Artisanne is Three!

Artisanne is 3!

Green Days - part of the Bedford Park Festival is happening this weekend and if you are in West London do pop by. It is a quintessentially British Fete and Craft Fair with a great mix of stalls and entertainment for the whole family.

Chiswick locals, young and old, help man the stalls - the ones on the BBQ cooking the delicious Mackens burgers deserve a medal. I’ve been going since I was a little girl and I love it.  It is where Artisanne 'launched'! (This is my sister Emma (left) and me in 1979 at the fair.)

The vans arrived today reviving the childhood excitement of watching the fair and stalls set up. Much to my mother’s surprise I won my first gold fish at Green Days and much to many people’s surprise it is where we launched Artisanne.

After a year of working with 3 weavers, we had designs that we were happy with and I decided I needed to meet my consumer and gauge their reaction to Artisanne.

So 3 years ago, with some trepidation, I booked a stall at Green Days. I was nervous doing it on home turf but it was an incredible day. We sold out of nearly all of the baskets and people were queuing to get to the front of the stall. My son had to keep popping home to get more stock and we took some pre-orders.

Even my husband, who is always a cynic and up to that point had dubbed me the ‘basket case’, realised there was a real opportunity. Green Days gave us the confidence to launch Artisanne.

This year I am doing a pop-up in West Elm in Kingston as part of our hectic schedule so can only spend a couple of hours at Green Days but I am really looking forward to them. Do go if you can or if you are in Kingston, come to West Elm, I’d love to see you there.