

♥ What’s your typical day like - the best bits and the worst bits?
I'm at the shop by 10am to get things prepared for the day before we open at 11, maybe have some breakfast and make a flask of tea. I have shop helpers who cover in the afternoon to free me up to prepare web orders and press requests to be posted that day. Then I'll reply to emails, get new stock checked in and labels printed ready for it to go out in the shop. I try to spend some time each week going through consignment applications or contacting new designers. More exciting days will be spent making things for my own line, or working on window displays for the shop which I love doing.

Recently I've been working on a lookbook for Hannah Zakari which has been a totally new experience for me and I've been doing things like booking models, photographers and make-up artists, making props, sourcing clothes etc. It's been amazing fun and the shoot is next week which I'm really excited about!

♥ What do you look for in handmade goods to sell?
The most important thing to me is that the designs are different and well made. I try not to concentrate too much on any particular style and put myself in the mind of a customer, but my own taste does come in to it. I like to think that despite having such a wide range of styles and prices on Hannah Zakari there is a quirkiness that ties everything together, that's what I aim for anyway.

♥ Do you actively seek new designers, or wait for them to come to you?
Both! I get new applications daily from designers hoping to sell their wares in the shop, and I'm always keeping an eye out for interesting pieces - it's one of my favourite parts of the job

♥ What’s your best seller?
Gemma Correll's Pugs Not Drugs bags are super popular, and I'm always spotting them out and about too.

♥ How do you prefer a designer to approach you about selling their work? Any tips?
I prefer to get applications by email with a selection of images, retail prices and any other relevant information. I tend to wait until I've built up a few applications then go through them and pick out what I think will work the best on Hannah Zakari.

To be completely honest, I hate it when someone just turns up at the shop with work! I find it awkward and quite embarrassing , especially if I don't think the designers work is right for the shop. I appreciate that it takes a lot of courage to do it in person so I try and handle tactfully and direct people to the 'Selling Your Work' page on the HZ website (http://www.hannahzakari.co.uk/how-to-sell).

♥ What sort of basis do you prefer to work with your designers - consignment or wholesale?
I prefer to have a mixture of consignment and wholesale designers, from a purely business point of view it works best for me in terms of money and my time.
 
♥ Link us up!
Website: http://www.hannahzakari.co.uk/
If you want to submit work for consideration you can read all about it here: http://www.hannahzakari.co.uk/how-to-sell
Blog: http://hannahzakari.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HannahZakari
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hannahzakari
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahzakari
 
"Meet the Stockist" is a collection of interviews with stockists of independent designers' work, posted on the last Friday of each month. If you are a stockist and would like to be featured, or you are a maker and know of a great stockist to interview, email me!


Don't forget to subscribe if you heart my blog!

xoxo

Meet the stockist: Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge

♥ What’s your name and where do you come from??

Alison Bartram, owner of Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

♥ How long have you been in the boutique business and what made you get started?
I opened the doors to Heart Gallery in September 2006 after finally realising a dream and taking a leap of faith brought about by tragic circumstances.
My sister took her own life in 2005 and it made me realise that nothing in life is certain and we have no idea what is around the corner so I quit my job and took a part-time job in a café whilst I thought about what was important in my life. Rachel had always told me I was wasting my life working for others, she had always told me that I should go out and grab that opportunity, she had always told me to open my own shop again (I’d had a punk/alternative clothes shop in Bradford in the eighties), she had always told me that nothing was impossible, she had always told me that tomorrow never comes .. and for her there are no more tomorrows. But for me there are and her death gave me the kick up the backside I needed to realise that dream – my when, where, what and how had arrived finally when I spotted the Old Baptist Chapel in Hebden Bridge up for rent.

♥ What’s your shop like and what do you sell?
Heart Gallery is a unique contemporary jewellery and craft gallery featuring an eclectic mix of ever-changing work by around ninety emerging and established designers and makers, with quality and originality guaranteed.
Heart Gallery is passionate about all things beautiful and sells the very best of inspirational work including fresh, innovative and exciting contemporary jewellery, ceramics, glass, textiles, wood, furniture, accessories and stationery.
Heart Gallery ensures that there is something for everyone's tastes and budgets and is constantly evolving and reinventing. Heart Gallery prides itself on showcasing classic pieces for today's modern living alongside the more quirky and challenging accent pieces and brings unusual and unique sumptuous gifts and design-led
interior and lifestyle products together in one beautiful and inviting space offering a haven from the predictability of the High Street.
Heart Gallery is currently only bricks and mortar - see it, touch it, feel, it, try it on! Heart Gallery aims to have a selling website in the future however.

 Photo credit - Pipnstuff

♥ What’s your typical day like - the best bits and the worst bits?

