Trends may come and go - what was once ‘hot’ can suddenly become ‘not’ and it isn’t just the world of fashion where these fluctuations can be found.
Using her experience of working with London-based trend agency Bureaux, Sinead Carey has created a new range of trend-led wedding stationary.
The online company, PaperGrace was created after Sinead noticed similarities between what she did in fashion and how much more creative wedding themes were becoming.
“I noticed a gap in the market for people who wanted something a bit more quirky or individual and I thought I could use my experience with working in trends and fashion and my background in graphics to make a business of it.
“It was quite interesting to see how things on the catwalks filter down into things like wedding stationary.”
Having stayed on in Preston since completing her fashion degree at UClan, Sinead went on to design for fashion label, Bench, in Manchester for four and a half years, however, after having her children, now aged one and two, the daily commute took its toll. Sinead added: “I took voluntary redundancy and since I had been doing wedding invites and things for friends and family, as well as my own, I decided to use my experience to start the business.”
The PaperGrace website, designed by Sinead’s husband, Lewis, was launched on Christmas Eve last year and Sinead, who is originally from London, says the response has been “pretty amazing” despite the competitiveness of the wedding industry.
“It was quite daunting approaching the wedding industry but other businesses have been quite welcoming,” she says.
“You end up with you and your competitors becoming a bit of a unit and you can bounce ideas off each other - there may be two photographers but they can have completely different styles.”
PaperGrace has attracted attention from Brides Magazine and even Vogue, a confidence boost indeed.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the compliments I’ve been getting on social networks and from the magazines,” says Sinead. “My husband has always said, ‘When are you going to realise how good you are’, as I’ve always had a bit of a confidence issue but having the boost, especially from the bridal and wedding industry itself has been really nice.”
So what can we expect to see for future wedding themes? Sinead says brides are becoming a little bolder with their choices.
“The vintage theme seems to have peaked. Already we’re starting to see, in stationary at least, more stripes, chevrons, bolds and graphical ideas.
“Mainstream wise, I can see people not being afraid to use bold colours. Don’t get me wrong, there will always be a call for the floral/vintage theme because it just lends itself so well to weddings, but I think it has reached its peak and there will a search for something a bit different.”
• Sinead’s designs can be found at www.papergrace.co.uk and on Twitter @papergraceuk
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