There
is no mistaking Snowden Flood. With her strong graphic style and unusual name,
she has everything a brand needs to be instantly recognisable. With such a
strong identity, what does a designer-maker with such a strong ceramic
collection stand to gain from being on the Hidden Art E-Shop?
“The E-Shop works really well,” she says.
“I'm on a couple of other online stores but don't sell half as much on any of
them as I do with Hidden Art. But aside from sales, I feel that being associated
with the Hidden Art Shop is a mark of quality. I sell on my own website too and
I get quite a few emails from people wanting to see the work in 'real life'.
Perhaps people feel more confident buying from the E-Shop.”
Having been on the E-Shop for around three
years, Snowden has certainly established herself as a perennial favourite. The quality and reliability of her work has
developed into another attraction for customers. “My background is making
custom work for private clients and for architects and interior designers,” she
says. "I still do this work, so I'm a bit obsessive about quality. Even though
most of my products now are not one-offs and are made in small batches, I'm
still trying to build my business as a brand that is synonymous with good
quality work.“
Her design principles and reputation
contribute to her strong press presence, which has been helped significantly by
the Hidden Art Shop’s strong link with PR agency, PR Girl. “They've been great,” says Snowden, “I've definitely had
lots of press because of them.”
“The results
vary depending upon the publications. I seem to get the best results after the
Sunday Supplements, as compared to Interiors Magazines. I suppose their pages
are less saturated in other possibilities, so the work stands out more
definitively. Quite a lot of the buyers at Pulse were talking about
publications they had seen my work in, so obviously it all helps.”
Snowden found
herself mixed in with a lot of other Hidden Art members at Pulse this year. As
with similar shows, the benefits of showing at Pulse are not instantly obvious.
“I think the Launchpad area we were in was the
best area in terms of what was there,” says Snowden. “I haven't done Pulse before
and I found it much slower than I'd expected, but then all the other exhibitors
said the same thing. I found with Top Drawer last year that I made almost no
money during the show, but lots of orders came in afterwards. Having said that,
I had some good meetings with possible stockists and got some really good
contacts.”
“I also really appreciate the chance to
exhibit with other designer makers and compare experiences with them, I spend
most of my time working alone so it's a good time to meet people in the same
position and compare experiences, and we are mostly selling to the same places
after all.”
