a grand show

Grand Designs Live starts this weekend and offers visitors the chance to buy, build and furnish a house. Within the Boudoir roomset in The Gallery Rooms, a number of notonthehighstreet.com homewares will be on show, chosen by stylist Kate Baxter.

We’ve got some free pairs of show tickets to give away. If you fancy winning a pair, simply write a short message about your favourite notonthehighstreet.com product on our facebook page this week. Click here to get started.

Grand Designs Live, 1 – 9 May 2010, Excel, London

Posted by jokite on 29 April 2010

so who is the small business favourite for the election? We reveal the results of our survey

In 2008 we ran a survey to learn about the hopes and concerns of our small businesses and relayed the results to the Government and the media.

In the run up to the general election and with the final party leaders’ television debate on 29th April focusing on the economy, we thought it was time to run another in-depth survey and over 400 of our female entrepreneurs have spoken out about their hopes and concerns.

The survey concluded:

• David Cameron’s Conservative Party considered best small business champion with the greatest understanding of small business

• Conservative Party at top of election poll although vast majority undecided with Labour and Liberal Democrats equally low, and running neck and neck behind in attracting the small business vote

• Nearly half say they see no signs of a Labour government making a positive difference to small business, less than 6% say Brown puts a high value on the role of small business in the UK economy and only 0.5% say they feel well supported by a government which understands small businesses needs

• Only 3.3% of small businesses say Labour’s recent budget announcement is enough to get them to vote labour

• Easily available start-up and early stage grants are small businesses’ greatest demand followed by better tax breaks

• E-commerce is key to small businesses with nearly half saying they would never have never gone into business if they couldn’t sell online

• Lack of finance and e-commerce knowledge is the greatest obstacle to growth

• Small business sector remarkably strong with over one third saying they have been unaffected by the economic downturn and 23.9% reporting annual turnover is up

• More small businesses have used credit cards to fund their business than have applied for a government grant or taken out a business bank loan or personal bank loan.

Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish, co-founders of notonthehighstreet.com, said:

“83.4% of the small businesses that took part in our survey told us that they believe there is an important job to by done by notonthehighstreet.com in representing the small business community to the government and the media, so we are pleased to be giving our warts and all report in the run up to the general election.

With over 90 per cent of the 1,500 small businesses we support run by women, we hope this survey will help get the vital female entrepreneur voice heard. Our survey clearly shows that whoever gets into power in the coming election has got their work cut out. The small business sector is strong in poor economic times with hundreds of thriving businesses telling us they are riding high above the recession. But in order to grow this vital part of the UK economy politicians must get real about small businesses demands. We undertook a similar survey two years ago and these latest results show feelings are even more strongly against the government. The same issues are being highlighted again two years on but the government clearly hasn’t listened. We invite each of the party leaders to come and meet us and we will be pleased to tell it to them straight and provide them with invaluable information about our small businesses and what they really want.”

If you have more thoughts on this, we’d love to hear them. Comment below or email us.

(in)decision bag by Mr.PS

Posted by jokite on 29 April 2010

Charlotte's style

Sneaking a peak through OK magazine for celebrity gossip took on a whole new dimension when we spotted one of Delightful Living’s personalised house signs in one of the photos! Charlotte and Gavin have their very own pub (to keep them out of the eye of the media) down the bottom of their garden, and have very stylishly hung a Delightful Living sign outside which bears the pub’s name, The Cockerel’s Quiff. Thanks for making such a fabulous choice Charlotte!

We definitely think it is something to crow about (sorry).

Posted by jokite on 29 April 2010

you can judge this book by its cover

Our seller, surface pattern designer and textile artist Rachael Taylor Designs, has been featured in no less than three books recently, so we felt it was something to shout about. Getting her happy designs on everything from cards, textiles, wall art, ceramics, tea towels and gifts for the home, she was noticed by popular blog Print and Pattern (a gorgeous blog if you’re interested in print and textiles) whose creator, Marie Perkins (aka Bowie) decided to feature them in her new book.

You may remember that Rachael was awarded the title of ‘happiest Twitterer’ last year; we hope she continues to get her happy prints known far and wide!

