Tag: coronavirus

  • Lockdown Stories: Stephanie De Smet

    Lockdown Stories: Stephanie De Smet

    Lockdown Stories is a series of short interviews with creative entrepreneurs and businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Since its beginnings, the main goal of Future Positive has been to share inspiring projects happening all around the world and, during these strange and difficult times for independent businesses and creators, we want to continue providing support and visibility. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please get in touch at hello@thefuturepositive.com and tell us your story.

    Stephanie De Smet
    Photographer and founder of Collect, a creative platform that inspires, creates and collects makers and their interests.
    Location: Antwerp, Belgium
    www.stephaniedesmet.com

    When did the lockdown start for you and how has your business been affected?

    As a photographer, I did notice the lockdown quit early. By the end of February clients started to postpone the upcoming photoshoots. We all thought it would be over fast, as the Belgian government decided to keep on the the lockdown until the 6th of April. I guess there was a bit of unbelief, as things looked far away. After 2 weeks, we started to realize that it would take much longer, and so jobs got cancelled. There are no perspectives at the moment, which makes the future uncertain.

    Have you found any new ways of working or have come up with new product ideas during this time?

    In the beginning I started to scan old negatives, and had a blast bringing up those memories. I recently made a small shop on my website with prints and postcards. Something I wanted to do for a long time, so a good timing for that. I mostly work analog, but this process is not that convenient at the moment, as my development studio is closed.

    I’m making portraits right now, at peoples front doors. Something different then I’m used to but a nice experience.
    This way I meet a lot of other creative freelancers that are also in the same situation.

    What are some of the positive takeaways you have experienced during this time?

    Nature is blooming. I grew up at the countryside and live now near the city center of Antwerp. For the first time in 8 years, it’s silent on the street and can hear birds sing all day. I can stand still more easily by a beautiful shadow or a blossomed three. Empty streets and the silence may stay for me after the lockdown, but that won’t be an option I guess. I do hope the cultural sector will boost again, and that people will appreciate it even more.

    How do you see your business evolving over the next few months?

    I don’t have any idea when things will go back to normal. The future is uncertain, and I live day by day at the moment. The lockdown gives space and time to work on my own projects but the craving to commissioned shoots is coming closer. I expect that I will work again on a regular base after summer. Every year new exciting projects come up, so I hope 2020 will be even more creative!

  • Lockdown Stories: LOFO

    Lockdown Stories: LOFO

    Lockdown Stories is a series of short interviews with creative entrepreneurs and businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Since its beginnings, the main goal of Future Positive has been to share inspiring projects happening all around the world and, during these strange and difficult times for independent businesses and creators, we want to continue providing support and visibility. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please get in touch at hello@thefuturepositive.com and tell us your story.

    LOFO
    Trans-seasonal collection of unisex clothing. On top of the simple organised model, experiments in regular clothing are made to regularly test social and commercial outcomes.
    Location: London, UK
    www.lofo.london

    When did the lockdown start for you and how has your business been affected?

    Officially the lockdown started early in March. Our building was just opened by the Deputy Mayor for Culture, Justine Simmons, in late February. We were supposed to move our production space over there. We were ready to start sewing. Unfortunately, everything closed down and went in limbo.

    The family workshop where we made clothing back home in Romania also closed down immediately afterwards. Under even harsher lockdown rules, all their workers were put on furlough indefinitely.

    We’re not seasonal, so that meant no canceled SS or FW presentations. But it is still a hit we took, like many other businesses out there.

    Have you found any new ways of working or have you come up with new product ideas during this time?

    Our definitive move to London last year meant we’ve spent the past 10 month doing WFH. What was a drawback actually turned into a benefit. We were very used to this, coordinating things from home central. Of course our plans to move production to London were massively impacted, but we’re glad we didn’t have to let any people go.

    This whole situation has also sharpened our focus. The need to keep busy spawned the LOFO edit we’re working on right now, dedicated to the ‘new normal’ and exploring the transformational qualities of lockdown and being isolated. We’ve also used our home sewing machine to make gel pouches and donate profits to our local Southwark food bank. Hardship also has some qualities to it, and we’re trying to put whatever conflicting emotions we have to good use.

    There has been a massive effort by many UK brands to help with building protective equipment and, from this point of view, we’re actually glad to be in this industry.

    What are some of the positive takeaways you have experienced during this time?

    We feel this ‘forced break’ pushed us a lot in rethinking what our current business means and what its place in the world is. Coming from a graphic design background (still doing things at www.weareloot.com) we feel quite productive in a context of problem solving.

    Some positive takeaways and how we feel business should evolve: localised production / services with minimum impact on the environment and as sustainable as possible, community involvement and more awareness about how we experience the surroundings, a big shift towards digital products / services even in areas we wouldn’t normally think possible.

