Target reached!
If we reach our stretch target of £15,000, we will be able to invest in a letter-pre...
A unique Stationery Concept Shop in Cheltenham
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Aim
Help us turn our online stationery business into a physical shop with workshop to create a unique space for creativity and connection.
Quick Read
As believers in the power of the physical, tangible magic of a hand-written note, a ‘real life’ shop has always been one of our dreams since starting our online stationery business in 2015.
We are so excited to have the opportunity to bring this vision to life, and to create an inspiring, creative place where nearby customers can visit, and far-away customers can dream of planning a trip to one day. In the shop, as well as our own range of stationery and greetings cards, we plan to stock a beautiful range of heavy-weight notebooks, hand-bound journals, premium pens and art materials. We will also host art workshops and dream of creating a thriving community hub of creativity and connection - something that is being lost in our increasingly digital world.
We are moving from our current Cotswold studio to a larger premises in the heart of Cheltenham - a building that can house our studio & workspace, will allow us to hold workshops, and also open a dedicated retail space in the form of a shop front. To help fund the shop-fit and prepare the workshop ready for visitors, we have prepared some exciting, never-seen-before rewards for backers of this project.
We really do believe that we are well-placed to create a unique, concept stationery store that will be one-of-its-kind not only in Cheltenham but across the United Kingdom. We dream of a place where you will be able to come in, write a card or letter at a large writing desk with a cup of tea of coffee, try out our pens and art materials at your leisure, and leave feeling refreshed and inspired.
If you're new here, you can get an idea of our stationery by visiting our website:
https://www.wildflowerillustrationco.com/
Ways to Support us
We've put together some really exciting, exclusive rewards for our backers. Thanks you so much for considering supporting our project - we are so grateful.
£4 - Send us a virtual good luck card!
For the cost of one of our greetings cards, you'll be showing us that you believe in our vision! Thank you!
£10 - Self-led Letter Writing Session
By email, we'll send you a link to a cosy, uplifting playlist to accompany your next letter-writing session. We'll also include a printable booklet including a series of writing prompts, inspiring quotes and illustrations to inspire you on your letter-writing mission. Please note you will not receive a physical product or event for this reward, it is all delivered by email.
£15 - Exclusive mini wildflower cards
A set of cute mini A7 wildflower cards, hand-wrapped and prepared exclusively for the crowdfunder. Collect in store or redeem online via a code that will be sent to you. Set will contain a set of stickers, and either 6 mini cards & envelopes in you are collecting from the shop, or 5 if you are redeeming online, but this will include the cost of postage (i.e. your online order total will be £0)
£15 - A ticket to an online co-painting Session
Starting in the summer, Rebecca will be running online co-painting sessions. Perfect for anyone from amateur painters to professional artists looking for creative company, this 90 minute online co-painting session will offer an opportunity for connection, inspiration & friendly chatter, as well as holding yourself accountable to creating some space for creativity. This session is loosely guided but is not a painting lesson. Includes Shop Q&A.
£15 - A ticket to an online co-journalling session
Starting in the summer, Rebecca will be running online co-journalling sessions. Choose your favourite notebook (you will receive a code for 20% off our shop in advance) and pen, and join us for this opportunity for connection, inspiration & friendly chatter, as well as holding yourself accountable to creating some space for reflection. The session will be guided with journal prompts. Includes Shop Q&A.
£15 - A ticket to a virtual letter writing session
Join Rebecca and other backers for a virtual letter-writing session delivered via zoom. Perfect for lovers of analogue stationery, we will talk about the benefits of letter writing and bounce off each other for creative letter writing ideas. Bring your favourite letter writing stationery (you will receive 20% off our online shop in advance) and meet your letter writing goals in one go.
£15 - Guaranteed Christmas Personalised Cards Slot
Secure your Wildflower Personalised Christmas cards before everyone else this year and make sure you have a guaranteed, priority space in our Christmas rush. Also includes a special Christmas treat that will be added to your order.
£20 - Enter our prize-draw and collect a free card
You'll be automatically entered into a prize-draw to win one of our Wildflower experience days or a £300 voucher for the shop. On your first visit to the shop, you'll get a free card (or a voucher for online if you're too far away!)
