Nice to meet you!
31.10.2020
We have come a long way in our Bosing adventure already and it's only been a few months! We have lots to share with you but I'd better start at the beginning...
What a few months it’s been! When I lost my job in May, in the midst of the Pandemic, I didn't have much hope for finding a new role. After a couple of weeks of applying for jobs, contacting agencies etc and with no leads, things were looking very bleak indeed. Then Kasia's company announced redundancies and it looked likely that her job would be one of the ones to be chopped. This year was on track to be a complete disaster.
Wanting to make the most of the abundance of time I had available, I started reading and training in various things engineering related also enrolling in a career transitions course. This course made me think differently about what I could do with my life and that a career in engineering was not the only thing I could be doing...
When our fears were realised and Kasia was made redundant in August, we were both out of work in a very difficult market.
Once the house was spotless and all those DIY jobs that hang around for years were done, we found ourselves able to do what we both really like doing.
At this point we drew a line under all the negative events and feelings and turned our love of creating into something we could be proud of and share with others.
-----------------------------------Line of positivity 😊----------------------------
This started out as a couple of upcycling jobs that we found at a local reclamation yard. We loved spending time in the sunny garden working on these projects and we realised that this is what we want to do for a living.
Once we made our first heart shaped wine bottle and glass holder and received great interest from them, we started to build some of the ideas that we had been harboring for some time. We sold some dog lead hangers, pet equipment organisers and some picture frames to friends and family which made us feel that there was some scope to turn this into a source of income.
We knew that sustainability had to be at the heart of what we do so we set out looking for sources of materials we could use for our projects; used pallets, reclaimed wood and surplus building timber that would have been sent to the tip are our primary materials.
Once we had this in place, we needed an outlet and a brand to get our stuff out there. Bosing Designs was born and we set up on Etsy, Instagram and Facebook. We had some business cards made and have been handing them out to everyone we interact with – sometimes more than once. Now the conversation typically goes:
“By the way, did I give you one of our business cards?”
“yes, several”
“oh, well, have another just in-case. Give them to your friends!”
Now after a couple of months relentless instagramming (not sure that’s even a thing) we have nearly 300 followers (thanks guys!!) We wanted to step up a gear as Etsy can be difficult to grow so we started looking for craft fairs to attend. (yeah, because that’ll be easier in our Covid world!)
Happily, we found that there are still some going ahead (at the time of writing) so we signed up to the Sywell Christmas Craft fair (7 – 8th November – tickets still available 😉). Once we secured our place, things got real and it was all-hands-on-deck to begin building some Christmas stock. Not easy as we started this in September giving us only 6 weeks to make enough product to sell, design a stall, make the display fixtures, sort packaging and do the marketing!
So here we are with one week to go to our first ever fair with butterflies in our belly, we are so excited to share this experience with you on our website launch day!
We would love to hear from you, whether it be feedback on our products, sharing your experiences or just to say hi. We are looking forward to building a little community.
So, until next time, take care of each other and stay safe.
Love.
James