New Eco Stockist

New Stockist!

I would like to introduce our new online stockist: Pure Design

Pure Design are a company who source products that are environmentally friendly and ethically produced. Elaine Friedlander founded Pure Design in October 2007 to bring greener and more ethical high quality design to style eco-savvy shoppers. Pure Design is passionate about the planet, people and design. With hundreds of ethical gifts, eco friendly home ware and fashion accessories, you are sure to find something truly unique

Elaine says

“We are always on the look out for new, high quality, and eye catching designs – and were delighted when we came across Rachel’s work. Her flexible wall decor is an easy and affordable way to introduce contemporary design into any home in a flash. Instantly adding a touch of glamour to walls and rooms. And the decor being made from felt which is naturally sustainable – Rachel’s products are the perfect fit with our environmental values too.”

Here are a few other designers I spotted on the site

Zilka Recycled Hangers by Ryan Frank, Little Crush Table Lamp by Studiomold, Hairpiece/Corsage by Julia Smith

The Pitch

It has been a busy month here are the Rachel Horrocks studios. I have been turning my hand to everything from photography to business pitches

This month I was thrilled to be one of the finalists for The Pitch competition. The Pitch is Britain’s biggest pitching competition run by Business Zone and is a competition to find “Britain’s best new Business”.

The process from application to pitching day was very quick I had two days to prepare for the big day……..

Me during the Pitch presentation

Well monday came  around and I found myself standing in a room full of people, two cameras, a photographer, hot lights and four judges. I was ready to go (and I don’t mean run away)

On the judging panel were: Jon Simon who is the  Co-founder and Managing Director of Pieminister, Katy Turner, Associate at Eden Ventures, Steven Priscott: The Financial Director at Sift Media and David Warburton, Founder and Managing Partner of Oflang partners Ltd. So some pretty serious people to impress!

Unfortunately I didn’t make it through to the final round which is held in London. Congratulations to the very talented guys at Artic Farm who won the regional finals for the SouthWest. However, there is still a chance I could still pitch for the grand prize of £50,000 worth of marketing and business expertise, but only with your help. Details of how you can vote will be available soon.

New Stockists!

We have also aquired a couple of new stockists that we wanted to shout about: The Architecture Centre and wish4a.com

The Architecture centre shop is situated right on the waterfront in the centre of Bristol. This area of Bristol really comes alive in the summer time and if you want to pick up something unique and not mass-produced I would recommend paying the Architecture centre a visit

We are also building our online stockists nicely and wish4a is our newest edition.

They offer distinctive gifts for customers, and if you wish, even provide a gentle reminder of forthcoming anniversaries, birthdays or celebrations so you never forget those special dates.

Also, I will be at the Colston Hall for the Made in Bristol Summer Fair on Saturday the 3rd of July. So come along and find some unique gifts from ceramics to local produce, and it’s free entry.

Hope to see you there!

DIY Flutter

The latest product, DIY Flutter has been released just in time for the summer heat wave!

After hours of deliberation we settled on the name DIY Flutter- we felt it was important to reflect the product’s versatility in the name as we wanted people to know how many different uses this product has.

They come in packs of 5, 10 and 15 and are all coated with a water protective varnish, which means you can use them indoors as well as outdoors. They can also be painted any colour you wish.

DIY Flutter is specifically designed to give you the choice as to how you use them:

These butterflies are so easy to use and have so many different applications. I personally have just put some up in my garden and I must say they are looking rather fabulous!

Here at Rachel Horrocks headquarters we would LOVE  to hear your ideas as to how you decide to use them or any of our products.

So send us through your photos and we will publish them on the blog to show your creativity off to the world!

Prices start from £25.

Buy them online at Rachel Horrocks.com or also online at Bouf

UWE Biz Idea

This week saw the annual awards presentation of the Biz Idea competition.  The Biz Idea is for students, staff and graduates of up to five years  and is run by The University of The West Of England. It’s an opportunity to  celebrate the diverse range of budding entrepeneurs emerging from the university. We also had presentations given by world land speed record holder Richard Noble OBE, who gave an inspirational talk on his journey as an innovator and on his latest project to break the land speed record, with the 1000 BLOODHOUND SSC supersonic car.

Richard Noble with The Bloodhound prototype

The founders of Sew That Jazz: Laura Boyle and Louise Halswell

Presentations were also given by Sew that Jazz, a Bristol based design team who transform old unwanted clothes and give them a new lease of life and Evans Finch, a social media and marketing based company.

Chris Keegan and Dave Cropley: Founders of Evans Finch

The biz idea awards are split in to three categories: Social enterprise, Creative category and the Business category. The business ideas that were on offer this year were the most diverse I have experienced so far at the Biz Idea events. A few of my personal favourites were Photoboy: a photo archiving service with a twist, Interactive Places: a company that provide an interactive experience through mobile devices giving visitors a visually stimulating and factual perspective on either heritage sites, collections, and works of art. Adsyst EnergySafe who have a developed a new safety device for gas cookers and Karma care a not for profit community sports company. Most of these companies are in the very first stages of development so they don’t have websites I can show you yet but I will be sure to re visit them when they do.

I must say I always find these kinds of events very inspiring. I love hearing new ideas for products and businesses and meeting such enthusiatic, energising people. (note to self…must go to more networking events!)

Well that’s my blogging over and out for this week, but to see more information on the biz idea, how you can enter, winners and runners-up videos click on this link

…………………….until next time