Life looks rosy for Rebecca’s new business
Mon, 27 Apr 2015 13:43:00 BST
Student Rebecca Rose’s business offers “handmade, vintage-inspired textile interior pieces”
STUDENT Rebecca Rose is just 20, but she has long known that her career goal was to be her own boss. Now her University of Huddersfield design course has provided an ideal opportunity to sample life as a businesswoman via the Enterprise Placement Year selling her own handmade, vintage-inspired textile interior pieces.
The enterprise is named Becca Buttons and it offers textiles for interiors. They are created from high-quality vintage fabrics that Rebecca acquires when she combs outlets such as charity shops. Then she “upscales” them by her embroidery and other creative embellishments.
Her style is distinctly retro, with the 1960s being a particular influence. “I should have been born then!” she says, adding that she can turn her hands to contemporary designs if a customer requests it.
It was while studying textiles at GCSE level that Rebecca – who is from Liverpool – realised the direction her life would take, and when she then took a BTEC in art and design at Southport College she knew that she would prefer to run her own business.
A high reputation for its textile degree courses brought her to the University of Huddersfield and a BA in Textiles with Surface Design. The Enterprise Placement Year – which she is now completing – was an ideal opportunity to develop her Becca Buttons business, with valuable help and advice of the University’s Enterprise Team.
A proof-of-concept grant enabled her to fund her attendance at craft fairs – a key outlet, alongside online sales – and to produce promotional material. An equipment grant is proving invaluable too, for Rebecca does all her own embroidery. She also has the use of facilities at The Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Centre, located in the University’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre.
When her Enterprise Placement Year concludes, Rebecca will return to study and assignments for the final year of her degree. But Becca Buttons will continue – Rebecca is already making plans to stock up with hand-crafted items for the Christmas rush – and she thoroughly intends that it will provide her with a career after graduation.
