Indie Spotlight: Crown & Glory

Hey everyone,

It's Indie Spotlight time, again!

Meet the lovely Sophie from whimsical accessories line, Crown & Glory:

"My name is Sophie King and I am a 22 year old Photographic Art graduate from the University of Wales, Newport. I currently reside in rainy Cornwall with my boyfriend and cat, Little Boots.

Crown and Glory is run as a hobby from my 6ft square spare bedroom.
At the moment I am undertaking internships in marketing and promotions to enable me to apply for work with galleries and arts organisations.

I strongly believe in the value of arts education and love learning. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, though! Aside from that, I'm all about cats, cooking and marathon shopping."



And I just had to quiz her about her designs...

1. What inspires you to make your creations?

It might sound a little self-obsessed, but I only ever make pieces that I would wear myself. I was originally inspired to start Crown and Glory due to an apathy with hair accessories available on the high street; I wanted something different so started making butterfly headbands!
Keeping in with these themes I'm also heavily inspired by nature and keep an eye on the trends, too; though again, only ones I personally like! You won't be seeing a shearling headband any time soon.


2. What is your best selling item and why do you think this is?

The Daisy Duke's headband is the best selling item, and I think it's because it's fairly cheap (£4), unique and quirky. It suits all ages as well; I've had orders for 3 year olds and 30 year olds!


3. I love the Avada Kedavra Bobby Pin Set - and right on time for the last Harry Potter film being released! Are you planning any more Potter-related peices?

Thankyou! I'm such a huge Harry Potter fan I couldn't let the release date pass without making something! It's another testimony to the fact that I only make things I'll wear myself...I made these to wear to the screening, and figured I'd put them online to see if anyone else wanted them! If they sell, then that's great. No plans to make any more yet, but I never say never!


4. What more can we expect from Crown & Glory?

I'm hoping Crown and Glory will carry on growing from strength to strength; the success it has had in the last six months has been quite overwhelming, really!
Hopefully I can find a way of doing that whilst still keeping my passion for the brand and products alive. I would love to be stocked in some independent retailers, and plan to investigate the best way to make that possible!
As far as products go, I'm looking forward to adding some edgier pieces to the Moonlight Constellation Collection, and making some more floral crowns in the spring.

5. Where else on the internet do you live?

Blog.
Twitter.
Facebook.
Tumblr.

Sophie was kind enough to send me a peice to review, and I chose the Antoinette Floral Comb, as I thought it would look great with my red hair:

I LOVE it.
I already miss wearing flowers in my hair from Summer, but the twirly vines keep it very Autumnal!

Believe me, it was SO hard having to pick just one peice - here are my other favourites:

I love how all the prices are very recession-proof, yet reasonable for the quality of the peices. And best of all, you lovely folk can all get 15% off if you use the code MESSYCARLA until the end of December.
So if you're in need some lovely, original stocking fillers, I suggest you take advantage of this!


Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

PS: Be sure to check out the previous posts in the Indie Spotlight Series, and support your independent designers!

Also, me and Daniel are back on Pride Radio tomorrow 2pm-4pm GMT.
Tune in at http://www.prideradio.co.uk for X Factor snark (and warm up for the eviction show!), celebrity banter and some fantastic pop music!