Lovin' Fairylove
On a cold, blustery day in January, two InSITE reporters ventured into the magical fairyland of successful Herefordshire based company Fairylove. InSITE’s Amy Nicholass reports.
The business was set up about twelve years ago in Australia by Shelly Fairy. After the death of a friend she started to see angels and fairies and this was the inspiration for her to make her first pair of fairy wings. Shelly met Brit Jason about five years after that in Oz, the pair fell in love and then moved to the UK. With Shelly’s creative inspiration and Jason’s business management background the two of them started making and selling fairy wings at summer festivals in the UK and since then their business has just grown and grown.
Not only does the Company make and sell custom made fairy wings but it's expanded it’s product range and now also has a website that sells ‘all things fairy’.
Over the past few years Fairylove has become a very successful small business shipping wings all over the world, but what is their secret? Jason believes that everyone needs a bit of fairy magic in their lives. “In society these days, it seems to be that the more advanced we get, the more people are hankering after that sense of magic and so I guess in our own way we are sort of tapping into that need for people to express themselves in a magical way,” he said.
The company are also running Free Your Fairy weekends and setting up a Fairy B+B, “The house and the courses are just the next level really of trying to create that experience for people in a more structured way,” Jason added.
What seems to make the Company unique is the ethos behind Fairylove, the fact that it’s not just about making money. “It’s really important that the business feeds us and clothes us and because we’ve been really successful lots of people do tend to think we’re raking in the cash,” said Jason. “But it’s never been about the money it’s about fulfilling the potential of what we do,” he said.
Along with Jason and Shelly, Rosa is the other full time worker at Fairylove. Aged 21, she’s been working for the company for around a year now and gave up a place on a fine art degree for her job at Fairylove. Rosa’s typical working day starts at 8:30am to 9 o’clock. She splits her time between making wings and computer work such as spreadsheets and website updating and occasionally answering the phone, because it’s a small business everyone needs to pitch in.
Rosa’s favourite part of her job is the variety of different things that she does.“ I love going to the festivals in the summer and just being outside and having that contact with people and seeing people get their wings, that’s probably one of the best bits,” said Rosa. “Getting feedback from people and seeing photos of them wearing their wings as well, it’s really exciting,” she said. However, after the all fun she says she doesn’t enjoy coming home from a festival and being really tired and having to get stuck in and ready for the next festival.
Rosa believes that there are a number of reasons why fairy wings are so popular now. “Jason always says the great thing about ‘fairy’ is that it’s a word that appeals to everyone, it instantly has good connotations, everyone has good associations with the word ‘fairy’, even boys, because it’s a childhood thing. And with girls everyone knows someone who loves fairies. The festival scene has done a lot for dressing up in general, so I think that’s definitely helped. I think fairy wings are confidence building, if you’re walking round in fairy wings it’s like a conversation opener. People smile at you, people are going to make comments, and it makes you feel good about yourself and helps you get off the ground,” she said.
In the office Rosa and Shelly usually work on quite a few pairs of wings at once. It’s a delicate and creative process, with each pair of wings being hand made and having their own unique design. Rosa said “There are wings in this room I’ve been working on for weeks that’s partly because I do so many things as well on the computer. I don’t spend all my time making wings, but you wouldn’t want to make a pair in less than a week, that would be a real rush. With the bespoke wings that people order, we usually ask people to give us a month or longer at busy times.”
The person that Rosa would like the fairies to work their magic on is Tony Blair. “I think he really needs it!" she said. "I think having the Queen in a pair of fairy wings would be a great icon, a good sort of role model for people to look up to,” Rosa added.
And what are Rosa’s top tips for being a fabulous fairy? “Umm that’s a tricky one… I’d say always wear fantastic outfits, give away lots of wishes to people, lend your wings to other people, dance a lot and live adventurously,” she said.
Check out the Fairylove website www.fairylove.com
