BIP PEOPLE
Plant
& Moss
Tightening the screws on their competition... The critically acclaimed furniture-making duo talk to The BIP.
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T he Roots to Success... - With a plethora of unnerving terms like ‘spending cuts’ and ‘economic crisis’ cropping up much too often. And yet it’s not all doom and gloom, especially for modern designers James Plant and Moss whose new furniture company continues to grow. The BIP catches up with one half of the pair, who admits that starting out in the middle of a recession might have actually worked in their favour. “I think because we are starting and we are positive we’ve had a lot more interest than we could have had in other years,” acknowledges James Plant, part of the recently formed Plant & Moss, who it seems are defying the odds by beginning in such a tumultuous year. Before the pair’s quirky and distinctly English designs were featured in a range of national magazines such as House & Garden and CRAFTS, they were two separate undergraduates at Buckinghamshire’s New University who just happened to be taking the same Contemporary Furniture and Product Design course, and coincidentally happened to share the same first name and garden-related surnames. “It’s a happy coincidence,” he laughs, explaining that the decision to form their company was not based entirely on this streak of luck. In fact the decision to go into business together or to even start separate businesses was not initially high on their agenda, with the duo beginning their careers by undertaking various freelance design after graduating in 2008. “[We] were doing freelance whilst looking for fulltime freelance positions but there wasn’t much around,” admits James, who notes how himself and his namesake stayed in touch whilst working alone. “We’ve both been doing our own projects and we ended up helping each other a lot on our projects, calling for advice [all the time].” It wasn’t until both were exhibiting at London’s One Year On exhibition in Summer 2009, which follows designers a year after graduating that both received positive press and the decision to definitely work together was finally made. It was a mix of a shared aesthetic and a desire to gain creative freedom that inspired the collaboration. “We thought that our style was different from what’s out there already. We both wanted to work for ourselves eventually and then the opportunity to do it arose”, explains James. “[Working for ourselves] gives us design freedom, we don’t conform to someone else’s standards and we think our products are different and interactive.” There was also financial imperatives that acted as an added incentive; “Working as freelance we could perhaps get 3% of sales and doing it ourselves, although it’s a lot more effort and time you get a lot more out of it too. There’s more satisfaction as well.” This increased effort has been rewarded with an influx of positive press and the invitation to exhibit at this year’s London Design Festival. By ensuring that the pair see each design from inception to cre-
ation Plant & Moss are able to offer consumers an ‘element of exclusivity’ that allows them to break-through an ever-increasing market. “We can’t compete on economies of scale,” admits James, in reference to furniture conglomerates such as Ikea, although their independence allows them to create pieces that offer slightly more character than those that are flat-packed in bulk: “People buy our products because they can’t buy it in the millions, it’s an element of exclusivity…Our products have narratives built into them so there’s a back-story of the product which adds value to it, it’s often handmade or batch produced and we keep all our products designed and manufactured in the UK.” Initially the pair’s strengths lay entirely in the design world and it was through recognising the importance of a strong business knowledge in wanting to succeed that they enrolled onto the Bseen programme during the Summer. “We didn’t have much business background so that’s why we joined up with the BSeen programme to build up [this] knowledge [and] to give ourselves a good business backing as well as design.” Enrolled onto the BSEEN programme (Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network) until February 2011, which aids graduates looking to start a business within Birmingham, Plant & Moss are able to gain training, mentoring and support in the crucial first year as a business. James is a firm believer in looking to those who have already succeeded to gain precious advice, offering some of his own for those who are in a similar position; he notes that “Research, research, research”, is the key to a healthy start-up. “Take as much advice as you can, I can’t think of how many hundreds of hours Iv’e spent researching trying to get as much advice [as possible]. It’s a process of teaching yourself, a lot of designers go on to do MAs which is kind of dedicated learning but by setting up our own businesses we’re actively learning and hopefully moving forward as well.” The future currently looks ripe for the new business, who look to improve on their first year of trading by creating a full collection for 2011 and building up a client base of new and repeat customers. For more information and to buy their latest designs visit > www.plantandmoss.com
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