ON TREND TOTS Nicola Law has created a new baby brand designed with adults in mind – a wonderful collection of toddler feeding accessories inspired by the latest kitchen trends and colourways
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hen entrepreneurial young mum Nicola Law couldn’t find design-led highchair and feeding accessories for her first baby, she decided to create them herself. Her daughter Tilly was six months old when Nicola bought an Ikea highchair – however after searching the internet she couldn’t find any accessories for the highchair that matched her smart new kitchen. “The Ikea highchair is probably the most popular on the market, everyone seems to have one! But Tilly was fairly small and needed support, so I ended up trying to find cushions that matched our kitchen.
“I searched everywhere online but just couldn’t find anything. It struck me that as soon as you have a baby, your home aesthetics have to be abandoned, but I didn’t see it that way,” recalls Nicola, who was born and brought up in the Ribble Valley and now lives in Alderley Edge with her lawyer husband Torquil and two children.
I THINK RIBBLE VALLEY MUMS WILL LOVE COVE BABY PRODUCTS! Being unable to source any accessories to match their kitchen, Nicola spotted a gap in the market: “Basically there was nothing and I suddenly thought there was a huge opportunity as there must be thousands of mums in the same dilemma.” As the Ikea chair is so popular, she decided to design her own cushion fabric and found a company in Accrington that would make and plastic-coat the fabric. Having studied Business, Psychology and Fine Art at college, she took inspiration for
her designs from current interiors trends. “A lot of kitchens feature very muted tones of sage green, graphite grey and cream so that’s the route I went down. “My aim was not to create a ‘baby brand’ but design with adults in mind – with cool block colours that matched on-trend kitchen colours.” Among the current best sellers is her Dalmatian print which features black spots on muted background palettes: “That’s our core design,” adds Nicola, who also commissioned a Darwen company to make beech footrests for the highchair. “Most babies and toddlers need foot support too, so we have a footrest that just slots on. I was really keen to use Lancashire craftspeople so the accessories are made locally where possible.” When considering a name for her fledgling company she and her husband took inspiration from one of their favourite places, Malham Cove: “I looked up the definition of cove. It means ‘small bay’ surrounded by the sea and I liked the idea that the highchair cushion was surrounding the child, so Cove Baby was born!” Once the Cove Baby website was up and running, Nicola decided to expand
