Friday 21 December 2012

Press release


NEWS RELEASE

Little Walton Bank Pottery relaunches as Sarah Heaton with new product line

After the global success of her Seedware and Birdware ranges, leading ceramic designer Sarah Heaton is to rebrand Little Walton Bank Pottery to reflect her role as the name behind LWB’s award winning ceramic designs.

Sarah told us, “I felt that the LWB brand was not getting across the fact that I was involved at every stage; from shape and surface design to overseeing production. My total involvement is of paramount importance to my market so, after lengthy discussions with my marketing team it was decided that I should become the brand. It was a bit scary at first but now I’m really enjoying the role.”

And so she should, with three major exhibitions lined up for spring 2013 Sarah is looking to make a big impact with her latest range of tableware.

“I launched a very limited range of my new design ‘Accent’ at Maison Paris in September but the response was so overwhelming that I am now working on extending the range to include mugs, plates jugs, bowls and egg cups. I recently received large orders from Japan, Germany and America which proves the global appeal for well designed pottery made here in England.”

To add to Sarah’s success she topped the year off by winning the GNCCF Trend Bible Award for 2012. It’s not all been good news though. Sarah broke her ankle while roller skating ... yes, roller skating at Christmas and was completely housebound for 6 weeks however she has managed to organise her spring exhibition stands for Home at Earls Court, Maison et Objet in Paris and Ambiente, Frankfurt with the same attention to detail that she applies to every product in the Sarah Heaton range.

It looks like 2013 is going to be a great year for Sarah Heaton. To find out more, buy online or to contact Sarah visit the Sarah Heaton website www.sarahheaton.co.uk

Sunday 21 October 2012

Big changes !

I think I've neglected to keep my blog up to date, very naughty but things have been changing around here and I've had quite a few other priorities....sorry.

I decided to change my business name so the business is now called Sarah Heaton, yes I thought it was time to stop hiding behind my studio address and get myself out there and visible. I've spent alot of time on the whole re-branding excersise - logo, website , copy etc.Here's the new logo.



My mate Dean Brindley has generated some great copy so you can read all about me and my background on the website.

New branding complete and it took a while , I decided to tackle some new work to add to the collection and show the new direction of the company. Of course it's all rooted in my love of mid century design. Here's the CAD renders/3D designs of the large jug.
Here  is the final piece , I think you'll agree that the modeller did a great job.
Alongside new shapes I've introduced some accent plates and mugs in toadstool and blooms. The factory is producing these pieces now so I'm hoping to satisfy all the orders I took for them at Maison and GNCCF.
Here's the new look at Maison et Objet in Paris in September. Everything worked a treat and I will soon have my products in stores as far a field as Japan !

And finally - I've just finished my last show of this Autumn in Manchester. The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Show in Spiningfields. What a brilliant event and selling direct was quite an eye opener , a great confidence booster and I even sold a jug to Coronation Street's Owen the builder !!! Big tick from the children as they love Corrie on a friday night.

Here's a snap of my stand at GNCCF as you can see I took the trusty sideboard that's been all over the place with me and to be honest we've been through such alot that no matter how much people offer for it ( and they do ! ) it isn't for sale. Oh and I guess I've got to mention the very important point, I WON AN AWARD !!!! the icing on the cake !

I think I'm now up to date with the blog, watch this space as I've got some exciting things and challenges on the horizon.

www.sarahheaton.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/heatonsarah
@sarahheaton_

Saturday 16 June 2012

Random iphone download blog...

Here's some random downloads from my year with an iphone ; it's a real mash-up of tradeshow sneaky pics, exhibitions  to family happenings and our home. I think you'll see that pots play a pretty big part in my everyday life!
 
























Sunday 1 April 2012

Meeting Theo Paphitis and Social Media

We've had quite an exciting month here at Little Walton Bank, not only are we chasing orders like mad but we won a Twitter award from Theo Paphitis. If there are any other small businesses out there, you should have a go at #SBS @TheoPaphitis  . Every sunday night between 5.30 and 7.00 you must tweet your business and include #SBS @TheoPaphitis, Theo will then choose 6 of the best and RT (retweet) them. The PR this generates and the list of new followers is pretty impressive. Theo is a keen supporter of small businesses and decided to put on an event to help us out even more, so last Friday we put our lippy on and headed for Edgebaston Cricket ground to meet all our fellow #SBS winners and importantly to meet Theo. We had a great time, it was a very inspiring day and we now feel excited and energised. One of the key points for me was the fact that through social media small businesses can compete with larger organisations, in a way there is a more level playing field, which is good news for us. Theo has even developed  a website for the winners to help us even more, hopefully lots of buyers will use it and find our profile. So if you don't already follow us on Twitter or Facebook here are the links to help you out 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Walton-Bank/274509429295655
@ltlewaltonbank
http://www.theopaphitissbs.com/

For all those who can't cope with too many words here are the pictures !
Theo's chrome car

Hayley about to give a mug to Theo

Thumbs up from Theo
Words of advice
Our official winners photo

Sunday 26 February 2012

FEB 2012 and alot has happened already!

January 2012 we launched our latest pattern at the HOME2012 show in London. The show was a great experience and we got to meet old and new customers, everyone was pleased to see us again and loved the new product. It was all a bit last minute as my prototypes were hot of the kiln the day before we set off to build the stand ! I hope you like the stand, we spent most of the Christmas holiday doing up the larder cupboard and searching for the right table.
HOME2012 stand
HOME2012 stand
SEEDWARE MUGS
A week after the show I spend an exciting day at Maison Ojet a trade show in Paris, I'm really hoping to show there in the Autumn as it's such a great event.

Then two weeks after that...phew !.... Little Walton Bank showed at a major international trade show in Frankfurt. We managed to exhibit with the ENGISH ECCENTRIX'S.... a group of like minded individuals that support ceramics that is Made In England, specifically stoke-on-trent.

not the greatest shot but......
I guess the big news is ....I have decided to give up my full time position as Design Manager at Denby Pottery to concentrate on my own Little Walton Bank. It's big news as I've worked there for 18years but I just haven't got enough hours in the day to keep everyone happy, including myself . Luckily for me Denby have decided to use me on a consultancy basis so I'll still be working with them and Burleigh Pottery in my capacity as a design consultant...it's time to be brave and show the world what I'm made of !

OH and I nearly forgot we won a @TheoPaphitis #sbs RT on twitter , so we'll be going to meet him in march with all the other #sbs winners......how cool is that ?!

If the rest of 2012 is as full on as January and Febuary we are in for an exciting year......