Meet The Maker - Eddie and Bee
Sophie Lombardi
As part of March Meet The Maker month, Poppy and Honesty is celebrating some of our favourite crafty businesses. We can testify that all the makers (movers and shakers) featured here, have excellent products and come highly recommended. These blog post give you a little window into the livelihoods of small business owners. Frequently they are mothers working at kitchen tables, snatching a moment to make something beautiful and some much needed dosh. Small businesses frequently offer women the opportunity to work flexibly at home as other professional doors are sadly closed to them after having a family. Although your goodies may not arrive at the click of your Amazon prime fingers, small businesses offer a much more personal service, a better product and you will in fact get more bang for your buck.
Today we meet Jo, the life force behind Eddie and Bee, a beautiful handmade children's clothes company based near Winchester. Eddie and Bee is also part of the Lobella Loves platform, a website that makes donations to mental health charities with every purchase made.
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Growing up I always knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a fashion designer and I wanted to train at Central Saint Martins, because that’s where John Galliano and Hussein Chalayan studied. So I did. I studied women's wear fashion design and then went on to work a design and production assistant.
The reality of being a designer was very different to the 3 years of creativity I experienced when training ( and I fell in love and followed my now husband to the south coast) so I left London to become an Early years teacher.
What sets our clothes apart are the carefully selected unique prints and high quality natural fabrics and simple design.I make sure that all of our leggings are made from organic cotton jersey and use low impact dyes. All of our other fabrics are sourced from a high quality producer of Japanese printed fabric and are printed in small volumes which adds to the rarity and uniqueness of the fabric and helps to distinguish our clothing from mass market, high volume competitor.
I know I speak for makers everywhere when I say that every time you guys place an order , we have a little flutter and a new spring in our step.
Thank you
Sophie xxx