38 Dream big, start small Emma Dobie and Hayley Madden Co-founders of Marvling Bros Ltd talk to Craft Focus about their business that started at the school gates! The company was founded by Emma and Hayley in 2013. It started from an idea at the school gates, when they were dropping their children off to primary school. The seed of an idea was planted with a school competition ‘How much can you fit in a matchbox?’ Hayley’s son wasn’t enthused by the competition, but Hayley entered for him and came up with all sorts of objects that not only fitted in the matchbox, but fulfilled a concept too, for example a grain of rice and a coriander seed which she labelled ‘curry takeaway’ and a picture of the Mona Lisa and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers - ‘an art gallery’. She didn’t win the competition, and most people thought it was mad, but one other person at the school totally got it - Emma. Three years later, Emma, inspired by the matchboxes, thought the concept could be the basis for a business and for nine months she and Hayley beavered away researching products, developing ideas and learning how to run an e-commerce company. How has the company evolved? Over the last 11 years, Marvling Bros Ltd has gone from strength to strength and we continue to develop and grow our range. We sell our products around the world, while maintaining our company ethos. Our products are still designed, and hand produced by our small team in Essex. What do you specialise in? We specialise in fun and affordable matchbox-sized creative gifts, lighting up the world of your someone special with thoughtfully crafted messages – a present that truly says, ‘I’m thinking of you’. Talk us through the current products you’re particularly excited about. Do you have a favourite? We have a brand-new cross stitch Halloween countdown calendar that we’re super excited about. It contains 30 Halloween-themed designs – one a day to countdown to Halloween, 18
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