    Also, there’s a clear signal that the fashion industry is changing fast. There’a a lot of talk and it’s not sure where it will go from here. Most things will probably revert to a version of what they were, but there will also be side innovation. We’re keeping our eyes and ears open. And trying to help build that alternative model ourselves as well.

    How do you see your business evolving over the next few months?

    Our delayed but business-defining move to Poplar will happen eventually. We are hoping around late July or August.
    The space is part of a bigger reshape of the East London business landscape. The project is aimed at community revival and is part of the ongoing effort of Poplar HARCA in partnership with London College of Fashion, UAL and The Trampery. It’s a huge undergoing.

    We’ll work alongside some very talented designers. For the future of LOFO it will definitely mean that we can put many of our plans in action. Once it happens, we’ll move all manufacturing to London, into our micro-production workshop.

    Let’s end this on a positive note – this all will pass, we need to be aware of opportunities that come along with it and try to cope with whatever it throws our way. As the saying goes, we’re in this together (well, most of us). And we’ll make the most out of anything.

  • Lockdown Stories: Earl of East

    Lockdown Stories: Earl of East

    Lockdown Stories is a series of short interviews with creative entrepreneurs and businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Since its beginnings, the main goal of Future Positive has been to share inspiring projects happening all around the world and, during these strange and difficult times for independent businesses and creators, we want to continue providing support and visibility. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please get in touch at hello@thefuturepositive.com and tell us your story.

    Earl of East
    Lifestyle brand, started in 2014 by partners Niko Dafkos and Paul Firmin, with 3 multi-concept stores in London, alongside their own home fragrance, bath, and body line, which is manufactured in-house.
    Location: London, UK
    www.earlofeast.com

    When did the lockdown start for you and how has your business been affected?

    Things really start to change in early March. As Covid-19 began spreading worldwide, we first felt the effects in our flagship store in Coal Drops Yard, as footfall started to decrease. However, it was on the 19th of March when we made the decision to close the stores, just a few days before the official lockdown as we felt the need to protect our staff and customers.

    All three store locations have been closed since, and as a result so has our program of workshops and events, which are a major part of our business. We have been able to continue with online, and with manufacturing, although on a much more reduced scale. We have since furloughed around 60% of the team, creating a skeleton team to ensure core functions continue.

    Have you found any new ways of working or have come up with new product ideas during this time?

    We were able to pivot quickly, firstly by reaching out to corporations we have worked with previously to create client care packages, and then in the creation of our virtual workshops which are hosted through Zoom. Not only did this allow us to keep the cash flowing it also gave Niko and I real purpose whilst everything began to take a turn for the worse in terms of the spread.

    We have also become much more content focussed on our site, creating a series of content called Ritual over Routine and releasing interviews. We were actually working on both before this happened but it allowed us space to really focus on this new side of the business. Working with the skeleton team, and remotely in what is usually a very much hands-on business has been difficult, but we have a good team in place and daily check-ins and clear tasks have allowed for a new structure to develop. We have really had to rethink a working week and structure our days to always include work, it’s definitely a work/life integration over ‘balance’ but it’s allowing us to stay motivated in what could be a very depressing time.

    We released a collaborative project with KayK goods which is a move to a new category, it wasn’t planned to be a digital launch but we wanted to stick to our time plan, and we created some nice content for the launch. In addition to this, we are currently developing a new line, so we have been able to focus on this, and extensions to our Japanese Bathing Line which has become a best-seller in the last year and has gained particular attention in the last few weeks. We are also in the middle of a project with an agency, which is really exciting.

    What are some of the positive takeaways you have experienced during this time?

    As a team, we have learned a lot and become stronger, I think this can only be viewed as positive. From a business owner standpoint, we have had to face challenges and overcome something unimaginable just a few months ago, you learn a lot through difficult times and I think it has helped us to look at our company again and redefine what is really important. We have seen which areas of the business need more focus, and which are working well. We have seen a lot of traction online and with our community, that has been really positive and something we want to continue to build on.

    From a personal level, Niko and I only made this business our full-time jobs last September, after five years of it being our side-hustle. We had struggled to find a real pattern of work and this has given us the space to determine that, and our actual roles and responsibilities beyond just being founders. It has also given us space to dedicate some time to ourselves, to eating right and exercise, which are essential to long-term success in all areas of life.

    How do you see your business evolving over the next few months?

    It’s really hard to determine right now, but what we know is that our strategy is to protect what we have and build on the great customer base we have built in the past few years.

    The new normal will certainly affect our stores, we are currently making plans to change the spaces and make sure they work well for social distancing and that our team are provided with the safest environment. The structure of our events will change for the foreseeable, and we see digital events still playing a part in that schedule moving forward.

    Wholesale will change but we are unsure of the ways yet, having stockists worldwide has meant we have felt the effects at different times, we have also taken on new stockists during this time and have some exciting new projects in the works. In terms of digital, our focus will remain on becoming more content-driven, we are adding a lot of new products and categories to the site, and these will roll out in-store too. We also hope to release more new products.

