ORIGINAL DUCKHEAD UMBRELLAS LAUNCHES NEW RANGES Willemien Bardawil has created three exclusive designs for Original Duckhead umbrellas and bags, as a celebration of Spring, new beginnings and abundance of life. The Paris based artist, founded her London studio in 2020, and has since collaborated with some of Europe’s leading names, from homeware to luxury fashion. Her energetic style draws on the figures of classical art – a celebration of the Divine Feminine at its most blissful, translated to a modern context through expressive lines and a playful way with colour. In August 2020, Willemien began a series of exhibitions and live painting events with the historic Liberty department store, while December 2021 marked her first solo exhibition and artist residency, held at Chiltern Street’s iconic Shreeji Newsagents. Her paintings also hang in London members’ club Soho House, housed in their personal collection. In Paris, where she has lived for nearly two years, she has hosted workshops and live painting events with vintage fashion platform Imparfaite, and pressed flower destination Herbarium, as well as a celebratory pop-up at Le Bon Marché, marking 170 years of the prestigious department store with another for Christmas 2022. www.originalduckhead.com/pages/wholesale Independent gift shop chain Maybugs in East Sussex has been crowned the UK’s best small high street business at this year’s Small Awards, which saw hundreds of the UK’s most exciting small businesses brought together for a glittering ceremony in London. ‘Maybugs’ is a family-owned, independent gift and homeware retailer based in Sussex, which sells a range of unique gifts. It won the ‘High Street Hero’ award, sponsored by TSB, with the owners being presented with their award by presenter, writer, actor, and comedian Sue Perkins. Established five years ago, Maybugs is an example of a small retailer breathing new life into the British high street. Founded in 2018, owners John Dale and Greg Rose have grown the business with two further stores opened in Eastbourne in 2021 and Bexhill-On-Sea in 2022. With the mantra of selling ‘beautiful things for fabulous People’, Maybugs impressed the judges with its focus on supporting the local community and collaborating with other small businesses. The Small Awards is a nationwide search for the smallest and greatest firms in the UK, across all sectors, which has been running for seven years. It is organised annually by Small Business Britain, which champions, inspires and accelerates the nation’s 5.5 million small firms. “We are so delighted with this award! We strongly feel that small businesses can only be successful if the town or high street around you are successful too, so it is wonderful to be recognised for playing a part in this in the communities that we serve,” said co-founder, Greg Rose. “There are some exciting things in the pipeline for Maybugs, not least with the launch of our new Artisan Market in the summer, and having this special award behind us is a fantastic extra boost as we move forward.” www.smallbusinessbritain.uk www.thesmallawards.uk INDEPENDENT GIFT SHOP WINS HIGH STREET HERO AWARD INDUSTRY NEWS 113
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