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We recently interviewed Georgia Thomas from Blodyn Embroidery. She was originally attended the 5-9 club and now runs her own business. Here is what she had to say about her 5-9 experience 

Hey Georgia! Tell us about your business!

Hey! I’m Georgia and I am the founder of Blodyn Embroidery, which is a small hand embroidery business based in South Wales that promotes the benefits of crafting for your mental wellbeing. We mainly focus on designing modern and colourful patterns which are sold as kits or downloadable on their own; we also run workshops at various venues to get people immersed in their community as well as learning a new skill. The unique feature of my business is the “Reflection Card” which is included in each kit and workshop to prompt individuals to note how completing the piece or engaging in the workshop benefitted or impacted their mental well-being and if they should struggle again they can look on the card and re-call what helped or read a prompt to offer encouragement to get through it.

 

Wedding decoration product from Blodyn Embroidery

What made you join the 5-9 Club?

I had been selling completed pieces as and when orders came through on Instagram or to family and friends but I had no direction. A friend of mine had done the 5-9 club for her business “State of Mental” and had spoken very highly of the support given which prompted me to apply in order to get support to elevate my hobby into a business.

Can you tell us about your 5-9 Club experience?

Well, I just loved it and haven’t stopped telling everyone at craft markets and on social media about it since I completed it. The 5-9 club is a very special service that is available to anyone with a passion or idea for a business to be able to mould your idea into a finished product with not only specific training but also personal experience from those that are running it as they have all had successful businesses too which makes it that more exceptional. I loved how flexible it was in terms of being able to attend online as I was able to attend around my full-time job remotely without any added stress. The trainers for my cohort were Janine and Dan who were incredibly knowledgeable and approachable which made me feel safe in the environment as up until the course I was winging it so I had a lot of questions to ask and thanks to the environment they created I wasn’t embarrassed to ask. I also enjoyed how each participant were in different stages of their business and from all backgrounds which made each session very diverse. The people providing the training on each subject were just as unique the course concept itself as they all had different levels of experience and were accommodating by braking down the technical terms and giving further examples if needed.

At the start of the course when I was told that we would have a pitch night at the end, what I didn’t expect was to actually look forward to it after the initial shock of it. Throughout the course my confidence, knowledge and skills were all improved to build up to the pitch and although I was nervous I was ready to scream and shout about my business and how it can help others. I think that pitch night was one of the most important parts of the course as it provides a opportunity to put everything you have learned and worked on into practice in a safe space where you can get some invaluable feedback in order to move forward into the business world. Therefore, my main advice would be to embrace it!!

Georgia surrounded by her work

I love embroidery and my passion for how impactful it can be for wellbeing runs deep. I had never done anything creative before and starting with a kit during lockdown really helped me ease my anxiety and distracted me from the outside world. However, I never imagined I would be able to start sharing my passion with others and making it into a business until the 5-9 club provided me with direction, support and advice in order to do this and I will forever be grateful for their continued support.

What’s next for you and your business?

Recently I have had some great feedback from my workshops and I continue to build relationships with venues in the community to bring them more frequently as I’ve enjoyed spreading the word about embroidery and encouraging people to take a break from adulting. I have also signed up for 14 markets this year and look forward to meeting the general public and talking about their experience with crafting and answering questions/giving tips to those who have tried or want to try embroidery. I have also just started a YouTube channel to reach a wider audience and provide tutorials to people who learn better through visuals rather than photos/instructions. Overall though, I just want to continue to spread the word about embroidery and bringing it to the modern world making it cool again; which I know makes it uncool but I’m trying.

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