Gold Nuggets from Flat 15

In this edition of Gold Nuggets we caught up with one of our favourite style and decor bloggers. Gabriella Palumbo from Flat 15 tells us how she works with brands and how she developed her own to become an award-winning blogger. 

Tell us about yourself and Flat 15. 

My name is Gabby and I am an interior designer and founder of the award-winning design and lifestyle blog Flat 15. I find inspiration for my eclectic London-based design and interior projects from my travels abroad, high and emerging fashion, artwork and daily strolls around my Notting Hill neighbourhood. I make sure to document anything that celebrates original style and happy living on Flat 15.

What’s the one thing you wish you knew in your first year?

I think something to remember when starting out is to always have confidence in yourself and just own it! When I first started I was quite nervous about putting myself out there (especially on the blog). I was timid for the first several months about really going for it and in a way, I regret that. I eventually found my feet, but I wish I hadn't wasted any time in feeling like "what if people don't like what I am saying" and went for it from the very start. 

Top 3 tips for brands when approaching bloggers?

Tip 1. Be Personal. The brand should really know the blogger (and blog) that they are approaching. Sometimes brands email me and it is quite obvious that it is an email template that they have sent to lots of people. This is very off-putting for me. 

Tip 2. Be Upfront. In the past, it has happened to me on my part and on the brand's part, where we have not been upfront about what is expected and it caused confusion. Now I like to be very clear about what is expected for the content, timeline and brand exposure across social media. 

Tip 3. Good Fit. I think it is important for brands to be aware of the aesthetic and style of the blogger and make sure that this fits well with the overall look of the brand. This will get the most exposure for the brand and also keep with the integrity of the blog. 

What was the best bit of advice you were given and who gave it to you?

I think the best piece of advice I was given was actually from my husband who told me to stay consistent with my content and voice on the blog. I think when you have your own business there are highs and lows, especially when you first start out and it seems that things are moving slowly (or slower than you want them to). Staying consistent is one of the most important aspects of building a blog, brand or business in my opinion. 

What’s your ambition for Flat 15?

I would love to eventually design some of my own products and sell them. I usually have a very specific idea of decor objects that I love so it would be great to create some of these for like-minded people. 

What song motivates you in the studio and why? 

I tend to work best when I am listening to chilled music as I can still concentrate on work but feel upbeat at the office. I would say that Drake is always a go-to for me during the day.

How to work creatively remotely

You’ll find Paved With Gold mostly in London and Glasgow but we’ve worked with clients from all over the world; from Hong Kong to Berlin to New York. Our designer Kim worked with us whilst cycling across Korea, Japan and then the USA, and Chara our Community Manager works from sunny Barcelona. 

We get asked a lot about how we make working remotely work for us. The most important thing to get right is making sure each team member feels in charge of their work. There’s no time for micromanaging when there’s a small team. We all support each other to make sure it doesn’t ever get too much, and make sure our deadlines work for each individual as well as the makers we collaborate with.

Anyway, here are a few things we do to make working remotely work at Paved With Gold. 

The Tool Kit

To keep in touch, like most we’ll catch up with video calls on Skype, work collaboratively in Google Docs, and share important thoughts, links and Gifs on Slack.

A Weekly Roundup

When there are lots of projects on we like to send around a weekly roundup of what everyone has been working on. This helps everyone feel involved and gives an opportunity for anyone to chime in with suggestions and tips from their experiences.

Explore Together

Each year we take time out to get the team together. We take this opportunity to look back on the year that has passed and look forward to the year ahead. It’s an opportunity for us to hang out together for a few days and discuss how we work and talk through ways to make things better. 

Recently we all visited Kaye up in Glasgow and met a whole bunch of super interesting people in and around South Block. 

We’re keen on visiting more places this year. So if you like what we do and you’re from an interesting hub or community please get in touch. We’d love to come by!

Gold Nuggets From Make Works

Here’s another edition of Gold Nuggets where we talk with some of our most loved makers, founders and doers. Digging into their stories to reveal tips, precious wisdom, and even some music to get your under-the-desk feet dancing. 

We caught up with the inimitable Fi Duffy-Scott founder of Make Works, factory finders who support makers to make local. We recently worked with Make Works to launch their Patreon campaign.

Image Credit: Peter McNally

What’s the one thing you wish you knew in your first year?

