Celebrating 14 Years - Throwback Thursday

 

Happy Thursday. 

I thought it would be fun to do a little Throwback to where it all began. There are a few new to Uniko followers and customers, so you might not know much about the beginnings of this little company. 

First up, I'm Bev. I am the owner and designer of all things Uniko. I wear all the hats here in the studio, from designer, customer service, picker packer and everything in between. I absolutely LOVE everything I do. 

I especially love meeting lovely customers at shows and crafting with them at Uniko Stamping Retreats. It can often feel a little isolating working alone, but it can also be very rewarding and I am proud of what I have achieved in 14 years. 

Ok, so where did it begin...

Back in 2005 I started a BA (Hons) in Textiles & Surface Design. Though the course concentrated more on drawing, sewing and printing across fashion, interiors and the gift industry. I saw more and more links and associations with the paper crafting industry. In 2008 my mother died suddenly and my whole world turned upside down, I was close to quitting everything, including my degree. However, I decided that life was too short and instead of quitting the degree I quit nursing and concentrated my efforts into the degree. It was in my final 2 years that the idea of Uniko was born.

 

It was during those 2 years that I concentrated my designing towards stamps, patterned papers and developing my business idea. Here are a few of drawings from those two years which inspired my first 2 clear stamp sets and continue to inspire my designs today. 

So, after all that back in February 2012 on Saturday 11th, Uniko Studio (which it was called then) was open for business.

So how the name Uniko come about?

I am a HUGE fan of Marimekko a Finnish design company and at Uni I was known as 'Marimekko Girl' by a number of my tutors! 

One of my all time favourite designs that can be found on various items around the house is by Maija Isola and is called Unikko, seen below.

So partly in homage to my favourite design, memories of going to Finland with my mother and wanting to be 'unique' compared to many of the UK stamp companies/designs that we current when I began the name & company Uniko was born.

I started small launching just 2 clear stamp sets (which are now retired, they may make a reappearance one day as trends change).

After 14 years so much has happened and changed not only with how Uniko has changed, developed and grown with now over 300 products available on the website. But so much has happened to me too, I have got married, have two beautiful children, moved house, started taking Uniko to paper craft shows, running Uniko workshops and more recently collaborating on workshops AND with all that YOU my friends, loyal customers, blog readers and social media followers have stuck by me and helped me to keep going and to enjoy bringing you (in small amounts) products to use in your love for paper crafting. 

It really does bring me so much joy each time I see a new customer order and a huge grin on my face when I see a card or project around blog land and social media with Uniko products used on it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you that makes this happen. 

And because we all need a little card inspiration, I chose a trio of my favourite cards made with these two original clear stamp sets.

I started with these two stamp sets because I wanted to bring more creative masculine products to make cards like the above. 

But of course they had to have a floral twist too...

Thank you for hanging in there with such a LONG post. But before I go today I have a question....

If you could choose a retired Uniko clear stamp set/s to return, which would it be? 

Crafty Hugs