Q&A with ChilliWinter
Howdy, Helen here. I’m excited to post the first in a series of blog posts i’m calling ‘Tales from Beyond the Market’. I’ve long been fascinated by creative small business owners, it’s really inspiring to me to see people following their passions and turning hobbies into businesses… I’ve certainly found myself in the right job! The thing is, I’m very nosey and I want to know more about our market traders, from which podcasts they listen to, to how they take their tea and the things that inspire them.
In this weekly blog series we find out a little more about our market traders, starting with ChilliWinter…
Hello! Please give us a brief introduction to your business and the products you offer.
Hello, we are Kathy (Chandler) and Dave (Silversmith), we mashed our surnames together to form our brand name ChilliWinter. Kathy makes candles, melts, reed diffuser oils and lip balms, and when Dave isn’t working in his full time job, he designs and makes sterling silver jewellery. We run everything from our home studio on the Isle of Wight.
How long have you been going and how did the business come about?
Around seven years ago, we were making homemade rhubarb gin (we are big rhubarb fans!) and Kathy wanted a rhubarb candle, but could only source rhubarb and custard, rhubarb and ginger (etc), so she set about finding out how to make her own. As a hobby, this grew over a couple of years, and with the support of friends, family and stockists, Kathy gave up the long commute and a successful HR career in the corporate world, to run all-things-ChilliWinter.
What's your favourite thing about what you do?
Being fully flexible and accountable at the same time – it means we play seven days a week, but work seven days a week. Nothing quite beats really loving what you do, how you do it, and seeing it go from strength to strength.
What's your least favourite thing?
Trying to navigate poor customer service of suppliers or couriers when things go wrong – it’s not that often, but largely their systems are badly designed and impersonal, and are huge time wasters. It’s frustrating when their service is rubbish and it reflects poorly on us, which is not the experience we want our customers to have.
When you're working but not at events, what does a typical day look like?
Um, anything and everything – running the home, at the same time as making and developing new products, liaising and coordinating with designers, printers, photographers, doing the accounts, checking and ordering stock and planning events, reviewing social media strategy and collaborations old and new. PR, as well as keeping in touch with stockists and also our charitable partners Mountbatten Isle of Wight. Kathy also keeps her hand in with HR still and is a key speaker at national events on wellbeing, as well as being an Instructor for Mental Health First Aid England. Its ‘go-go-go’ but that’s how we like it, and when things get a bit much, we make stock, cuddle our ginger cat Max, or go for a long walk on one of the many local beaches or woodlands.
What's the soundtrack to your day? i.e. do you listen to music? Radio? Podcasts?
We quite like radio, but more than anything we both love audio books. I like being able to be productive, but at the same time, being able to relax. We quite often put a random playlist on, depending on the mood.
What do you like about trading at markets?
The warmth of fellow traders, and listening to their back stories. Chatting with prospects and customers and finding out more about what they like and why. People are often surprised at our product quality (in terms of value), and our no-frills approach to packaging. Having four national awards under our belts is helpful in building and deepening connections with prospective customers and stockists. Getting real-time feedback is hugely important to us, and it influences our decision making, as we evolve our products and our brand.
Do you have a favourite product?
Our original rhubarb candle is still our no.1 favourite, even though some come pretty close at times. Kathy’s favourite lip balm is lemon or cherry, and Dave’s is pineapple or blackcurrant. We both wear jewellery Dave has made, including a pair of rings that are similar but not quite identical.
Where do you get your inspiration?
We keep an eye on changing trends nationally and locally, and coupled with the feedback we get from our customers, plus our rural and coastal surroundings, there’s plenty of inspiration all around us. It’s quite hard to find a truly original idea for something, but every now and then it comes.
Finally, what do you enjoy getting up to when you're not working?
We both love to walk, cycle, watch films, travel, and catch up with family and friends. We love food and cooking, and have three grown up children between us who we see regularly too. We try to ski once a year, but this January, we went to a cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere in Somerset and just chilled out chatting and walking all week. We like to keep things as simple as possible – that’s our happy place!
(Find ChilliWinter at our Spring Market THIS SATURDAY!)