Every day is so different and that's what I love about working in Heart Gallery. Every day I put the key in the big black door that was once a Baptist Chapel and open it to Heart Gallery I feel instantly calm and as excited as I felt the first day I opened to the public way back in September 2006! I never know what is going to be thrown at me and although there are jobs that have to be done every day quite often not all of them get done because of who comes through the door, who emails me or who phones! The worst bit if I'm honest is not having enough hours to get everything done so a lot of work goes home!

♥ What do you look for in handmade goods to sell?

Heart Gallery prides itself on being a little bit quirky and not a typical gallery that can appear to be a bit unapproachable by customers due to the white walled format and stark layout used. I try to reflect Heart Gallery's quirkiness in the makers I source, the pieces I choose to display and also how they are displayed. There are certain disciplines that I have tried at Heart Gallery since opening that don't seem to be appreciated by my customers so I unfortunately tend to ignore those at Shows and when searching on line for new makers. Otherwise, I just tend to adopt the approach of knowing that if I fall in love with it my customers will too as long as the craftmanship is there.

♥ Do you actively seek new designers, or wait for them to come to you?

I am constantly seeking new designer/makers - I can't switch off really, even when on holiday. If I spot a maker in another Gallery somewhere that I know would sit well in Heart Gallery then I contact them. I do have more approaching me these days as I have a good reputation within the industry.

♥ What’s your best seller?

I display more jewellery in Heart Gallery than other disciplines as there was such a gap in Hebden Bridge for great contemporary jewellery designed and made by makers in the UK. Obviously that means I sell more jewellery but handblown glass sold  amazingly well in December and functional ceramics weren't far behind! It does change however, there is no pattern and I can never understand why!

♥ How do you prefer a designer to approach you about selling their work? Any tips?

I have had to get strict over the years and now refuse to see makers that just turn up at Heart Gallery to be honest. I don't feel it's the right approach as I am open to the public and therefore cannot give quality time to the maker or to their work! I have an artist section on the website that asks makers to send images first. This means that I can see if their work will fit into the programme ahead and if it will sit well in Heart Gallery. I can then contact them to make an 'out of hours' appointment to meet them and see their work.

♥ What sort of basis do you prefer to work with your designers - consignment or wholesale?

I have run Heart Gallery purely on Sale or Return since opening and I do believe this is certainly a two way street that works for all. Because the makers have faith in me as a Gallery Owner I can offer more diversity for my customers. Because I know that I wouldn't have Heart Gallery without their faith then I ensure that all paperwork is kept up to date and payments made on time as per my agreement which they sign.

♥ Link us up!
Heart Gallery

Heart Gallery Wordpress Blog

Heart Gallery Blogspot Blog

Heart Gallery on Twitter

Heart Gallery on Facebook


"Meet the Stockist" is a collection of interviews with stockists of independent designers' work, posted on the last Friday of each month.  If you are a stockist and would like to be featured, or you are a maker and know of a great stockist to interview, email me!


Don't forget to subscribe if you heart my blog!

xoxo

Meet the Stockist: Picture This

♥ What’s your name and where do you come from??

Martin & Julie Steele, Picture This, Queensbury, Bradford. West Yorkshire

♥ How long have you been in the boutique business and what made you get started?

21 years self employed - previously employed by an independant gallery for 10 years, suddenly dawned on me that I couldn't climb any further up the ladder so decided to start up my own business.

♥ What’s your shop like and what do you sell?

Our shop has two retail/gallery areas, in house framing workshop and we provide a bespoke framing service for anything and everything!  We also sell framed artwork prints and originals, original photography, greetings cards (handmade and fine art cards), limited ranges of pottery, dried flowers, sculpture, candles and handmade jewellery. Although we have a website and customers can view examples of framed items and also items for sale, we do not have an online shop we prefer to provide a personal service and meet our customers face to face so only bricks and mortar!

♥ What’s your typical day like - the best bits and the worst bits?

Our week is divided up into sections to enable us to complete our list of jobs for that week.  The early part of the week, usually the quietest in terms of people coming into the gallery as many of the businesses in Queensbury close on a Monday, consists of the boring bits such as admin, book keeping etc and also this is the part of the week where we cut the mounts, moving onto cutting the glass and backings to fit, then the latter part of the week is spent actually cutting out the frames and assembling them ready for finishing for the best bit, customers to collect on Friday/Saturday, it is very rewarding when customers are pleasantly surprised at how their item has been enhanced by our framing. Attending to customers is the least  predictable part of our job as no two days of the week are ever the same, the number of people through the door each day varies considerably from week to week.

♥ What do you look for in handmade goods to sell?

