Day 8 - must have a triangle

This is an idea we've been working on - glass tea light holders, and look get four triangles into the photo! Should be on the web site soon, just playing about with colours

And yes, for the observant amongst you that is a photo in the background of me and my brother - outside No 10 Downing Street, so even when little was political :)

Splashing the colour around!

Firstly, I never want to re-fit a kitchen again! At 5' 3" managing large sheets of plasterboard is not funny, especially when trapped under one - however much you try to convince yourself otherwise Mr B! One thing I was determined to do was add colour into the space, I love cooking and being in the kitchen as it's straight out onto the yard with all the herb pots so the space is forever linked to the outside. With that in mind we got out the pencil crayons and designed something unique for the space. The colours had to complement what was around it, and also create a welcoming focal point for the kitchen. It's only a small galley kitchen but glass has a reflective quality that helps the space feel bigger and more open which it's certainly done. So the tick list was:

1. something original designed around us
2. a sense of colour and fun
3. a focal point for the kitchen

and yay! we got all three, and loads of lovely compliments off everyone that visits.

Just to give a context of the kitchen, this is the window it backs onto!

The kitchen window is full of butterflies done in glass clings - every child that's every stayed or visited has to do one for me! And because the adults get miffed they're allowed to play too.

Angie xx 

Market research and cake

What an interesting evening. And I must say a huge thank you to my parents for their constant support. I casually mentioned that we could do with doing a focus group of some sort to gauge people's reactions to our products and next thing Mum has rung round her friends and organised just such an evening for us - how supportive is that? Slightly nervous as one of the couples had known me since I was 10 and didn't want them to think us unprofessional - but they were all so helpful.

Top tips for anyone else doing this:
1. cake always helps!
2. we gave everyone a thank you gift for giving up their time which was well received
3. be clear about what you want to get - we took ages to plan the questions and so glad we did
4. be prepared for some to have nooo idea what you're trying to do and be polite!
5. read up on a bit on how to manage focus groups
6. don't have more than 8 people as the discussion get too hard to manage otherwise
7. have a strategy in mind for those that talk lots and those that don't talk at all!
8. don't be shy about bringing the discussion back where you want it - this is your chance to find out what your customers think not what they had for tea!
9. plan the order of questions or sections, we deliberately asked the same question in different ways at the start and end to check pricing bands


What we did:
We showed people pictures from our website and just asked them for their opinion of the photography, the piece and how they felt they would use it or who they would buy it for. Any more questions and we would have overloaded the discussion so less is definitely more when it comes to asking people to write things down. We then asked them what they thought our logo was - most said Hippo and luckily most said it looked a happy hippo which was good to know. One lady there knew I was little hippo and started giggling as soon as she saw it and had to say stop it, you have inside information! The other amusement came from one person being a teacher who had worked with the (now infamous) geography teacher who told us to stop giggling all those years ago when the nickname came about - think she's already called him to say 'do you know what you created?'

What was really evident was that people love colours - was pleasantly surprised at which pieces were best received and kept being asked if we could do things in brighter colours. So, we have some tweaking to do on wording and a few photos but it was really useful and I would urge anyone else starting out to do the same. We're planning another one soon with a different age group to see if the comments are similar or different - and yes, cake will be provided (but can't make coffee cake like my Mum, best give her a call now!)

All that said, the evening was good fun and people want you to succeed. Comments or criticisms were only raised so that we could make things better - don't feel bad about what could be considered negative comments. We're always told to listen and respond to customer comments but chances are if you're selling online you don't often get the opportunity to take feedback off someone that hasn't bought from you so trap them with cake and get their opinions - you may be surprised what you learn! Angie xx

Long but good week!

It's been a very busy but productive week! Things are moving in the right direction and maybe Chez Hippo wasn't such a daft idea after all! Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments and support we've received as when you sit working from home all day with only the cats to ask 'do you like this one or this one best?' it can be a little brain tiring.

We have been working on some new pieces which should be on the web pages soon. The only snag is when we photographed the sun catchers in the garden I accidentally forgot to bring one back in because it just looks so lovely against the roses, oops! Have noticed that this is becoming quite a habit and as we were told at the business start up meeting "ahh, you're caring creatives ..."

The list of things to do is being munched through slowly, and now feeling a little more like a grown up as the rather pretty business cards arrived yesterday. However, I feel it would be better to have shorter pieces of paper so the list cannot be added to quite so easily! Angie xx

Hello and welcome to the Home of Little Hippo

Each journey begins with a single step, or in this case a first posting! Hello and welcome to Chez Hippo, where we have more time and space to show you the background to some of the ideas and where we get our inspiration from.

The background - I really am Little Hippo! During a very giggly geography class aged 12 with my best friend the nickname came about, neither of us can remember the exact details but it stuck. We're still friends now, some still call me Hippo and now their children too which is rather sweet. As a result of this my home is filled with some lovely hippos that have been gathered over a lifetime of gathering memories that go with them. I'll show you some of my favourites and their story.

Here's the first one I remember! He came from Covent Garden while on a school trip to London. He used to have a flower in his mouth but over time think he ate it, and he's travelled everywhere with me and still makes me smile.