How we've helped Rachel Stowe Textiles
Business overview
Rachel was at art college in 1994 where her passion was getting messy in the print room! She set up a craft centre selling scarves, then started to teach workshops in printing. From this she completed a City and Guilds teaching certificate then a MA in teaching textiles at Birmingham University.
“The classes would give people a general insight into loads of different techniques. Some people would come for about three or four years because it was just a social thing”
Despite her new direction in teaching, her heart was in surface pattern designing and moving to Cornwall opened up whole new markets and demand for her products in cards, scarves and jewellery.
They gave me loads of tips, but mainly suggested trying to sort out moving forwards and working on the marketing
How we helped
Rachel met with Connector Mark in the middle of 2020. She wanted to create a clear plan going forward to develop her ideas and look at the marketing for the business.
Rachel was signposted to Cultivator specialist business support for creative businesses. She also wanted to consider her finance arrangements as the business moved out of COVID-19. She was recommended to work with Access to Finance to help her look at her plans in more detail.
Marketing was an area where Rachel knew she needed help for her business. Mark pointed her in the direction of Digital Peninsula Network. Their courses help develop skills in social media so she can maximise her capture of customers and ongoing sales. Another area that was discussed was protecting the brand and intellectual property. Mark signposted her to help from a patent information centre (PATLIB).
The Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub from May 2016 - June 2023 was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and match funded by Cornwall Council, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. The project received £2,848,591.49 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
| Business name | Rachel Stowe Textiles |
|---|---|
| Website | https://rachelstowe.com |
| Contact email | [email protected] |
