Kindred Gifts' Blog

One of the most popular brands that we stock has to be Bold & Noble - the UK design firm who create amazing handpulled screen prints on eco friendly recycled paper. We love the range of prints from Bold & Noble and recently went behind the scenes to find out just what makes Jane Tobitt tick....

Q. Tell us a little bit about the business/company (including when you started), and what was your inspiration for starting?

A. We started B&N in 2008. David already had an illustration/design business called www.designedbydavid.co.uk, the main bulk of his work was book covers and he'd become very established in that arena, you couldn't walk into a bookshop without seeing his designs on the shelf. People would often email David to tell him they loved the cover he designed for such and such book, so we were mildly aware there was this positive vibe about his designs. We'd just had our first child and moved 30 minutes out of London to Hertfordshire. My background was also in graphics, art direction and websites and although motherhood was a delight I needed something to keep my creativity going. The thought of commuting back into London and leaving our son Wilf in childcare for 12 hour days wasn't appealing to us. 

We'd recently struggled to find lovely wall art for our son's room, so the idea of setting up a business that sold screen prints came to the fore. We'd always toyed with the idea of collaborating on projects, but were wary that it didn't effect our family life. As designers you have all the right skills to set up a business – you can design a logo, website, shoot the product photography and create the products, in the past I'd worked on branding campaigns so was familiar with the background to launching new ideas and getting press coverage. 

I was fortunate, my brilliant Mum who lives a couple of hours drive away looked after Wilf while I set about designing the logo and website with our friend Jonathan. Besides the designs, there was a lot to think about, what would our returns policy be, would we sell wholesale etc… In terms of the designs, we decided to launch Bold & Noble with a collection of 12 designs, they're all the same size, are printed in one colour and fit into standard sized frames. We were keen to make the process of buying a print and getting it on your wall as easy and cost efficient as possible for our customers. 

Within the first few weeks of launching the website, I started approaching the press. We were incredibly lucky Elle Decoration, The Times newspaper and Living Etc… ran features on our work within the first few months and that helped to get our name out there. Slowly shops and galleries started approaching us about selling our prints and sales directly on our website were picking up too. I look back fondly to those first few months were I'd walk down to the post office with my poster tubes propped up on the buggy to dispatch our orders, nowadays it is a much bigger operation but I like to think we haven't lost any of the personal touches or quality. If anything we've improved and streamlined the process for our customers and having Sarah and Harpreet to help us has been a godsend.

Q. What has been your greatest/proudest achievement so far?  

A. There isn't one that sticks out, of course the success of Bold & Noble is a wonderful achievement and having our work featured in beautiful magazines is a huge buzz. But I would say being a mother is and will always be my greatest achievement.

Q. What has been your most difficult challenge, and how did you overcome it?   

A. Setting the right balance. What is tricky now we're running a fully functioning business with employees and overheads is to switch off the business brain and give ourselves the time to be creative, to be inspired. In order to come up with new, creative ideas you need to have the time to play, to be a kid again and it isn't easy getting to that place if you're worrying about the tax return.

Q. What is the nicest ‘Random Act of Kindness’ that you have done or that has been done for you?

A. Our kicks come from creating lovely designs, making a profit is nice too, but we’re not particularly money driven people, so we give away a share of our profits to various charities at Christmas. Employees choose their chosen charity, something that may be close to their hearts and we donate on their behalf and of course we have our charities that we support too.

Q. Which 5 words best describe you? 

A. I'm probably not the best person to put forward the personality suggestions – hard working, optimistic, generous, frustratingly over ambitious about what can be achieved in a day, erm… perhaps you should ask the people who know me best.

Q. Is there a charity/cause close to you, and if so why? 

A. Where does the list end? I’m one of those people who sits blubbing in front of the tv to anything vaguely upsetting – suffering, natural disasters, the sick, poorly treated children, animals, anyone really!

Q. Do you have any new projects/products coming up soon?  

A. We’re working on some new country type maps and in July 2011 we’ll be launching a few completely new designs – exciting stuff.

Q. Your mother/father always told you: 

A. ‘Do something you’re passionate about’. My parents were pretty easy going and never pressured us with high academic expectations – they let us get on with it. My brother is a Clinical Psychologist and I run Bold & Noble and we really enjoy our jobs, so it all worked out in the end.

Q. Biggest inspiration: 

A. Everyday people who face obstacles (like illness, oppression, poverty) and approach the world with optimism and motivation.

Q. Where did you grow up? What was the best part of growing up there? 

A. I grew up in a village, near the South coast not far from Brighton, England. You know everyone, you go to the one local school and you have the freedom to roam around the countryside – it was bliss. Brighton is also a brilliant, artistic, cultural city and growing up with that backdrop of possibilities was really inspiring.

Q. Best advice you’ve ever been given: 

A. Perseverance works – just keep working at it and it’ll come good in the end.

To check out our whole range of the incredible Bold & Noble designs, head here.