£20 - Bundle of Wildflower Favourite Cards
A lovely, hand-wrapped bundle of our best-selling cards. Great if you’re just coming across us for the first time and you want to support our project. Perfect as a little boost to your card-drawer - a selection of birthday, thank you, and blank versatile illustrated cards, along with a set of stickers. 6 cards if you are collecting in store, or 5 cards if you would like to redeem this reward online - postage included (we’ll send you a code)
£500 - Wildflower Experience Day
A full day with us in our brand now shop/studio. Greet us in the morning and enjoy coffee and croissants from our local bakery, followed by a 90-minute watercolour workshop with Rebecca. No experience necessary. By the end, create a watercolor motif reproduced on stationery to print later. In the afternoon, take a tour of our shop and learn to operate laser cutting, printing, gold-foil, and binding machinery with Karl's guidance. Create a unique set of letter writing paper, greeting cards, and notecards with your own design or one of ours to take home with you.
£35 - Exclusive Launch Party Ticket
Join us for our exclusive, ticketed launch party when the shop and workshop are completed. Get a first look at our newly completed shop and shiny new products. A glass of bubbles on arrival, and a goody bag worth £20 to go home with.
£200 - Exclusive Party Invite & Signed, Framed Print
Receive a hand-written invite in the post for our exclusive, ticketed launch party when the shop and workshop are completed. Get a first look at our newly completed shop and shiny new products. A glass of bubbles on arrival, and a goody bag worth £20 to go home with. Take home your choice of ANY framed, signed print from our shop (including limited editions).
£40 - Limited Edition, Numbered Print: British Birds
You'll receive one of the first, numbered editions of our brand new print, due to be released this summer. Featuring Rebecca's illustrations of the nation's favourite birds, this delightful A4 print will bring a glimmer of nature's joy into your home.
£40 - Limited Edition Print: Coastal Wildflowers
You'll receive one of the first, numbered editions of our brand new print, due to be released this summer. Featuring Rebecca's illustrations of the U.K.'s Coastal Wildflower, this delightful A4 print will bring a glimmer of nature's joy into your home.
£40 - Workshop Discount Voucher
A voucher that can be applied to one of our Workshop Events when we are up and running. We plan to offer a variety of workshops, from watercolour painting & letter-writing to coffee and journalling. Workshops expected to range from £45 - £80.
£50 - Small Business Support & Mentor Chat
When we first started our business, we would have loved to speak to people in our position now to find out how to get started, quit your job, and build a small business with firm roots. Either in 1-1 sessions or small groups (if we see a few of you who we think could work well together), we'll discuss growing your small business from the ground up and offer our thoughts from experience of how you might start or grow your business idea. 60 minutes
£75 - Exclusive 'The Wildflower Shop' Gift Box
A limited run of exclusive, extra-special Gift Boxes created specially for our launch.
£120 - Virtual Studio & Shop Tour
For our overseas or far-away customers, we are excited to invite you on a virtual tour of our stationery shop, and private shopping experience. Connecting via one-to-one video call, this 45 minute experience will offer you the chance to chat to us and have a good nosy around all corners of our finished shop. We'll show you our exclusive in-shop items and prepare a box of stationery from your favourites to the value of your pledge amount.
Background
In 2015 we started our business 'Wildflower Illustration Co.' by selling stationery and greetings cards online, based on Rebecca‘s watercolour illustrations. Inspired by nature and travel, we began because we believe in the power of a handwritten note to brighten someone’s day or capture a shared memory.
Our business started off in the second bedroom of our flat, in our evenings and weekends whilst we were both pursuing traditional careers. In an increasingly digital world, we hoped our cards and stationery would spread a little joy on doormats around the world.
Since then, our business has flourished and six years ago we left our original jobs as a teacher (Karl) and a lawyer (Rebecca) to run the business full time, and have loyal customers all around the world. Our family has also grown since then, and we now have a four year old daughter and two dogs. We have been featured in multiple publications, including a 6 page spread in Country Living magazine, and found that the pandemic led many more people to cherish the joy of a hand-written letter at a time when it was one of the only ways for connection to our loved ones.
As the world has opened back up again, we have been steadily dreaming and building an idea of how we would like our business to grow and develop. We are always focused on sustainable, ethical growth, and although we are so grateful that our online business allows us to reach all corners of the earth, we are craving roots and real-life connection alongside this. A physical shop will allow us to have real conversations with our customers, and invite them to participate in workshops and events.
