Thinking of starting your own craft business? Lovely Pigeon’s Kirsty Thomas offers her advice

Kirsty Thomas is an illustrator, printmaker and occasional shopkeeper. Her studio, Lovely Pigeon, produces hand-crafted jewellery, paper products and printed homewares.

What business advice can you offer to fellow creatives eager to start out?

• Enjoy what you do. Otherwise, how can you be passionate about it?

• Be as flexible as possible. If you are running a business alone you need to be a jack of all trades

• Give great customer service. Be friendly, positive and helpful… always!

Did you take a business course before starting up Lovely Pigeon?

No, but I had run a fashion label a few years before. So I had a bit of experience, but generally everything was learned on the job. I will say that as tempting as it may be to do the nice, creative bits, don’t neglect the important things like book-keeping and answering emails.

What are your top marketing tools?

I think Twitter and Instagram are invaluable marketing tools. They give you quick access to lots of people and are a great way to show people how things work in Pigeon world. I have grown a great network of designers, journalists and customers through social media.

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Read the full interview with Kirsty Thomas in issue 11 of Gathered by Mollie Makes. Available from Apple Newsstand now.

Visit the Lovely Pigeon website

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