Lydia - The New Elefairy!

December 11th 2014 

Hi everyone

My name’s Lydia and I’m the new Elefairy!

I am studying Product Design at Nottingham Trent University and in October I was awarded a placement at Elefair Giftware, working alongside Ele and the team.

I am now a month in and I have done lots of different kind of things already and no day has been the same. My first week included a lot of brainstorming and concept generation to accumulate ideas for the new shop and cafe, which is now open in the Broadmarsh Centre, Nottingham. I also got the chance to attend two festive events where we set up Elefair stalls, one at the West Bridgford Arts and Crafts Fair and the other at the Oakham Castle Fair Trade Fayre, which were both very interesting and insightful for me.

My main focus has been designing and developing a Christmassy window display for the new shop, and furniture upcycling ideas which I will put into practice to bring pieces to life for the café.  Once I had some ideas down on paper, Ele and I discussed which ideas were most feasible and which ideas we wanted to develop. I have also done a lot of work for our social media campaign, ranging from attending a twitter webinar, creating boards featuring Elefair products on Pinterest, editing graphics and images that will be featured on the Elefair website, keeping the Facebook and Twitter pages up to date and updating the blog.

Two weeks ago I did my own Christmas themed photo shoot of Elefair’s Christmas tree decorations, which I really enjoyed. I have a background in photography and have had a passion for shooting and editing photographs for many years.  I am really happy with the outcome of these images and these are now featured across all of Elefair’s social media campaigns. Additionally, I have been working in the shop regularly, helping out with general tasks that need to be done in order for the shop to open in time and it has been really fun to see the shop develop!

One of the photos from my Christmas themed photoshoot!

My third and fourth weeks were very hands on and I started to see my ideas for the Christmassy window display come to life for Elefair. I upcycled 5 old pieces, including 2 ladders and 3 cable reels which are now statement pieces for our window display. I also put the shop window display together, presenting the Elefair products that caught my eye. I practiced origami with Elefair’s Lokta paper and wrapped boxes with the lokta paper to feature as Christmas presents under our “Abstract Christmas Tree” (the ladder that I upcycled and painted green).

The old step ladder that I upcycled which now features as an 'Abstract Christmas Tree' in the shop window display

The old cable reels that I upcycled which now feature in the shop window display

Once I had all the upcycled pieces and Elefair products displayed in the window, I started to decorate it and give it more of a festive feel by using tinsel, fairy lights, fake snow and Christmas decorations. Once my window display was complete, I helped with other tasks to help get the shop up and running to open at the weekend! We opened the new shop last Sunday and we have received a very good reception so far! Revealing the window display was particularly exciting for me and I have received lots of compliments and praise for my design, which has been amazing. Now that the Elefair shop is up and running we are very excited and everything has been going great so far, we have loved welcoming our customers and all of our friends and family which have supported us along the way!

The new Elefair shop window display that I designed and worked on

I am really looking forward to the rest of my time with Elefair, already I have been given responsibility for a range of different tasks and I have had the chance to be creatively involved with Elefair’s shop, stalls, website and social media campaigns. In the future, I hope to work in Nepal with Ele to develop my own products and projects for Elefair.  I have always wanted to travel and it has been a long time dream of mine to see my own designs being sold in shops; my Elefair placement is the perfect opportunity for me to do both! 

For now, thank you for reading my post and I’m sure you will be hearing a lot more from me in the future so keep your eyes peeled! Lydia x