Craft Focus - August/September 2020 (Issue 80)

Elegance & style Serah Leke-Oyenibi, founder of Story of Elegance passionately tells Craft Focus all about her luxury greeting cards and stationery company Tell us a little bit about Story of Elegance. When did the company start and how has it evolved? Story of Elegance is a British luxury greeting cards and stationery brand designed in London and made in England, launched in September of 2019. We combined traditional craftsmanship with a modern twist, creating products that tell their own story though each of our collections. Carefully and thoughtfully, the wording on each greeting card, notebook, journal or accessory feels like a highly personal message and gesture from the customer to their loved one, family member or friend. When gifting our products, you allow the receiver to tell their own story, whether this may be framing, placing, using it as a place for keepsake items or even passing it on. This is because we create our products with the purpose of reuse in mind, whilst living out first impressions over and over again. Was starting a company something you’d always wanted to do? Yes, starting a company has always been a milestone one way or another I would embark on. As long as I could remember, creating and sharing has been a long-term passion. What challenges have you overcome in the first year of business? The challenges we have overcome are exposure, and whilst may seem daunting, has actually been a beautiful journey. We’re excited to keep continuing to unravel this challenge across the UK and globally. What’s your background? Have you always had a keen interest in stationery and crafting? In my early studies, my background was in business and marketing. I then went on to further my career in other areas of interest and graduated in Fashion Management. Following my degree, I went onto the world of digital, which nurtured into tech and digital marketing. Nevertheless, my love for paper, stationery and craft has been undoubtedly obvious amongst friends and family and acquaintances for the longest time. I believe stationery and craft allows one to bring their imagination to life. It gives you the ability to create, express yourself resulting in art form. In the end this craft allows you to connect with people. To me this is beyond special. Talk us through your current collections. The thought behind our collections each have their own meaning and we have something for everyone. Intertwined into the products is a personal tone of voice, and the uses of words have been planned out thoughtfully. This then offers the feeling of a highly personal message and gesture, from the customer to the receiver. We currently have seven signature brand collections with one more addition on the way: 1.Alphabet – The right balance of simple, subtle but expressive. For the person who likes personalisation with just their initial. 2.Bpower – Celebrating Black British, Afro Caribbean, African-American and dual heritage history and culture. 3.Celebration – New beginnings and everyday celebration in the form of a new home, baby, job, dinner party or even reaching a milestone. 4.Fempower – Celebrating the achievements and empowering the milestones of the girls and women in our lives.  5.Gratitude – Taking it back to basis with simple gesture such as, thank you and well done to the special people you know, as they reach their goals in life. 6.Humour – Showing off your sense of humour or out rightly showing your cheeky side in a greeting. 7.Inspired – Simply letting close friends, family and co-workers know what you think of them with a few inspirational words. What’s your bestselling line? Our lime green and gold ‘What a Woman 62