Start-up scheme weaves opportunities for local young fabric designer
A young local entrepreneur looks to have sewn up a successful future after enlisting the support of a project looking to boost new business for young people across Shropshire.
Jacinta Ingham, of Longden, Shrewsbury, recently launched her new fabric design and manufacturing company Whinberry & Antler and has benefitted from some entrepreneurial advice and guidance from the team at StartUp Shropshire, the regional arm of StartUp Britain, a nationwide campaign to encourage more people to launch and grow a business.
Whinberry & Antler is an artisan company creating and designing a range of original, hand-made fabrics, furnishings, and home ware, including ‘couture’ cushions and seat covers. All the Whinberry & Antler concepts take inspiration from British wildlife and the countryside, and Jacinta, the founder, creates all the original designs herself using hand-etched metal plates, before hand printing and sewing each and every piece of fabric.
“I’ve loved drawing and design from an early age and always wanted to have a career where I could channel this passion,” Jacinta Ingham, who achieved a BA Honours Degree in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University, revealed. “After graduating, I decided to really focus my attention on fabric design, upholstery and furniture, and took a post graduate course with The Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers (AMUSF), before finally taking the plunge to set up my own company, Whinberry & Antler.”
A real family effort, Jacinta enlisted the help of her graphic designer brother Seb to create logos and branding for the new business. Whinberry & Antler has already launched an online shop on Etsy.com, a global marketplace for hand-made and vintage products, and a dedicated company website www.whinberryantler.com is set to follow in the very near future.
Jacinta commented: “I’ve had so much to learn about starting and running my own business in such a short period of time, and I’m really grateful to Fay and all the mentors at StartUp Shropshire for helping me along the way. The advice I’ve received on marketing, accounting, tax, copyright and a whole host of other topics has been invaluable and has helped me move the business towards a successful future. I feel I have made some new friends in the collaborative business world in Shropshire and without this support, growing my business would be so much more of a challenge. ”
“Whinberry & Antler is such an original concept and one that has a real chance of capturing a very profitable and ongoing target market,” Fay Easton, StartUp Shropshire’s Project Director, commented. “Jacinta has tremendous passion and enthusiasm for her craft, she is an energetic young entrepreneur and the quality of the beautiful range of products she creates speaks for itself. We are delighted to be helping her grow the business and our efforts now are in finding local outlets and also routes to the emerging global economies, where Jacinta’s hand-made and profoundly ‘British’ products will have huge market appeal.
“StartUp Shropshire has been created specifically to help young people launch their own self-start enterprises as the traditional jobs market is in decline. We are determined to help our local young people ‘Make a Job’ and are soon to be launching StartUp Clubs in Shrewsbury and Ironbridge, along with a StartUp Zone in Telford,” Fay concluded.
For further information on the StartUp Shropshire campaign please contact Fay Easton on 07944 189436 or email fay@shropshireenterprise.co.uk.
