Happy Thursday!
With today being the first Thursday of Uniko's birthday month, I thought I would share a bit about how, when & where Uniko began. I think it has been a while since I shared this story... 2016!
You might want to grab a drink, I didn't realise how much I waffled on and apologies to those who have heard all this before!
Since as far back as I can remember I have always been creative and enjoyed a variety of crafts. My late Nana and Mother were both creative, enjoying various crafts from sewing to knitting to making cards. So being creative has kinda embedded itself into me!
When I moved to the North East of the UK from the South East back in 2002 I was working as a full time nurse in the NHS, having graduated back in 2000. I was new to the area and made friends at work, but working such long hours I wanted to make friends outside of my job.
With my love of card making and stamping really taking flight in 2008 after the sudden death of my mother I found the wonderful world of blogger and began blogging and joining in with all things stamps over at Hero Arts.
It was soon after, that I found a handmade card class at one of the local further education colleges. It was so much fun getting together with like minded creative people that I went on to do another semester. The tutor of the course Joy, was a lovely creative lady who told me about a Textiles & Surface Design Degree and it was at a Paper Crafts show in Newcastle that I came across a stand with all the course details.
Anyway, 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 couple of drawings from those two years which inspired my first 2 clear stamp sets and more recent ones...
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 9 years so much has happened and changed not only with how Uniko has changed, developed and grown with now over 190 products available on the website. But so much has happened to me too, I have got married, have two beautiful children, moved house AND with all that YOU my friends, loyal customers and blog readers 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.
Now for a little bit of inspiration before I tear up! Lockdown has made me even more of an emotional mess - haha!
Some old favourites...
If you made it this far, well done & thank you!
Today I would LOVE to hear what you would like to see come back from retirement over the years AND/OR what you would LOVE to see released!
I will of course be choosing a lucky comment for a Uniko prize. Winner will be announced Sunday 7th March 2021 along with all the other 9th Birthday Celebration Winners ;)
Why not take advantage of this fabulous discount code too! The code
celebrate9 is valid for the whole month of February 2021 and can be used on any order placed, even if you place multiple orders during the month!
Crafty Hugs