It's very difficult to assess what we think customers will buy, but generally speaking if something is eye catchingly different, of good quality, nicely packaged and presented then we would be more inclined to say that we would stock it.

♥ Do you actively seek new designers, or wait for them to come to you?

We are generally approached on a regular basis by artists wanting us to give our opinion on their work and whether we think it's saleable.  On the odd occasion if we see something we think will suit our gallery and appeal to our customers we will approach an artist, but this doesn't happen very often.

♥ What’s your best seller?

The bespoke framing side of our business is what we call our 'bread and butter' but generally speaking people call in to browse our framed and unframed art work looking to see if there is anything to suit their tastes.  Our motto is 'right person, right time' - sometimes if a picture has been in the gallery for a period of time you begin to wonder if it will ever find a home, with that a person will call in, fall in love with it and buy it!

 Comic Book Prints from Picture This

♥ How do you prefer a designer to approach you about selling their work? Any tips? 

The preferred method of approach for us would be a polite telephone call or an email to discuss the possibility of us becoming stockists - we will then arrange for them to call in with some examples of their work if we think it is suitable to our gallery.  Quite often people do 'cold call' and whilst we would still give them our honest opinion we do sometimes find this method inconvenient.

♥ What sort of basis do you prefer to work with your designers - consignment or wholesale?

For the most part we deal with artists on a 'sale or return' basis, this way we can minimise our outlay and upon sale of the item both parties are remunerated. Publishers of prints however, require us to purchase the art work at wholesale prices, we then frame them and display them in the gallery. Smaller items such as pottery, jewellery, candles etc we tend to buy wholesale. On occasion we frame art work at our cost if we think it will appeal to our customers more if framed.

♥ Link us up!
Picture This website
Picture This on Facebook


"Meet the Stockist" is a collection of interviews with stockists of independent designers' work, posted on the last Friday of each month.  If you are a stockist and would like to be featured, or you are a maker and know of a great stockist to interview, email me!


Don't forget to subscribe if you heart my blog!

xoxo

Meet the Stockist: Sick for Cute - Giveaway!

Our new monthly feature on the last Friday of every month will showcase stockist of independent makers, a little about them and their business, and their tips on how to approach shops in order to sell your work with them.

First up is Sick for Cute who have kindly offered to give a tote bag of the winners choice to a lucky entrant.

♥ ♥ ♥ Enter here! ♥ ♥ ♥

♥ What’s your name and where do you come from??
My name is Lindsay and I run Sick for Cute along with my husband Tyler. We're currently located in sunny Southern California!
♥ How long have you been in the boutique business and what made you get started?
Sick for Cute has been open a little over three years now. We actually started off online under the name 'Kid Pirate' which was my own line of screen printed tees and accessories.

After a while we decided that we wanted to expand Kid Pirate into a more general shop and so Sick for Cute was born!

♥ What’s your shop like and what do you sell?
Sick for Cute is strictly online, for now anyway! We have an office and warehouse where we keep our inventory, do our shipping, work on new designs, and have fun! :) Our style is cute & quirky. It's really important to me to be able to offer cute apparel and accessories strictly to adults because I feel grown ups are deprived of so much cuteness when it comes to clothing options!!

♥ What’s your typical day like - the best bits and the worst bits?
A typical day is getting to work at about 8:30 am and taking care of customer service inquiries and emails. Then we pack orders for a couple hours a day and spend the rest either working on new designs, assembling products, sourcing new products, working on the website, chit chatting about ideas and plans, and a plethora of other boring little things like inventory and restocking boxes!

♥ What do you look for in handmade goods to sell?
I look for accessible, well made goods with a quirky edge. The items typically have to be remade easily.

♥ Do you actively seek new designers, or wait for them to come to you?
Both, but mostly if I'm interested in a designer I'll contact them right away.

♥ What’s your best seller?
The Hey Sailor Ladies Tee. It's a classic!

♥ How do you prefer a designer to approach you about selling their work? Any tips?
I prefer an email with a pdf catalog or something similar. They should at least send a price list, images or links to images, and their terms/conditions. Personally I wouldn't like it if a designer turned up with their work in their pocket because I'd feel put on the spot. I like to take my time to consider things before making a decision. [Please note that Sick For Cute are not currently seeking new designers].

♥ What sort of basis do you prefer to work with your designers - consignment or wholesale?
We prefer wholesale because it's easier, but will and have worked on a consignment basis. It really all depends on the individual so we consider things on a case by case basis.

♥ Link us up!
http://www.sickforcute.com/

Sick for Cute on Facebook

Sick for Cute on Twitter
 

♥ ♥ ♥ Enter the Sick for Cute giveaway!! ♥ ♥ ♥

xoxo