Inspiring interiors for kids

Amanda Heath, of children's interiors company WigwamKids, tells Colette Steckel why decorating children's rooms is big business

Home improvement programmes have a lot to answer for. Not only have they got us building decks and creating water features in our gardens, or stencilling creative patterns and stippling paint in our homes, we are now transforming our children�s bedrooms into veritable playdens, awash with plenty of colour and character to stoke young imaginations. Which is probably a good thing. Children, after all, are spending more and more time cooped up in their bedrooms.

�Children�s interiors have moved on. And a lot of that has to do with the popularity of the house make-over programmes on television,� explains Amanda Heath, one half of the duo behind children�s furniture and bed linen company, WigwamKids. �Parents have started taking an interest in decorating their children�s bedrooms, but they�re after something a bit different that will appeal to them as well their children. And that is what we�ve really tried to home in on.�

In autumn 2002, WigwamKids launched its third and largest mail order brochure, promising original products and stylish designs, loosely based on themed rooms for toddlers to pre-teens. No chance of a garish mural, big brand cartoon or football strip here then. Instead there�s a pastel pink �wish upon a star� room with flowered bed canopy, fairy printed quilt and even a set of feathered wings for aspiring tinkerbells; a blue and white �yo ho ho� room with nautical cupboards, bed and an ingenious bookcase in the shape of an upturned boat for those who like to be by the sea; and the popular US-inspired �ivy league� room, in denim and complete with stars and stripes flag and even a junior leather punch bag for future freshmen, and women.

Imaginative and fun

Amanda, who trained in fashion and started her career designing children�s clothing for Marks & Spencer, says that the whole point of WigwamKids is to give parents and children imaginative and fun solutions to the dilemma of furnishing a bedroom. �We like to give our furniture and bed linen a particular look and there�s a lot of overlap between the themed rooms. Customers really buy into the whole idea of recreating a space that we�ve featured in the brochure.� As the creative one in the business, Amanda notes that she gets her inspiration from displays in shop windows, spreads in interiors� publications and even suggestions from her own two young children. �In this business, it�s about constantly thinking how you can take a handful of products and design a room that is appealing and saleable as well.�

Although Amanda has experience in working with colour and design, she calls on her children to give her the thumbs up, or down, on new products. �They�re often around during photoshoots so they get to see and try out everything. Anything that doesn�t get a good reaction, or that proves a little fragile, doesn�t make it into the brochure,� she says. But finding stylish and contemporary interiors isn�t easy. Amanda confesses that she is always looking for something a bit different, which often proves hard to find. And with most of the mainstream furniture manufacturers lacking in originality, she�s had to seek out niche suppliers from Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, through interior shows in Europe. �When WigwamKids started out, one of the things that proved most difficult was finding unique, price competitive and reliable suppliers,� she recalls.

Amanda first started thinking about starting a business geared at children�s design when she was carving a career for herself in childrenswear. She was regularly sent design catalogues from all over the world, but there was one brochure from the US that stood out. �That catalogue really inspired me. It got me thinking about setting up a very understated children�s business. I didn�t know exactly what it was going to be but I knew that both parents and children would love it.� After seven years working in design, Amanda quit her job to look after her youngest child full-time but also to give some serious thought to her germ of an idea. It was during her year off that she met a kindred spirit in Emma Holt, a marketing manager who was nearing the end of her maternity leave after the birth of her second child and wasn�t looking forward to going back to her old career.

�Emma and I met at a Women into Business conference in Scotland in May 2000,� begins Amanda. �We started talking and discovered that we both wanted to create a business to do with children. It really just went from there.� The two fixed on the idea of a small mail order interiors business funded out of their own pockets after finding that, as young mothers, they had a hard time decorating their children�s bedrooms. �We knew there was a gap in the market for stylish interiors for children because there was nothing out there that was very original,� notes Amanda. �It was there for the taking and we took it.� To confirm their instinct, they held focus groups in Scotland, asking parents and children for their views on bedroom designs. The positive feedback encouraged them to launch their first mail order brochure, which they advertised in parenting magazines and posted to potential customers, whose addresses they bought from likeminded companies.

Within two years, WigwamKids has delivered products to 5,000 customers in the UK via its mail order brochure and website, and is regularly featured in photoshoots published in interiors and parenting magazines. The office and warehouse have moved to a larger facility, having outgrown their original premises - staff numbers have risen to 11 from a paltry three, a new director and shareholder, who also works as the company accountant, has joined the team - and turnover is a healthy £800,000. Add to that a recent award for best start up mail order catalogue at the European Catalogue Mail Order Days ceremony last November, and you have a business that has clearly struck a cord in the children�s interiors market.

The next natural step was to go into nursery design. A baby collection based along similar lines as the children�s collection was launched last October at the baby show in London, which exceeded the directors� expectations. �It�s an exciting development for us,� says Amanda. �The response at the show was really good and very encouraging. Visitors just raved about the furniture.� So trend-setting are the designs that even celebrities have ordered from the collection; Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri has one of the ranges for her new baby.

Buoyed by the success of the brand so far, Amanda and Emma are already looking into more possibilities for WigwamKids. A larger baby collection will be available as of this month, and there is scope for extending the number of themed rooms in the original brochure. �We can definitely offer more but it has to be right and that takes time,� says a cautious Amanda. The notoriously fickle teenagers have yet to be provided for by the company and a flagship store in London is a distinct possibility, as is a children�s clothing line. But for the time being, Amanda is content for the business to develop strong roots before it starts branching off into new areas. �It�s really important for us to establish ourselves as a niche business, offering products that customers think are fresh and unique, with a practical edge that you don�t really see on the high street.�

For more information on WigwamKids, call 0870 902 7500 or visit the website at www.wigwamkids. co.uk.