Why I started Willow Leaf

From a young age I knew I always wanted my own business, having watched my mum develop her London based businesses it was something that was sort of in my blood. During school I really took to business studies and had a fantastic teacher Mrs Stephens who always believed in me. I always vividly remember she set us a project around Christmas time to come up with a business  to have at our school's Christmas market for Charity. Me being me took this far too seriously and I developed a business that made horseshoe stands and decor. I took this to Facebook and instagram to market it, developed a logo, put flyers all round the school. I had such a good time doing this so from then on I was set on having my own business. 

I started Willow Leaf gifts in September of 2019 when I was 19. In July of that year I completed my final year of furniture making studies. I then took the summer to reset and I actually went to work with horses in Germany, which was a fantastic experience and just what I needed at that time in my life. Once I returned my focus became starting a business. First I started with arguably one the most important parts of the business - the name. I chose Willow Leaf as it was a name that was quite open to interpretation yet still had a handmade feel. I wanted to have a name that could evolve with the business.

 My aim with Willow leaf was to use all the knowledge I had gathered whilst studying bespoke furniture making and transfer this to high quality products for people’s homes and gardens. I would  see my parents splash out on chopping boards from well known retailers just for them to perish in a year or so. Once I had gathered the knowledge of how timber behaves in certain environments I knew I could  bring high quality long lasting chopping boards and other products to the market. 

The future, moving forward I want to keep pushing forward looking for new opportunities, new designs, new clients for my business and see where this amazing journey will take me. 

Tia X