That it was OK to take a day off! Over the first two years of Make Works I only had a couple of days when I wasn't thinking about the project, and wound up totally exhausted. Now I'm pretty strict about taking myself home in the evening and actually having holidays.

What are your top 3 tips for experimenting with alternative models to support Make Works?

Make Works has always been looking for sustainable ways to make the work happen. Quite early on we realised that public funding wasn't going to be very sustainable in the long term; and equally the typical start-up trajectory of growth and investment didn't fit very well with being a non-profit. So, we needed to find alternative models to support the project.

From what we have learnt so far though here are 3 tips:

Tip 1. Seek out like-minded people. From reading work by Aaron Swartz to meeting people at the Small is Beautiful conference or reaching out to other Patreon creators - have all helped to reassure me that it is not completely crazy to be actively looking for alternative models.

Tip 2. Give yourself time to experiment. New ways of doing things won't always work first time, and can take a lot of chipping away at to make work. I think being comfortable with things not being a 'quick fix' is important if you want to make anything really worthwhile for the world.

Tip 3. Make things for your audience. Starting a Patreon has meant that we've really got a better understanding of what sort of people really find Make Works useful and want to see it continue - it's made me super appreciative of that support and helps keep perspective of who we are making the project for.

What was the best bit of advice you were given and who gave it to you?

"Find the right person" -  I remember I was speaking to Janine Matheson from Creative Edinburgh early on about the difficulty I was having getting funders to back the project. She told me that I just needed the right person to hear about it, and soon I had much better success - purely from making sure I was seeking out people who would 'get' it.

What’s your ambition for Make Works?

I'd love to see people setting up their own Make Works all over the world! The ambition at the moment is to work out how to make that work well for people who want to start those other regions and finding a sustainable, open business model to make that possible in the long term.

What song motivates you in the studio and why?

Pussy Riot - Straight Outta Vagina absolutely got me through 2016! It came out at a time when everything seemed really dark in the world, and still makes me feel super hopeful and energised.

Gold Nuggets from Desk Beers

We’re excited to share the first of a series of blogs called Gold Nuggets where we talk with some of our most loved makers, founders and do-ers. Digging into their stories to reveal top tips, precious wisdom, and even some music to get your under-the-desk feet dancing. 

Recently we caught up with Adam Rogers from DeskBeers, a handy service that delivers craft and small-batch drinks to offices all over the UK.  

Tell us about yourself and DeskBeers.

Hi! I’m Adam. As captain of the good ship DeskBeers, I predominantly make tea. Gallons of the stuff. We can't function without it. If we didn't have tea, we'd never manage to get the craft beers, fine wines, ciders and soft drinks from our suppliers to our customers across the country. The whole system runs on tea.

What’s the one thing you wish you knew in your first year?

Apart from the volume of tea required to run a successful operation, it's silly stuff like not only talking to customers but understanding how to interpret what they say. Customer feedback is the best file for developing a product (after tea), but what customers say and what customers do can be quite different. "Talk to customers" is pretty common advice, but thinking about what to do with what you discover is a bit harder.

What are your top 3 tips for finding the best partners to work with?

Tip 1. Good suppliers are as passionate about customer service as we are. If you get palmed off on the phone or wait for ages to get a reply to your email. It's not a good sign!

Tip 2. Don't (always) believe the hype. It seems like these days all you need to start a craft brewery is a brewer and a designer. More than a few new breweries only have one of those things and it ain't the brewer.

Tip 3. Ask for what you want. Good suppliers are in business too. Ask for a discount, expedited delivery, marketing swag, or whatever else you need. It's OK to make them say "no". But always be polite and respectful.

What was the best bit of advice you were given and who gave it to you?

My dad used to say "if you're trying too hard you're doing it wrong". He probably still does say that I just haven't spoken to him in a while. It's very rare that we're actually doing anything truly groundbreaking, and often when we're stuck thinking about the problem a different way can lead to an elegant, simple solution.

What’s your ambition for DeskBeers?

To be the default choice for supplying drinks at the office, and in doing so support and promote independent producers of beers, wines, ciders and soft drinks.

What song motivates you in the office and why? 

Slipknot, Wait & Bleed. The warehouse can get pretty noisy and sometimes you need to whack on the headphones, get the double kick-drum going and crank out some code.

If you'd like to try out DeskBeers use the promo code PWG20 to get 20% off your first regular delivery order. Wahey to drinks with the team!