Print and Pattern by Bowie is available through Amazon and the Tate shop.

Posted by jokite on 29 April 2010

take a closer look

Our summer catalogue shoot got into full swing today, luckily on a gorgeously sunny day! It certainly looks like summer even though it might not quite feel it yet. We had to share this photo with you as it is rather hilarious really – look more closely and you will see photography assistant Jane and stylist Claire hidden in the bushes, assisting with the foliage! Well, if the garden doesn’t grow how you want it, you just have to get involved.

You’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see the Summer Catalogue, but our next one, Stylish Living, is out on Monday so watch out for your copy in the post! You can shop from it on the site from Monday.

Posted by jokite on 15 April 2010

my mum Penny V is no 1 bestseller - again!

For those of you who may not already know, my mother is Penny Vincenzi, the best-selling novelist. Her new novel, The Best Of Times, is number 1 in the UK best-sellers list. It’s the third time she’s been at the top of the book charts, but it’s never any less exciting and we’re all very proud!

She has been a huge inspiration throughout my life – she wanted to be a famous and successful writer since she wrote stories as a child, and that’s exactly what she’s done. She also made me see work as something you should love to do, which has shaped my life in the most positive of ways.

For both Holly and me, our mothers have been fantastic role models in our determination and belief that we will succeed, and we feel specially blessed that they have always understood our personal challenges and supported our own ambitions for notonthehighstreet.com

Posted by sophiecornish on 12 April 2010

a bondi birthday

Holly is taking a well-earned break at the moment catching up with family and friends in Australia. It was also her birthday last week, and we sent some goodies over for her to open while she was away. So if you’re sending a gift or two to far-away friends, we recommend the following as being brilliant gift ideas for travel and rather nifty to post too!

Alphabet bags Initial Tote bag (H) from Alphabet Bags

Wine bottle stopper in F and H from Letteroom

Personalised notebook (“Holly’s great escape”) from Noble Macmillan

Smokey earrings in gold from Hurley Burley

And there’s even more to open on her return! Well we had to show the gifting guru we’d learnt a thing or two…

Posted by jokite on 07 April 2010

win our birthday presents!

notonthehighstreet.com are four years old today and to celebrate, we are giving away a gorgeous selection of gifts as a thank you to our lovely loyal customers. The gifts have kindly been sent in from our Partners.

Here’s what’s on offer:

‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ Bag by Catherine Colebrook

Heart Shaped Trinket Pot by Anusha

Initial Tote Bag by Alphabet Bags

Personalised Wine Bottle Stopper by Letteroom

Heart Mug by Reiko Kaneko Ltd

‘To Shop or Not to Shop’ Sign by Abigail Bryans Designs

Ceramic Notepad by Addject Ltd

One large and one small Ceramic Storage Jar by Sorbet Living

‘A meal without wine, is like a day without sunshine’ Hand Pulled Screen Print by The Contemporary Home

Porcelain Milk Jug by Hanne Rysgaard Ceramics

Lokta Photo Album by Paper High

Personalised Circle Necklace by Posh Totty Designs

Giant Station Clock Sticker by Brume

‘Sugar’, ‘Butter’ and ‘Milk’ Ceramics by Sorbet Living

Set of Six Butterfly Lanterns by Bob by Post

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to shop today, Tuesday 6th April, before midnight. The competition is running for 24 hours only, so start shopping and good luck!

The beautiful wrapping paper shown in the image above is by Papilio

Posted by jokite on 06 April 2010

easter eggs and soldiers to start the day

notonthehighstreet.com had breakfast with a difference this morning. The whole company (and that’s quite a few of us these days!) took over our local cafe for an easter breakfast – boiled eggs and soldiers, pastries and coffees, and an easter raffle with lovely things kindly sent in from our Partners. Now the company is split into four offices, we see much less of each other, so social occasions like this are a lot of fun and important for bonding, welcoming recent recruits and catching up on all-important gossip!

Happy Easter everyone, enjoy the long weekend.

Posted by jokite on 01 April 2010