CHAMBER
SPONSORED BY
cornwallchamber.co.uk
MEMBER SHOWCASE ATELIER; HELEN BROOKS Atelier; helenbrooks celebrates its first year in business this month. In spite of the challenges faced by startup businesses in 2020, it’s been a transformative year for Helen Brooks, heading up Cornwall’s only purely female-led architecture practice. Starting out on your own is always a nerve-wracking prospect when you have financial commitments and a family. But after 15 years working for others as a qualified architect, Brooks wanted to offer clients a more personal design experience. “Of course, it’s wonderful to design a beautiful new space, but you also need to understand how people will use that space in their everyday lives,” she explained. “I love exploring how my clients might interact with their new surroundings - for me, the greatest joy of architecture lies in bringing those diverse possibilities to life. “Too often, architecture focuses on the architect’s glory instead of the customer’s needs. At Atelier; helenbrooks, I’m able to focus more on listening to what my clients need, and facilitating their vision in ways that will truly enhance their lives. Connect with people, and great architecture will follow.” Launching Atelier; helenbrooks, the biggest fear was whether, as a standalone architect’s practice, she could win the trust of the local construction community. But even when Covid-19 hit, she learnt that her business was too new to receive any Government support, and she had to run complex site projects under changing lockdown rules, her focus on good communication paid off. She added: “Over the past year, I’ve loved being able to share my expertise - I’ve even been able to offer work experience to a trainee architect, reminding me of what it was like to be at the very start of my career and how far I’ve come. Surviving and celebrating this first year as a woman in Cornwall running my own business has been an incredibly empowering experience. My husband and daughter have been so supportive and encouraging throughout. This year has shown me that I can achieve my dreams, while helping others to achieve theirs.” www.atelierhelenbrooks.co.uk
NEWS
CORNWALL FESTIVAL OF BUSINESS 2020 The Cornwall Festival of Business took off in 2019, with over 60 events taking place across Duchy in just one week; it was an instant success. This year, all organisations that are based or do business in Cornwall are encouraged to plan, host, and develop valuable business relationships between November 2-6. Centrepiecing the week will be the Cornwall Business Fair, the first virtual fair of its kind in the south west. Cornwall Chamber is excited to showcase the state of the art, innovative software that it will be using to host the fair - keep an eye out on the chamber’s social media for more information. Events in the festival can be any shape or size, from masterclasses and workshops to conferences and open days, the main criterion is that the event must benefit people or businesses in Cornwall by offering other companies the chance to learn, develop, or experience new aspects of business.
Why should your business get involved in Cornwall Festival of Business? • Hosting an event will not only position your business in front of the chamber’s extensive network, you will be opening opportunities to meet and connect with potential customers and new supply chains • There is no cost to taking part in the Festival of Business, and by getting involved you will receive free promotional support from Cornwall Chamber • You have the opportunity to choose whether you host your event virtually or face to face as Covid-19 restrictions start to ease • Be a part of the on-going recovery and drive of positivity for the county The process of getting involved is simple; create your event, upload it to the Festival of Business event calendar, gain free promotional support from Cornwall Chamber, and then host your event opening endless opportunities for your business to grow, connect and prosper. Find out more and get involved: www.cornwallchamber.co.uk/ festival-of-business
MADE IN CORNWALL Cornwall is a special place with a distinct culture, a rich creative heritage, outstanding natural beauty, and a well-deserved reputation for the production of quality goods. Our vibrant business community is home to makers of everything from unique pieces of art, natural beauty and speciality food and drink producers as well as specialist technical products and services. All are closely tied to Cornwall, whether through creative inspiration, supply chain sourcing or both. These independent makers and their products need protecting, which is exactly what the Made in Cornwall scheme was designed to do. The scheme assists producers to promote and verify the authenticity of their Cornish products, giving their customers and clients a credibility and guarantee: if your purchase
bears this logo, the maker has been through rigorous inspection to confirm that the product was made in the Duchy itself, rather than imported and simply finished in-county. Businesses wishing to join are assessed by a Trading Standards officer to ensure their process and their product meets the minimum criteria. The scheme has a distinctive engine house logo, so keep your eyes peeled and help support these local Cornish businesses by buying local. It currently has 220 members of all shapes and sizes and across a broad range of sectors. For more details visit: madeincornwall.org.uk or email Mirren@madeincornwall.org.uk
Email: hello@corwallchamber.co.uk Call: 01209 216006 Online: www.cornwallchamber.co.uk BUSINESS CORNWALL | 41
