The Letter Loft opened in 2013 (as The Moss Letter Company then). I had recently gotten married and returned from our honeymoon, and felt like it was a new chapter in my life. I had always wanted to work for myself, but had never succeeded. Having a cuppa with my husband I said ‘I want to start a business, what shall I do?’ He said, ’What about those moss letters you obsessed over for the wedding’ and that was the ball that started rolling. 6 months later we had found a supplier, had a website and a very green business owner was born!
In 2015 when it had started to feel like it could go somewhere, my Dad came on board (working from Spain!) and began making the wireframes for the letters. We changed our name, added more products and changed our ethos to British-made. It felt great! Our skills have been learnt ‘on the job’ and it’s been a very step-by-step process, one we are both very proud of. Dad now lives back here and we bought a house with workshops in the grounds. We now run The Letter Loft from our home (one big house split into two houses with a workshop for me and a workshop for Dad!)
For new businesses, I’d tell them to just go ahead and start; getting to your perfect ideal is a journey, and your product and business knowledge will improve over time to reach that. Most of all, it’s important not to compare yourself to anyone else or feel under pressure to do things in a certain way; your approach is what makes your company unique! The bottom line is that we only make and sell stuff that we like. I couldn’t happily sell rainbow products for example, as it’s just not my style! I have gone from thinking this was a weakness to seeing it as our strength. We are industrial and botanical, and that is very up my street! We take inspiration from our customers’ ideas, Pinterest, and also building off our best sellers. Over time, I am definitely learning less is more.
I’ve been obsessed about our branding since day one. It’s only recently that I finally stopped worrying about it and stumped up to get it looking how I want it to. Not having everything cohesive was stopping me taking ideas forward. It was a case of ‘I’ll do that when it looks right’. For some, it may be an excuse/defense mechanism but for me it was a very real blockage. I take absolute delight in having a beautiful logo/palette and having the packaging to match! (thanks to Ryn Frank for our logo!) It’s given me the confidence to start projects and I love how it all looks; from our recognizable cake toppers and quality branded tissue paper (thank you noissue!) to a tidy Instagram feed.