“Small But Mighty Business” is all about celebrating small UK entrepreneurs who really deserve to be on your radar. The global pandemic has hit the independent market hard, and if we want to see it thrive, it needs our investment. Each week I’ll be showcasing an awesome biz offering bold and beautiful homewares, which I think you will love as much as I do. Don’t forget to sign up to the newsletter if you’d like the latest features direct to your inbox! This week, we’re discovering Wooden Flamingo.
What is Wooden Flamingo?
Wooden Flamingo is the guise used by Sophie Carter, a mum of two, artist, colour enthusiast and painter of retro cassette tapes. Originally starting off her own business by selling wedding signs, Sophie moved into wooden creations before finding her niche in pattern-orientated art with the retro tapes standing out for her to put her stamp on.
For me, like so many millenials and older, cassette tapes hold such a strong sense of nostalgia. Whether it was from recording our favourite song on the radio, adverts and all (because that was the only way to listen to your tracks all those years ago), or whether you just have fond memories of racing with your siblings as to who could manually rewind the tape back quicker, they are a part of history with sentiment. As these generations now look for new ways to make our home unique, Sophie’s custom designed tapes really help tell a story.
But sentiment aside, let us not forget that when technologies become redundant, where are they to go?
“The cassette tape experiment came about while I was pregnant with my second child,” said Sophie.
“I got overly emotional when I saw a charity shop throwing tapes away because they just weren’t needed anymore in today’s world. It broke my heart. I decided to give them some new life, randomly posting them one day on my Instagram and, well, the rest is history really.”
Sophie really does have a talent for taking your idea and playing with it, until you have something really unique to decorate with. I asked Sophie for some memphis-inspired tapes in my home’s signature palette of pinks, blues and yellows, with the below the end result. I think they are retro gold, and I’m excited to dish them around my home.
Let’s talk shop! What Wooden Flamingo products should we be excited about?
Sophie may be the superhero of tapes, rescuing them from a drab and wasteful afterlife, but this isn’t her only super power; she is an artist at heart, and while some may choose to use these custom tapes as a form of decor, as I am, it’s also a passion project.
Sophie has covered weekly themes on her tapes, often covering fruits, films, and characters, drawn onto her tapes. It’s as if she is curating her very own art exhibition with dis-used items as her canvas for experimentation and expression.
“My custom tapes are really popular,” Sophie tells me.
“Trying to create a design to fit someone’s colour scheme or a particular theme or pattern is fun. I’ve done some film themed ones like rocky horror and beetle juice. And even more personal ones like copying a phrase in a loved ones handwriting to match a tattoo. But my DIY kits are my newest product. They come with different colour way options, and a little zine made by me with tips on how I get certain patterns on my tapes.”
Sophie’s Back To The Future tape may just be my favourite of hers so far, but she also has baubles hitting her online shop, so if you’re looking to shop small this year for your Christmas tree, you definitely need to be getting your orders in from Wooden Flamingo.
How did you find your design confidence?
Sophie has carved herself out in a really unique way, so I asked her how she has found confidence in her own style.
“Don’t over think anything. Because everything can be fixed or covered up! I honestly wing a lot of my designs, same with my home decor. If I start to overthink it, I find it gets messy. My aesthetic in my work is that it’s not precise. My lines are done by hand. They are wavy and uneven. I like the imperfect look. I pick some colours, get some inspiration and then just go for it.”
Where does Wooden Flamingo hang out online?
I discovered Sophie’s account on Instagram and you can follow her hashtag #WFLovesATheme to see all of her themed creations, and get to know the face behind the brand. If you’d like to buy directly from Sophie, you can find her selling on Etsy. I don’t like to push brands who I wouldn’t be happy having in my own home, but I am going to proudly display these in my bedroom once it’s complete. For now, they’re too pretty to be left in a box, so will sit in my office in all their 80’s nostalgia glory. What design would you brief Sophie with?
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