Tilnar Art is made up of a small team of people who do their utmost to give you the best. We try hard to ensure that you receive a product that is handmade, unique and profoundly different to others in the marketplace. When designing a product and eventually adding it to our collection we do our best to visualise it in the modern home. We never lose sight of the eventual consumer and the retailer. We travel thousands of miles every year to find you products that give you the edge and maintain our increasing number of artisans by providing them regular and sustainable trade. Tilnar Art was formed in 2005 by Tom Hawes. Tom gave up a career as a successful London solicitor to form Tilnar Art as he wanted to help many of the artists he had met on his various trips to Zimbabwe. Tilnar stands for This Is Life Not A Rehearsal and Tom passionately believes you should, where possible, work in areas that you are passionate about and enjoy. The other members of the team are Nicky, who works in the office, alongside Tom and Will, who is the warehouse manager.
HOW ARE YOU FINDING LOCKDOWN?
The positives are we are all seeing more of our families and spending quality time with them as no one is having to rush off on school runs or work. However, being a Fairtrade wholesaler that sells to independent retailers, garden centres and museums the lockdown has of course affected our turnover. However, we are supplying our online retailers which have still been ordering. This in turn will affect our suppliers who we support. We still have products being made for us and because we pay our suppliers upfront – we hope this helps them in these tough times. We are trying to see the positive in this but it is very hard, the team have been split and the warehouse manager has been furloughed so Nicky is the first point of call in the office and warehouse.
WHAT ARE YOUR BUSINESS PLANS DURING AND AFTER COVID-19?
We are planning on plodding on slowly through this and we hope to return to normal service once this has settled down. What are you looking forward to most about life returning to normal? We really miss interfacing with our customers, who are the best. We really hope they are all weathering this storm and send them all our very best.
DO YOU HAVE A TIP FOR COMPANIES LOOKING TO WEATHER THIS TEMPORARY STORM?
Don't panic, take help where it is given and be kind to one another.
Visit www.tilnarart.co.uk
