HYBRID SERVICES
MIMAKI JFX200 DRIVES BESPOKE PRINT GROWTH AT TWR ACRYLIC TWR Acrylic director Claire Sutherland (centre) with daughter and co-director Loren Nelson-Parker (right) and mum / gran Ang Hynd (left).
Founded on a moment of last-minute ingenuity, The Wee Rhubarb Gift Co Ltd has grown from a Scottish spare room into a thriving, multi-faceted business supplying crafters, small businesses and event professionals across the UK. Now, just a year after launching, the company has expanded again with the introduction of TWR Acrylic – a specialist premium acrylic sheet supplier created after identifying a clear gap in the UK market. Investment in the latest Mimaki print hardware is enabling the business to add new products and services to an already impressive offering. Founded on a moment of last-minute ingenuity, The Wee Rhubarb Gift Co Ltd has grown from a Scottish spare room into a thriving, multi-faceted business supplying crafters, small businesses and event professionals across the UK. Now, just a year after launching, the company has expanded again with the introduction of TWR Acrylic – a specialist premium acrylic sheet supplier created after identifying a clear gap in the UK market. Investment in the latest Mimaki print hardware is enabling the business to add new products and services to an already impressive offering. “We started the business almost by chance,” recalls director Claire Sutherland. “My daughter (and fellow director) Loren was getting married and less than 48 hours before the big day, the signage person let us down – they had the wrong date for the wedding! We redesigned everything and had it printed locally. The feedback was
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TROPHY & ENGRAVING NEWS
incredible and we thought, ‘actually, we’re quite good at this’”. At the time, Claire was working in a corporate role, but the experience sparked a complete career change. “I was ready for something different, so we took the plunge. We invested in a range of personalisation equipment and set up in my spare room.” Now one year on, The Wee Rhubarb has expanded significantly. Operating from a workshop in Glasgow alongside a dedicated print setup in Dunfermline, the business supports a broad customer base through personalised products, print services and wholesale materials. Earlier this year, the company launched TWR Acrylic after spotting a gap in the UK market for premium acrylic sheets in modern colour palettes and finishes that
had become increasingly popular in the American crafting and signage industries. “We could see incredible acrylic ranges being used by makers and small businesses in the US, but there was very little available in the UK that matched the same premium look and feel,” Claire explains. “We realised there was a real opportunity to bring those styles and colour palettes to the UK market making them accessible for crafters and small businesses.” Today, TWR Acrylic’s core offering centres on high-quality wholesale premium acrylic sheets tailored for crafters and small businesses who lack the tools or space to process larger materials themselves. “We supply a wide range of premium acrylics at accessible prices,” Claire expands. “Our customers rely on us not