The UK Design Fair attracted a wide range of designer-makers to sell their work. Among the individual talents, Vitamin stood separately as a fully formed small business taking advantage of this unique sales opportunity. Vitamin are very clear about what they gain from being members of Hidden Art, an organization renowned for assisting designer-makers who are yet to make their name.
“We gain increased awareness of our brand and sales. Being shown as a designer-maker still is important to us as most of our pieces are handmade,” says Chris Vernall, Director of Vitamin. In this way Vitamin embody a new type of brand, which straddles the boundary between mass production and cottage industry craft.
“How we judge a successful show is through the contacts we make with retailers and with press taking an interest in new and existing products, says Chris. “For us, the Hidden Art UK Design Fair was successful in terms of sales, and it was good to be involved in a local show as our office and showroom are just around the corner on Brick Lane. We were invited by Hidden Art and as we haven’t taken part in any HA shows previously we thought it would be good to try one out.”
Over recent years Vitamin have grown, currently with 6 staff members. With their focus on handmade material, the creative process within the company is still very organic. “We have periods in the year where we all concentrate on producing new designs and getting prototypes made,” says Chris. As the range grows, new processes have been created to help drive creations forward.
“We recently grouped Vitamin’s products into different collections,” says Chris. “We plan to update these regularly with new pieces. It can often take some time to get from an idea to full production but we have quality manufacturers that we use, and by creating a lot of ceramic products it is often a faster process.”
“We draw our inspiration from a variety of different sources, but we do a lot of research into emerging trends and lifestyles of our customers, so that we keep creating stylish, timeless products that stay within the Vitamin approach of ‘A Life Less Ordinary’.”
You can purchase Vitamin products from http://www.hiddenartshop.com/.