Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Autumn Fair has announced the winners of a competition giving away 12 free exhibitor spaces at its #SBS Pavilion.
The Pavilion showcase, hosted by entrepreneur and small business champion Theo Paphitis, is to be dedicated to highlighting new and unique products from ambitious start-ups and small businesses.
The winners were chosen from a shortlist of 36 by a panel of judges from Autumn and Spring Fair organiser ITE Group. Entrants were selected based on their uniqueness, relevance to Autumn Fair’s retail visitors and how valued their products would be by the end-consumer.
The winners are:
- Cally King: Perfume gift boxes for those new to the world of fragrance
- Letterbox Lab: A kids’ science kit designed specifically to be more colourful, more convenient and more educational.
- The Edible Museum: Novelty intricate chocolate, sculptured to look like museum pieces.
- Butterfly and Toadstool: Handmade, nature-inspired jewellery
- MK Kids Interiors: Personalised interior design company that caters exclusively to kids
- Bad Dog Designs: Unique and individual clocks created from original vintage Nixie tubes
- Z-O-E: A design studio that crafts patterned muslin babywear
- Border in a Box: Garden design templates to help anyone easily create a pretty garden
- Dimpled Heart: Eclectic range of handcrafted homewares inspired by Scotland
- The Room Alive: Intricately designed soft furnishings, prints, stationary and toy storage solutions with an emphasis on materials from sustainable sources
- Perch Upholstery: The only furniture upholsterer working with felted wool in the UK
- Cuddlebed Company: Handmade soft-furnishings for people of all ages, with an emphasis on adults and children with special needs
#SBS (Small Business Sunday) is an online business community founded by Theo, who is the chairman of hardware and housewares chain Robert Dyas. He launched the #SBS initiative in 2010 on Twitter to help small businesses. Each week hundreds of business owners tweet Theo at @TheoPaphitis and describe their businesses in one tweet including the hashtag #SBS. Every Monday night at 8pm, Theo reviews and chooses his favourite six tweets, which are then re-tweeted to his half a million followers.
Those businesses are then invited to become part of the 2,300-strong #SBS community, who network and support each other. Every year, winners are invited to an annual conference which is full of advice and guest speakers, and get the opportunity to meet Theo and receive a certificate of their win.
Theo said: “These 12 winners are fantastic representatives of the #SBS community. With their free space at Autumn Fair, they’ll get stand-out access to the greatest gathering of retail buyers in the UK, and have a chance to champion their products face-to-face. It’s an unrivalled level of exposure for these companies, and could be the catalyst to significant growth for their business.”
Louise Young, managing director of Spring & Autumn Fair, added: “Deciding the winners has been no easy task, with every entrant making a sound case for being here at Autumn Fair. We are, however, more than confident that the 12 small businesses that we’ll be welcoming in the #SBS Pavilion come September 2 were the most innovative and unique of the 36 shortlisted.
“We thank Theo for helping to organise the competition and look forward to welcoming him and his winners to the show. Autumn Fair will be the perfect platform for these fledgling small businesses to reach out to new clients and forge strong partnerships ahead of what could be a transformative golden quarter for them.”
Autumn Fair will be held at the NEC in Birmingham from September 2 to September 5. Click here to register to attend the show.
Theo Paphitis
