Founder Emily Abbott, created Hive & Keeper from her passion of beekeeping, selling single jars of honey, gift sets and honey club subscriptions.
A year or so ago, they extended their philosophy to other natural British materials such as wool, wood, leather and bone china. They use these materials to work with their natural characteristics, and design and produce their H&K Lifestyle range of throws, cushions, leather desk mats, coin trays, hand-carved utensils and so on.
Who or what inspires you and your products?
Does it sound daft to say ‘nature’? At a top level, that’s entirely true, but it’s not as trite as it sounds because by ‘nature’ I mean the natural character of materials – for example, honey’s different flavours; the different natural colours of wool; the grain of wood; how a leather hide is crossed with stretchmarks – all of which reflect the story behind each material and connects us back to the natural world.
When and how did you start your business?
10 years ago with a table and a few different jars of honey from some of my beekeeper friends to test the idea out.
And the idea… well, that came to me when I started beekeeping and had bees in my London back garden. Until then, I hadn’t appreciated how every honey was different depending on the flowers that were out, the weather, the landscape and what the bees needed to collect for their hive at that particular point in time.
Hive & Keeper has grown and now works with an increasing number of the UK’s small-scale and hobbyist beekeepers. We have also applied the same principles of provenance, supporting small British producers and keeping things natural and sustainable to a H&K homeware range.
I couldn’t be prouder as we work with British artisans, small businesses and heritage industries, using Britain’s natural materials, to create beautiful things for the home that are high quality, tread lightly on the planet, are long lasting and timeless.
What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
It’s hard to break the creative process down into favourite parts as it is the creative process itself that’s my favourite part of running Hive & Keeper. These are the elements of it that I enjoy the most:
Seeing things that trigger ideas – it makes me feel alert and in the moment as I notice patterns, colours, products and materials, mentally filing them away for design inspiration.
Working with people who can help me turn ideas that are in my head into actual products and designs. I love the collaboration process as two heads are always so much better than one.
Testing new products, packaging designs etc – I really enjoy the fact that the first product we make is for me to test. I love the pride in knowing that this is going to be a Hive & Keeper product and that I get to be the first person to live with it and to try to break it before I’m prepared to let it loose on the public!
What is your hero product or one that means the most to you and why?
It has to be honey, of course, because without it we’re not Hive & Keeper. But what’s exciting as I look to the future is developing our range of H&K Lifestyle products and getting creative.
What does a typical working day look like?
Tea, tea, tea! A jog or walk as it helps me think – sounds more athletic than it sounds!
Emails…
Reviewing and updating my to-do list and choosing the day’s main focus…
Coffee, coffee…
Despatching orders…
Then it’s time spent either:
Working on products, designs, finding people I want to work with who have the same values as I do when it comes to provenance, quality, no corner-cutting and the environment
Tackling all things digital and trying to improve the website, social media etc
And marketing of course
Admin – although not often enough….
What tip (or tips) would you give anyone looking to start a small creative business?
Doing it on your own is hard, so use everyone you know as sounding boards, extra pairs of hands and for advice. It takes a village to build a business, and your village is a wonderful collection of people who have your back.
Go slow and carefully, ignore all the headlines about how someone made their fortune in a year, as it’ll just depress you and make you question yourself.
When you’re down, look back a year and see how far you’ve come and what you’ve achieved. That always cheers me up.
It doesn’t have to be perfect first-time round – packaging, products, posts etc can all be tweaked over time, so try it and see. Keep print runs etc small until you’re happy you’ve got the labels right. Constant evolution and change is what it’s about.
Make yourself do the things that feel brave and out of your comfort zone as you’ll be better at them than anyone else would be.
No one cares as much as you do, so do it yourself, and if you really don’t have the skills, then keep a very close eye on, and give a very tight brief to, any consultants etc that you might use.
Shop Hive and Keeper at the Country Living Christmas Market this November for a thoughtful gift, or to treat yourself!