Lindi Oosthuizen makes a range of beautiful fabrics but needs to know how to take her creations to market. Her fathers passion for observing the natural world, and her grandmothers embroider skills, are threads that still run through the work of textile maker Lindi Oosthuizen. The Sussex – based craftswoman grew up in the South African countryside where she acquired her rich inheritance. “I remember the excitement we felt at the sight of the first swallows in spring, and Dad was always keen to find tiny wildflowers hiding under dry grasses on our farm,” she says. “Nan lived on the coast near Cape Town, and every December we fled the heat and visited her for a four – week holiday. She had a wonderful wardrobe full of different materials – threads, raffia and beads.”
Ever since. Lindi has created fabrics and accessories in the evenings after work and at weekends for her own home and as gifts for friends and family, producing simple designs on cotton, linen, silk and wool. “I find it so rewarding to make something, and I like every item I produce to be used, not put on show like a precious object.” Her soft furnishings include lavender – plant – decorated duvet covers, heart – patterned patchwork cushions and loose covers for an armchair featuring a playful black cat in a series of different poses. “I do all the embroidery by hand, even when simply outlining, and love the individual quality this gives my work and the fact it can be done while holding a conversation with my husband, family or friends.” Lindi has also taught herself to print with a silk screen, creating fabrics featuring different small creatures from butterflies to hedgehogs, and while she finds both crafts “inspiring and self – fulfilling”, she has always hoped that one day they would earn her a living.The desire that their children finish their education In Britain led Lindi and her husband to settle in Eastbourne in 2003. This meant swapping semi – desert conditions, agapanthus and arum lilies for subtler flora, yet it didnt take her long to fall in love with the green and pleasant English countryside and feature it in her designs, it is those plants and flowers that many people overlook, as theyre already growing in nature, which catch my imagination: wild violets on the South Downs where I go walking; woodlands with daffodils and bluebells; hedgerows full of berries.” While she had toyed with the idea of selling her crafts back in South Africa, she found that on moving to Britain her demanding day job as a children and families social worker meant printing and needlework remained a stress – relieving hobby. It wasnt until she saw the launch of our Kitchen Table Talent Awards that she felt encouraged to gauge the response to her craft from a wider range of people and entered the craftsperson category. “It came just at the right time. Now my girls. Inge. 22, and Heidi, 26, have left home, my husband – who paints with watercolours and I have turned part of the dining room into a workspace where I have my printing table – no longer confined to the garage – and can do my sewing.” Since Lindis timeless, nature – inspired designs have caught the attention of the CL team she has gained the confidence to showcase her work to a wider audience. “Id like to try to sell my work at craft markets and perhaps one or two small shops.” BlackBerry has provided Lindi with a Torch smartphone to help keep in touch with business contacts wherever she needs to. Well be following Lindis progress over the year online at kitchentabletalent.com and in CL.
HOW TO PLAN AND RESEARCH
Small business expert Emma Jones offers top tips for getting started Market research Discover and study your potential customers, the competition and a price point by visiting competitors sites, online trade sites/forums, attending fairs and seeking intelligence from experts. Try to find out answers to the following:
How many potential customers can you sell to?
What are their typical spending patterns and characteristics?
Where are “hey going at the moment? What do they like about what theyre getting and, more importantly, what do they dislike? Business plan Dont worry – the best ones ate brief. Yours only needs to be four pages or so to include your idea, how youre going to promote the business, ways ot getting a product or sevice to market, the financials that show a profit at the end of the day and a support network of people youll turn to for advice.
