Afternoon lovelies!
I mentioned these wonderful people recently and am now pleased to introduce them in full... Bread and Jam!
Ok, so let’s start with a little bit about you, how did Bread and Jam
come to life?
We've been working for ourselves
for getting close to 14 years now. I've (Jamie) been working mainly in the
commercial interior design field, working on projects for the likes of Virgin,
Nike, Speedo and plenty of other large multinational brands. Catherine has been
working creatively for herself for the same amount of time, mainly producing lovely
pieces to sell to top up the bank balance. Catherine, one day, posed the
question "why don't we work together" and a month later Bread &
Jam was formed. It's not everyone's idea of a healthy partnership, seen as we
spend 24 hours a day with each other, but we work really well together,
especially when the chips are down and we're up against it. In truth, we'd
never even printed anything in anger, just a few things at art college but you
wouldn't say we had experience. We're quite impulsive as a couple and we do
like a challenge.
It’s an interesting name, what’s the thinking behind it?
Now you may just have opened up a
can of worms with that question. Ella, our eldest daughter, swears blind it was
her idea but I can't quite place that conversation. Having said that, my brain
is getting a little fuzzy as I get older so I must concede and give her that
one. The name is quite simple really, we take a really good quality basic (the
bread) and sweeten it up with a nice topping (the jam aka our designs). It also
works as my name is Jamie (Mr Jam) and bread is rhyming slang for wife (bread
knife). A bit tenuous but it does make us smile.
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| Cute prints to jazz up your walls |
I received my first order from you recently (read about it here) and
was so excited when it came through the door…
Where do you get your inspiration?
Yes, we must thank you
wholeheartedly for your purchase; we may just have another Bread & Jam
convert on our hands! In terms of inspiration, it comes from many varied
sources but we do have a constant theme running through most of our work and
that is pattern and design from mid 20th Century, whether that's fabric
patterns, ceramics or wallpaper. We also have a real soft spot for Scandinavian
design and we have many examples littered about our house. Our girls also are a
constant source of ideas too, I love the honesty in their drawings and stories,
I think that's where some of our phrase based pieces originate from. Not
directly, but they do make us think about things in the simplest and purest of
ways, which I think everyone can relate to if the complexities of adult life
are stripped away.
And which is your favourite design at the moment?
We are really excited about
starting to screen print onto fabric pieces. It's just cotton tote bags at the
moment but we've got grand plans to move into all sorts of areas with this. The
tote bags are a new addition we bought through in time for Christmas but we
will be doing a few more patterns next year. We've also re-launched our wooden
pencil boxes too with brighter and bolder prints. We think these will go really
well at Christmas too, they're great little stocking fillers for kids and grownups
alike.
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| T'is the season to be jolly with these bags |
There is a lot of buzz around you facebook page and I’ve just found you
on pinterest (I’m not stalking I promise!), it’s great to see the community
amongst crafters, if you could give one piece of advice to a crafter looking to
make the leap into starting a business what would it be?
Stalk away Amanda, it's not
something we haven't done ourselves! Advice, it's a tricky one because
everyone's situation and style are different but one thing which has really
kept us going up to now is a huge passion for what we do. I can't say every day
is a bucket full of syrup but you've really got to love what you do and really
ignore the naysayers. There's plenty of people out there who will tell you that
you're doing the wrong thing or that's not the way you should do it, ignore
them and press on (unless of course it's the bank manager then try not ignore
them). It's your business, you're in control otherwise what's the point, you
may as well be working for the man.
What exciting things does the rest of 2013 hold for you?
Well there's plenty going on
that's for sure. We've just packed off our first order destined for
Anthropologie in the States so we're keen to see how that goes for them and
we're excited and nervous in equal measures on that front. We've got a whole
bunch of new products which we've been Launching over the last few weeks plus
some more to come. The most exciting thing happening in the very near future is
that we're moving into new studios. We've been working from home since we
started 18 months ago and to be honest we ran out of space about 6 months ago.
We're moving into some space above a disused hotel, not very glamorous but
we're really excited to put our own stamp on the place and we've been gathering
various pieces of vintage furniture and bits and bobs over the last few months.
The very first thing we bought was an essential piece of kit which we've needed
for a while, an old biscuit tin!
So, if you had any spare time and could try and craft in the world,
what would you want to learn next or do more of?
Catherine has been tinkering with
crochet and I know she's got some projects on the go but she's always so busy
she never seems to be able to finish anything. I'm sure they will look truly
marvellous once they're complete, she's a clever sausage that one. As for me,
I'm a keen amateur photographer and I try to get out and about if the weather
and workload permit. I've been taking pictures for a good few years now but
there's always so much to learn and new techniques to try.
And finally, where would your dream holiday be?
We've been fortunate enough to
travel a bit in our time; we've just come back from a trip to Cambodia, Vietnam
and Thailand in February this year. We're just in the throes of organising our
next big adventure and it's a landmark birthday for someone not too far away
from me right now. The options are Costa Rica or India. Costa Rica looks an
amazingly diverse country, rainforests, beaches and volcanoes but India has
always been high up on the list. If I were to put money on it, I think we'll
end up in India. we've got plans to travel with the girls from North to South
and back again, taking in all that it can offer. We like to organise things
ourselves as much possible so we'll probably be booking flights in about 6
months. We're hugely excited by the potential adventure, fingers crossed we
sell enough stuff to pay for it!
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| Just add tea to these lovely mugs! |
Wow sounds amazing, thank you so much for taking part in our blog. So lovely people, if you'd like to explore the world of Bread and Jam more then you can find them here.....
Until next time...
Amanda xx
