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Development of products and Etsy revamp news

Good Morning

Development of products and Etsy revamp news.

I just thought I would do a quick check in this morning. I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. We are trying our best to keep busy and are looking at aspects of the business that, for various reasons, have been low on the to do list.

I hoping to continue work on a few products that have been put on the back burner including my forever ongoing Overhead lamp. I’ve got some of the development work at a positive point but it feels like there is loads to go. I generally  think products end up much better when you take time to develop them. I tend to have a good few sessions on one and then leave it for a while. When I come back to them I can soon see what bits have worked and what was not good (I was too immersed in it at the time). So, we have a long way to go but hopefully we can creep nearer over the next few weeks. – I’ll keep you updated.

We’ve also been working on our Etsy shop over the last week. It was set up a couple of years ago but had not been our best form of outlet. We had a few sales through it recently so thought it would be worth a bit of time. We will be doing some exclusive promotion through Etsy very soon, so keep your eyes to the ground.

Cheers all

Mark

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Being Sustainable with all our packaging

At Mark Lowe we are always trying to be as sustainable as we can. A big part of this is being sustainable with all our packaging. We are always working on how to make our products more sustainable. We know that our customers are not the type of people to buy and then throw away objects after a year or so. Our customers buy our products to last for many years maybe even forever!

When it comes to packaging we want to do the same. Most of our products are posted in some way (see a previous blog on me driving to south Wales for an alternative). We have to make sure that whatever has been ordered will survive the journey, therefore we have to use enough packaging to protect your precious cargo.

We have updated our packaging over the last 6 months and now only use paper packaging for all our products – our shades do come in a plastic bag as this comes from our shade manufacturer. – We have found a good alternative to bubble wrap through a company called Kite packaging which does the job very well. (see picture below).

So, we will continual to work hard and be sustainable with all our packaging.  I think we are doing well so far.

Mark Lowe

 

Sustainable packaging at mark lowe

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Covid 19

 

Dear Customers

We thought it was important to add a notice to our website and get in touch with all our customers to explain our position, thoughts and what we are able to do.

It feels like we’ve not been in communication for a while. The world has change (at least for now). Everything feels different and strange this is new to us all.

Apart from all the problems both personal and as a business associated with Covid 19, we have had a terrible family ’emergency’. About 3 weeks ago 2 close family members were involved in a serious road traffic accident. Thankfully both are slowly recovering but it has really changed our world and this is massively compounded by Covid 19.

As I am typing this it feels like we can start to get back on track, even if it is a very different world. We will all need to get used to this way of life for a while and, as a small business, we are able to do most of our work from home. So we are aiming to get moving again. We have the materials and components to continue. We have developed some new products (before all this) and will be getting some (home done) photography and getting them on our website over the next few weeks.

Although we understand that buying interior products is not the priority right now. We do also understand that people are keen to think about life after all this and have time to think about their houses and browsing the web for future dreams or real ambitions.

All the best and keep safe

Mark and Marianne.

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Embankment show at the begining of March

We were pleased to take part in the recent event at The Embankment near Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

The Makers Market is held a few times a year. We had a brilliant spot in a beautiful room to show off or product range.

marklowe.co.uk wanted to use the event as a way of enabling some of our local contacts to come and see us and be able to see all our products out on show. We got in touch with all the local interior designers we have talked to and were please to welcome a number of them over the day.

As any business person knows, it is so important to be able to talk top customers ‘in the flesh’ and for them to see our products in front of them and altogether.

We have also developed some new products that we had showcased at the event. We have a key rack in the theme of the Edie coat rack and two different shaped hardwood cutting boards that also follow the theme. We got loads of positive feedback about them. They will be coming to our shop very soon.

Next stop is ECLECTIC HOMES & INTERIORS FAIR 

Sat 11 April 2020 (Shoreditch, London)

More to come very soon.

Kind Regards

Mark

 

 

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We’re at the Makers Market – The embankment – This Weekend

We’re at the Makers Market – The embankment – This Weekend

We’re looking forward to our first time at this event. It’s at The Embankment, Arkwright Street, Trent Bridge NG2 2GR. Free entry and pen between 11am and 4pm.

The Embankment was the old Boots Social Club and is now a pub and venue. The main room we are using is the function room which has a beautiful interior with lots of windows and a real character. There will be many other makers there, all I believe are from the local area.

