-Who We Are-
We are crowdfunding to raise funds for our exciting new venture and we are very close to achieving our goal with your support! We are a husband and wife team, trading from our high street shop as a specialist newborn photography studio and photo book supplier to the professional photography market. We began trading in 2005 and gradually built up before moving into our high street shop at the end of 2016, we have created an excellent client base who trust our services and products. Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, it has impacted our business in every area as our current business model relies solely on hands on customer interaction with newborn babies and the restrictions on the wedding industry has affected the printing market.
-Next Step-
To allow us to continue trading during lockdown and whilst our studio is closed, we need your support to complete the final stages of our new venture - Everleaf Herbal. The sole purpose of Everleaf Herbal is to create and offer gentle creams, salves, bubble baths, shampoos and many more products using only natural ingredients whilst being infused with beneficial herbs. Our range of herbal tea blends and herbal tinctures will be perfect support during the pandemic and cold/flu season and our personal care products will be perfect for people with sensitive skin, on going skin issue or anyone who wants to try natural products. All products will be created and made in-house assuring only the highest quality ingredients are used and formulated to include seeds, flowers and roots to maximise the most of the herbal benefits. All herbal remedies are created by Andrew using his skills as a qualified herbalist to extract the most beneficial parts from each plant.
-Our Inspiration-
Our passion for creating a range of natural remedies has been inspired by our daughter, Fiona. She has required surgery over 25 times as she was born with a rare condition. This has caused many skin complaints, especially being affected by dry skin on the folds her arms. Part of her condition means she is only able to straighten one arm to 90 degrees and the other to 110 degrees. As you can see from the image below, this caused a major irritation for her skin. We tried many products recommended to us but nothing improved, so we made our own, using only natural products infused with herbs. By using our cream, the skin healed and no repeat outbreaks have been experienced.
-Our Goal-
Through our experiences raising a child with a tracheostomy and gastrostomy and photographing many babies and children, we have seen how skin issues can develop quickly and how frustrating it can be for parents when they try everything to protect their child’s delicate skin. For this project, we would like to give something back to help other children with special needs who might be suffering with skin issues caused by their condition. Upon reaching our target, we would like to gift our custom made salve to 100 children in the UK with special needs.
-Final Step-
The fund will be used for product testing, specialist equipment, packaging and to build a new pick up / display counter. This will allow us to adopt to a Covid safe shop front and safe environment allowing for future herbal remedy workshops involving local community children who might be interested in learning how to create their own natural herbal products. During the workshop we will offer children portraiture by professional photographer Emi in our studio creating a fun memory of the day.
We are blessed to be accepted by the Hertfordshire Innovative Business Fund to help our business by matching the funding pledge. We are looking for this opportunity to grow our small business through the Covid-19 pandemic and provide great services and products to our new and past customers.