WORKING WOMEN Do you face challenges in this line of work? People make assumptions about knitters being grannies, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Our community is incredibly diverse. Knitting has really exploded in the age of social media.
PHOTO BY RUPERT BARKER
What Bath business women do you admire? Carole Waller of One Two Five Gallery; Zita Alves at Zest Bootcamp; Kate Austin and Emily Ingram of Spotty Herberts; Athena Cauley-Yu of Meticulous Ink; and Jenny Pollitt of Lane House Arts.
Opposite page: Emma Rice, the owner of Owl in the Ivy; this page, top: Sue and Amy Adams who run The Brow Place; bottom: Katrina Nicholas and Susie Sage of Wild & Wool
Do women face challenges in your field? There’s a stigma surrounding the beauty industry, that it doesn’t take the hard work and intelligence it does. Actually, it requires a vast knowledge of the body, different skin types and conditions and the treatments themselves, as well as the emotional intelligence to read clients. Running the business on top of that requires even more focus. The biggest challenge women in our field face is being dismissed and not taken as seriously as we often deserve.
Surprise us… Once upon a time I was a (athletic) hammer thrower and I held the record at my university for a few years.
DAWN BURDEN
She’s the director of Bath’s My Small World, and has a secret circus school past What inspired you to set up in business? Although it’s become somewhat of a ‘mumpreneur’ cliché, after I had my children I struggled to find toys I loved. I also realised that toyshops weren’t very child-friendly. I started buying toys from French, German and Scandinavian websites, and friends began asking me to order toys for their children too. Then came the lightbulb moment. w
SUSIE SAGE AND KATRINA NICHOLAS
The two friends are partners at the Bath-based online business Wild & Wool, set up last year What can be found at Wild & Wool? Susie: We craft needle-felted woodland creatures from British wool. We also create metre-high animal characters dressed in Harris tweed and Liberty fabric garments for retail window display. Where did the business stem from? Susie: The passion for needle felting started as a hobby for both Katrina and I. When we moved to Bath, I was approached by Oddbins to create feature animals for their 2015 Christmas campaign. This was the catalyst to start Wild & Wool. What inspires the designs? Katrina: There’s a nod to the beauty of nature and a wink to the funny side of life.
CARMEN SCHMIDT
The former au pair owns Walcot Street’s A Yarn Story, which specialises in hand-dyed yarns and luxury fibres from all over the world Take us back to the start of your business… When I started to get back into knitting, I realised I couldn’t find any of materials I wanted; that’s when I had my ‘ah ha’ moment.
PHOTO BY RUPERT BARKER
What Bath business women do you admire? Katrina: Emma Webber of Natural Spa Factory; Madeleine Waters, director of Co.Co; Laura Shipley, owner of Wool; and Ellie Scotton of The Bolt Tree.
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 105