I haven't written since last september...just wanted to write some notes on what happened to CARiLOVES...
So basically, the market stall at spitalfields became too expensive for me to trade at. There were literally a handful of people walking past the stall each day and for anything up to £80 a day for my pitch I simply ran out of funds. My other avenues of business were my website and retail outlets. In the midst of the recession, store owners were reluctant to take on any new stock and i had to give items as sale or return. Being a small business, I simply didn't have enough stock to do that for every shop. Also, SEO (search engine optimisation) is a tricky business and again, if you have pots of cash to throw at it you can get help, if not you end up just being another website that may not even exist as far as any potential customers are concerned (even worse if you built a flash website before you realised that wasn't gonna help matters).
My customers were amazing and I met some truly wonderful people whilst running CARiLOVES both online through twitter, facebook, my website and the market stalls I ran at Spitalfields and Brick Lane.
However in October 2010 I had to find a new job - and became a bedroom designer for a large uk based firm as I had to pay my bills. I had less and less time to spend on marketing and having boxes of stock in my flat became increasingly difficult to negotiate around whilst trying to work and run a household. So, in the beginning of December I had to make a decision. I wanted the whole meaning of CARiLOVES to remain until the end and so Greg and I packed up all the stock, apart from a few items reserved for family and friends and I took it along to Oxfam in Muswell Hill. I just wanted them to have some good use. Hopefully some folks will have found brand new positive statement tees and hoodies brightening up their stockings for Christmas 2010.
And I still get people asking about new designs and products which slightly breaks my heart but I know that as difficult a decision as it was to make, the answer is simple. Can I support my family and run this business? Not right now.
So for now, the CARiLOVES chapter closes but I am grateful that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do it full time and have so much freedom and fun last Summer.
My blog does not close however and I will continue to write on my creative pursuits for as long as it feels right.
I can still paint and I can still write.
Cari x