We are dreaming of a cosy, traditional shop where you will be able to pop by and leaf through our cards to your heart's content. Flick through an archive of writing paper - watch whilst we personalise a box with gold foil for an extra special gift. Try out the fountain pens at a large, traditional writing desk and write a card here with a cup of tea of coffee - before passing it over the counter so we can pop it in the post for you.
We are especially excited to prepare the workshop space, which we envisage to be a unique community hub for creatives and writers alike. Cheltenham is home to the famous yearly Literature Festival, and we hope to find a place on the map by offering a different kind of retail experience. We have so many exciting ideas such as an option for sending letters to your future self, poetry, philosophy and letter-writing workshops.
Our commitment to sustainability and conservation of our precious earth informs every aspect of our business, from the materials we use to our production processes. We believe that we can create beautiful, high-quality stationery and prints without sacrificing our values or our commitment to the planet.
With your support, we can create a physical space that brings our vision to life, where we can share our passion for nature and creativity, and offer workshops and personalised stationery. We believe that this space will allow us to continue doing good, spreading joy, and strengthening our connection to the natural world.
The Shop
We are especially happy to be taking on a shop that has operated as a stationery and printing shop since 1983. To continue the story for a paper business feels very special, and fully aligned with our values. We look forward to breathing new life into it, and putting our own stamp upon a building that has stood since around 1814!
The shop is ideally located in a charming area of Cheltenham called The Suffolks. The Suffolks is an area of quiet, period streets set around the grand architecture of Suffolk Square, a short walk from the top of Cheltenham's Montpellier District in one direction and the same distance to Bath Road, Leckhampton in the other.
What will the money be spent on?
If we manage to reach our basic goal of £10,000, we will install as much as we can of the following items:
- new floor, tiling & redecoration throughout
- updated heating system
- sourcing appropriate furniture & displays
- ply-lining the workshop space for insulation & aesthetics
- creating a kitchen space for employees
- general shop-fitting and signage
Ideally, we will surpass our £10,000 goal and be able to complete all of the above to a high standard, with a quicker turnaround time. With £15,000, we believe we can get the shop open by mid-summer.
- If we manage to surpass our £15,000 funding target we will invest in a letterpress machine which will allow us to offer letterpress stationery. If we reach this, we will add additional letterpress based rewards.
Get to know us a little better…
‘Husband and wife team! How is it working together?’
We are very different people. I am the stereotypical wild, messy creative. Karl is measured, considered and meticulous. This means we work perfectly together, both as creatives and as a couple. We always meet somewhere in the middle, and this is almost always for the better. Karl is in charge of production, packaging and getting all the tiny details exactly right. I’m good at dreaming about the bigger picture and getting covered in paint!
When did Rebecca's love of painting begin?
I strongly believe that all humans are born with an innate desire to create. When I was younger, my great uncle Colin used to send me art books and paintbrushes and his draft paintings and sketches in the post. When I saw my name and address inked onto a brown-paper package, it made me so indescribably happy, and my love for art, paints and post began.’
Why Cheltenham?
We only moved to Cheltenham in 2015, with no prior links. However, after moving here for work, we fell in love! Being so close to the Cotswold Hills is perfect for us - I (Rebecca) have always loved old architecture and cottages - there is something so incredibly romantic to me about them. Karl loves natural beauty and is a keen cyclist. The rolling hills are the perfect playground for him. It’s also not too far from Cornwall, where we visit regularly.
How did you come up with the name?
We pondered the name for a long time, but settled on something that incorporated the word ‘Wildflower’ because for us it encapsulates the beauty and freedom of nature, which inspires all of my paintings. Wildflowers are persistent, beautiful and often unexpected. A bit like our business.
Prize Draw Terms and Conditions
Anyone can enter the prize draw. Entry for the prize draw is made by donating to this Crowdfunder and selecting any reward that includes entry, or by sending a postcard to: The Wildflower Shop, 26 Suffolk Parade, Cheltenham GL50 2AE. Entry by post is free.
Wildflower Illustration Co. is the promoter of this prize draw Crowdfunder is not affiliated in any way.
The competition starts on 19/04/2023 and ends on 19/05/2023.
The winner will receive one £300 voucher which can be redeemed at wildflowerillustrationco.com OR a Wildflower Experience Day
The winner will be randomly selected from all crowdfunder and postal entries. The winner will be notified and the voucher or prize (chosen by winner) will be sent and arranged by email or post.
This project successfully funded on 19th May 2023