Tamily Cookson is the organiser – Tamily Cookson Events. She has a great deal to do with local makers and is also part of the creative quarter team based in Sneinton market.

Please come down and have a look around. Come and say hello – mark lowe -and event pop back down stairs for a Sunday pint or even Lunch.

and don’t forget – We’re at the Makers Market – The embankment – This Weekend

Mark

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Working with Georgia Lloyd photography

As a follow up to the previous post I did regarding working with Georgia Lloyd photography, I wanted to do another one as we now have the photos and are really happy with them.

We had a great morning taking loads of shots mainly of me in the workshop (and quite a few without me thankfully). Georgia then went away to pick and edit them. She then supplied us with a very large number to use for ourselves. Because we had a good variety of shots it allows us to use them for all different contexts. I don’t feel like we will run out of different shots to use.

So thanks again to George Lloyd photography for her skill and enthusiasm and for providing us with so many amazing shots to use. I have and will enjoy working with Georgia Lloyd Photography

Please go to her website or follow her on Instagram or to our for more shots. I am always happy to recommend her.

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Really happy to have new lamp shade colours and shapes.

Really happy to have new lamp shade colours and shapes.

We are really happy to have some new shade colours available as well as an overall new shade design. To add more options we have had a new shade shape made for our standard lamp. As with the current shade it is large but this one has a slight taper to it. The name for this shape/design is a French Drum and we feel it fit with our own designs very well indeed. We have also added to our colour range adding a new Yellow on linen with gold lining and a completely new colour of Aqua Blue with a copper lining which are both available in any of our shades. They have proved very popular. We will continue to introduce new colours as we seek to be ahead of the colour trends. Thanks to Jack Neville for the excellent shots

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Primary Christmas Pop up

Primary Christmas Pop up market

Come and Visit Mark Lowe at the Primary Christmas pop up

We are pleased and excited to be part of the Primary Christmas pop up again this year. Based at the Primary Studios on Seely Road, Nottingham this event always attracts a lot of top quality makers. it has become very popular over the last few years with lots of people attending to enjoy browsing, buying, eating and drinking. Each year Universal Works has had a end of stock sale throughout the 2 days. As well as makers there are food and drink sellers that make the highest quality produce. Based in the building are Lane homewares who will have a sale throughout there studio. Alongside them are the award winning Small food bakery who have a café based within the building and specialise in sourdough bread as well as many other treats.

We will be there with all our products. So if you love what we do but have only seen us online or through Instagram come and see the real thing. There will also be 10% off throughout the weekend.

Come along and visit Mark Lowe at the Primary Christmas pop up and experience all of this on Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December.

Mark

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Hoopers and John Sankey

Mark Lowe bespoke lighting with John Sankey at Hoopers department store Tunbridge Wells

Thanks to Suzanne Flynn from John Sankey for sending me this amazing picture of Hoopers shop window in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

As I have mentioned before we have been working with John Sankey who have a large area of floor space in this Hoopers Department store. As well as the general public visiting the shop John Sankey are based there so that they can invite interior designers down from London (an other areas) to view their furniture and make orders for interior projects they have for their own customers.

John Sankey is based in Long Eaton which, as anyone in the know knows is basically the centre of the universe for upholstery. They specialise in High end beautifully designed chairs and sofas as well as other products.

We are really proud to associated our bespoke lighting with john sankey at Hoopers department store.

As you can see, across the panorama from left to right there is our Adjustable Standard Lamp in oak with an off white shade. Also our Edie coat stand beautifully dressed and finally our Standard Lamp with Yellow shade.

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Visit to Decorex

Yesterday was our first visit to decorex Decorex  International at Olympia London. Although I’ve attended a few exhibitions/events at Olympia  This was the first time I had visited Decorex.

As well as the usual reasons for visiting; getting inspiration and chatting to other makers and interior designers. Other reasons for visiting were  to meet to people with whom we had arranged before hand.

Visiting to decorex we met up with Jane and Cat from Author interiors who we will being doing business with very soon. We also managed to have a chat with someone from Eporta who was very helpful. To do with Eporta, we attended a talk/seminar about lighting design. Eporta sponsor all of the talks.

Although it was a lot of driving for a day it was definitely worth while, a few real positives came out of it, with interior designers interested in our lighting.