Dinki Friends... Meet Gabrielle AKA Boss Lady of House of Hooray!
I love chatting to fellow small-biz owners about what gets them going and what grinds their gears about being your own boss. I have created a series of Q&As with some of my fave small brand owners in the hope we can share some behind the scenes insight into our lives as women in business.
Gabrielle and I met via Instagram, I came across her amazing colourful banners and featured her in a Dinki Human Gift Guide.
Who are ya?
I’m Gabrielle the designer behind of House of Hooray, I make colourful banners, cushions and garlands with joyful and sentimental messages. I live in Yorkshire with my husband Andres who also works for House of Hooray, my daughter Ramona and our 2 cats Rosie and Diego. I have a background is in Fine art and textile design and before I worked for myself I taught Art, Fashion and Textiles in London.
How and when did you come up with the idea for House of Hooray?
House of Hooray started in 2015, I had to leave my teaching job due to health issues and I needed a job that I could do at home. I’d made some decorations for my daughters room and they had generated some interest when I shared them online so I opened an etsy shop. I planned to run a blog sharing aspects of my home decor alongside the products, we sold our house in London and the dream was to buy a place in Yorkshire where I grew up and document the renovating and decorating process, but we only bought our new house earlier this year so I’m hoping to start sharing bits of decor soon and i’m excited to see how it will develop. I love colour its a big part of my products and my home so when I was thinking of a name it had to be something that summed this up which is where the name House of Hooray came from.
What 3 things do you enjoy most in your job as House of Hooray Boss Lady?
I enjoy creating new Ideas the most, I love the process from first having the idea to making the first sample.
I love being my own boss and the freedom that brings.
I love the lovely messages I get from customers some of them have been really touching and its lovely to think that something I made hangs in their home and brings them joy.
What 3 things do you enjoy least?
I don’t enjoy the uncertainty, I’ve been lucky that my business is able to support my family but the flip side to that is the panic sets in quite quickly when sales slow down.
I’m not a fan of admin or doing my accounts either I’d much rather be designing or making.
Any advice for anyone starting out in the world of small biz ownership?
Keep going! It’s really hard work and can be disheartening when the sales don’t come in thick and fast straight away. Make connections with other small business owners, working on your own can be lonely it's great to have people to chat to who understand the ins and outs of running a small business.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future of House of Hooray? Where do you see yourself in 3 years time?
I really want to make House of Hooray into what Holly Tucker describes as a ‘good life business’. I want to make enough money to support my family, so we can have nice things and not worry about money. But I don’t want to be working all the time there has been times when the business has taken over our lives as it gets so busy and it leaves little room for anything else.. I want to have a good work life balance and this is what I’m working towards at the moment hopefully I will have achieved it in the next 3 years. I want to be in a position where I’m just doing the designing and sampling the products, last year I took on my first creative assistant Mayumi and she has been brilliant helping make the orders which has given me a bit more time to work on the designing but there is still never enough hours in the day.
What’s your favourite breakfast?
Avocado and garlic mushrooms on toast one of the benefits of not working with anyone else is its ok to eat garlic for breakfast ;)
Where can we find you?
You can find me at www.houseofhooray.com, I also sell on Etsy and Not on the High street. I’m on all social media but only semi actively use Instagram: @houseofhooray
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