How passion plus risk can equal millions

INSTANTLY recognisable, Cath Kidston’s eyecatching designs have become a familiar favourite on some of the world’s smartest highstreets.

But don’t let her cheerful patterns lull you into a false sense of security, under the girl next door look to Kidston’s business empire lies a razor sharp business mind that has built up an estimated £250 million company.

Influenced by her idyllic upbringing in the Hampshire countryside, Kidston says, “I’ve always been interested in houses and homes. From my earliest memories, I’ve liked re-arranging my room and was one of those children who was always restyling my bed- room.”

She adds, “I always loved to play shop, I loved trading, drawing and doing all the stuff I love to do today.” The former shop assistant turned her passion into a business when she opened her first shop in Holland Park 1993, selling hand embroidered tea towels and shabby-chic furniture.

Her inspiration for selling products came after making an ironing board cover for her own flat. She explains, “I thought it would be the perfect product, because there I was, at home, doing my ironing on a grey ironing board. My flat was quite small and I had it hanging on the back of the door. I thought it was a really good idea.”

Subsidising her first venture, which she describes as a “glorified junk shop,” with interior design, Kidston decided to focus solely on selling her own creations after surviving cancer at 37.

She explains the ordeal, “changed my attitude to risk within a business. It was a really positive turning point. It really helped me think, ‘I’m just going to make the most of it and get on’.” Her passion paid off and her designs are now sold in over 200 shops across 16 countries.

With an MBE for Services to Business to her name, Kidston, who has also raised large sums of money for cancer charities, has now sold the majority stake in her company. She says “having a business is a bit like having a child. As they grow up, you don’t want them to be too reliant on you, but you want to remain on very good terms with them.”