01.17.2017 - By Kevin Mako of Mako Design + Invent
Gavin Christman is the co-founder of Green&Blue, a product design company based in the South West England. Green&Blue create a beautiful range of innovative, award-winning products for wildlife and nature.
In this episode, we learn about
Gavin's experience working for Dyson as an industrial designer and how it helped him setup Green&Blue
The thought process he took away - understanding a problem and creating a simple yet elegant solution
Looking at the problem through the eyes of customers
Why Gavin thought that Green&Blue could compete in the existing market for bird feeders
Taking things apart and understanding how things are put together to help you come up with new solutions
Gavin and his wife quitting good jobs to take a leap of faith in a business they believed in
The advantage of having some ignorance before diving into a market - Gavin and his wife didn't know the details of fulfilling product
How they presold the product (without using the Internet) to retailers before getting into manufacturing
Getting a feel for product costs by having conversations with your suppliers and soliciting samples
Shelving ideas if the profit margin isn't there
Why they chose to manufacture locally in the UK
How ceramic products are made - and understanding how our own products are manufactured
Forming relationships with manufacturers
Why Green&Blue doesn't use a "one stop shop" approach to manufacturing
Taking care to make and package the best product possible - same as any product we would all love to receive
The legwork needed in pitching retailers in the beginning - looking at lifestyle magazines and identifying retailers
The two tradeshows that they attend now and the outreach possible
The best part of retail - reorders
Keys to maintaining good relationships with retailers - product quality, customer service, product news, soliciting feedback
The advantage of tradeshows and proper follow-up
Deciding to sell more than one item - the process in designing, manufacturing and getting a product into customer's homes is addicting
Talking to existing customers and advocates of current products about new designs
The different types of bees and their role in our environment
Selling the Bee Brick to business clients and working within the construction industry
Realizing that they cannot make a change alone - partnering with concrete casting companies
Links and resources mentioned in this episode
Website: Greenandblue.co.uk
Special: Use the code startup to apply a 15% discount on the entire product range (valid for 2017)
Social Media
Twitter: @GreenandBlueUK
Facebook: facebook.com/GreenandBlueUK
Instagram: instagram.com/greenandblueuk