  • Lockdown Stories: PAKTA STUDIO

    Lockdown Stories: PAKTA STUDIO

    Lockdown Stories is a series of short interviews with creative entrepreneurs and businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Since its beginnings, the main goal of Future Positive has been to share inspiring projects happening all around the world and, during these strange and difficult times for independent businesses and creators, we want to continue providing support and visibility. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please get in touch at hello@thefuturepositive.com and tell us your story.

    PAKTA STUDIO — Multidisciplinary brand producing ethically hand crafted bags and backpacks and accessories for everyday use
    Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
    www.paktastudio.com

    When did the lockdown start for you and how has your business been affected?

    The precautions started around the 13th March, when there was the first confirmed case in Slovakia. I guess we were quite fortunate in that we were primarily an online store to begin with, so there wasn’t a great jump in terms of how we had to operate. We did close the store to the public, but as it functions as both a studio and store, we are still working here which is quite lucky for us.

    Some places we source materials from had shutdown, and so we had to postpone some projects that we were working on. Honestly we’re just trying to stay positive and empathetic, and focus on surviving as a business through this, and focusing on the community.

    Have you found any new ways of working or have you come up with new product ideas during this time?

    When masks became a requirement by the Slovak government, we wanted to try and do our bit to help. We put together a downloadable plan for people to make their own masks. People then started asking if we could make them for them, so that’s when we started offering them on our website. We sell them at cost price, and offer a 1€ donation for each mask sold to ‘Kto pomôže Slovensku’, which is an organisation which is helping those vulnerable and distributing materials and equipment during the pandemic here in Slovakia.

    With our newsletter too, we’ve also been sharing some of the activities we’ve been doing during the lockdown, in the hope to inspire people and give them something to do during these isolating times. We’ve shared regrowing vegetables from offcuts, recipes for bread and cakes, and we’ve got a few more ideas already lined up for the coming weeks.

    We also offered a sale all of our magazines at 5€, just to give people something new and exciting to read during this time that isn’t necessarily on a screen. Asides from that, we have started working on some other projects but nothing set it stone right at the moment!

    What are some of the positive takeaways you have experienced during this time?

    There’s been a real sense of community and camaraderie during this time, which has been wonderful. People reaching out to make sure everyone is okay, neighbours helping each other, and even within the local businesses there’s been talks on how to help each other. And with the precautions not being overwhelmingly strict in Slovakia, we’re quite lucky that we are still able to go out. So whilst shops, cafes, and bars may be closed, we’ve been going on lovely walks around the city and in the parks and forests.

    How do you see your business evolving over the next few months?

    It’s difficult to really plan ahead at the moment, as there is need flexibility, just trying to keep up and try and offer what people need. We have a lot of projects that we have shelved away that were put aside for more prioritising work, but now that priorities have changed we will be going back to review what projects we have ongoing and which ones would be best to continue at the moment.

  • Lockdown Stories: Silvia Stella Osella

    Lockdown Stories: Silvia Stella Osella

    Lockdown Stories is a series of short interviews with creative entrepreneurs and businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Since its beginnings, the main goal of Future Positive has been to share inspiring projects happening all around the world and, during these strange and difficult times for independent businesses and creators, we want to continue providing support and visibility. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please get in touch at hello@thefuturepositive.com and tell us your story.

    Silvia Stella Osella — Textile & surface designer, trend & color consultant
    Location: Milan, Italy
    www.silviaosella.com

    When did the lockdown start for you and how has your business been affected?

    Social distancing here started pretty early since this is the area where the pandemic first started in Europe. So we have been home from February 24th, and full lockdown started a couple of weeks later.

    I am an independent designer and consultant, so of course my business has been affected; many projects have been cancelled or postponed (with no certainty of the new dates, of course…) I work mainly with companies: textile manufacturers, fashion brands, etc. Now most of my customers are facing very difficult times, and nobody knows how long it will take to really recover from this.

    Also, working at home with a toddler and the idea of schools not reopening will definitely have an impact on our work too.

    Have you found any new ways of working or have come up with new product ideas during this time?

    Luckily I work with many international customers, and the pandemic hasn’t hit any country in the same way; also, I am finally able to focus on some collaborations I never really have the proper time to think about.

    What are some of the positive takeaways you have experienced during this time?

    Slowing down and spending time with my little family, without any doubt. Usually during the year we work so hard and when it’s time for holidays we run somewhere very far for as long as possible! So we actually never get to spend so much time at home, enjoying our time together in its simplicity, taking care of our garden, cooking, playing. I really, really hope that this experience will teach us all to live at a different pace.

    How do you see your business evolving over the next few months?

    I still don’t have a clear idea of when things will get back to normal in my studio. I think it’s probably going to be a pretty slow process, but I am trying to see all this as an opportunity: my work is based on deep research on trend forecasting, color evolution and so much more, and I am really eager to study how this huge, unexpected event will impact on the creative fields.