Video insight into the making of a Beara Beara Bag

The business is evolving

The journey for the name 'The Teapot Tree' is coming to an end. The business is flourishing but the name will become 'Beara Beara' within the coming month. The reason for this is to move our business towards a stronger and more recognizable style which is both original and extremely good quality while distancing ourselves from inexpensive, mass produced items. Our bags are a statement and we want everyone from teenage girls to business men to feel confident in the brand they so proudly support.

Over the coming month we will be finalizing new high quality labels, leather embossers, professional photographs, seasonal look-books and many more ideas to promote the ever improving business. Our price structure will remain the same for the near future to encourage new customers to purchase a one-of-a-kind bag, however, once our brand is in shops throughout the UK we will have no choice but to re-evaluate in order to grow the business.

We are all incredibly excited about the changes to the business and the improvements to the products and of course are looking forward hugely to gauging the reaction to the new range of bags which will be available within weeks.

Thank you all for supporting us thus far and as always we learn from our customers so would really appreciate any feedback you may have.

Jake Bullough

A glimpse into our latest visit to Bolivia

A wonderful mixed month of laughs and frustrations, old friends and new business opportunities. With endless searches for improved raw materials, hardware, cloth for inner lining etc we are happy that our hard work will show in our new range of bags. Our suppliers patience with our rather perfectionist attitudes was to be admired and their ambition to improve our combined product makes me confident the business will go from strength to strength. We are now planning our first studio shoot within the coming month which will lead onto us releasing the new range in June. 

New Bags In Stock

Christmas sale and at last new stock

The four weeks leading up to Christmas is every retail business' most crucial time of year. Sales soar as people spend their hard earned money on gifts. As we have experienced people desperately refrain from buying for themselves in the preceeding months in order to afford that meaningful present; something they know will be appreciated and remembered. This goodwill I think is commendable, it shows that love does still triumph over materialism.

The Teapot Tree's crucial time of year became The Teapot Tree's most frustrating time of year. We had been invited to the party, due to our hard work in the preceeding months but at the last minute could not attend because the customs officers in Bolivia unintentionally stripped us naked, paralising us from the kneck down. Our orders, due to arrive within three weeks, did not. Three weeks became five, five became nine and we arrived with our bottle of wine as everyone else at the party was sneaking off home with the receptionist.

Our inbox is full of disapointed emails from would-be customers, our storage full of beautiful but forgotten and unloved bags. I have consoled them with cheerful stories of potential future owners. I have tried to instill the virtues of patience but I know deep down they have missed out on that smile; that Christmas grin, as the present is revealed from crisp wrapping paper; that unforgettable surprise smile; that 'thank you for loving me' smile.

This is the story behind 'The Teapot Tree's' first ever sale. It is not a desperate attempt to rid ourselves of unwanted stock; but an attempt to brighten the lives of the unpopular kids who never got invited to the party until it was too late. So don't be fooled by that mind numbing hangover, the most interesting people were never the most popular in school!  

A busy week - new markets, new contacts, new opportunities

Once again we feel lucky to have one big problem. Keeping up with demand.

Our new large briefcases are all gone along with 8 other styles of bag. The waiting list for the satchels and briefcases are growing by the day and Christmas shopping has most definately begun.

Our first day in Brixton yesterday at the Brixton Experience was a great day. Lots of music, Samba dancers and drummers, lovely food and a showcase of Brixtons businesses amid a typical buzzing Brixton atmosphere. The last of our Sisal bags were snapped up and a lot of shoppers were out getting their Christmas presents early. We plan to go back on December the 10th when we hopefully have new stock in.

Where the Bags Come From

  


Our six months in Latin America saw us meet some incredible people. These people are where our motivation comes from.

We found hand-crafted items; extremely well made with quality materials. The only thing these people were lacking was a knowledge of style. I'm wrong in saying style because obviously they had their own style but the products, mostly I'm talking about leather bags, were made for tourists. They adapted traditional designs to suit the foreign traveller. The problem was though that our friends had very little knowledge of what the foreigner liked or disliked and had sadly invested deeply into the tackiest of tack. They were feeling their way around in the dark, making hundreds of bags, hoping that some at least would be liked.

So 'The Teapot Tree' was founded on the craftmanship and skill of a handful of astisans. How it was developed into a business was based on the realisation of the difficult lives these new friends of ours found themselves in. To us they deserved something more in life. To be rewarded for the skill and hard work and dedication. So we were in a position to share our knowledge and ideas and open up a much larger market. Several months of cutting shapes out of sheets of skins, saw us return to the UK with a collection of 11 never seen before bags.

Several months on and we now have a range of 17 bags and a problem of trying to keep up with demand. Every one of our bags is a unique piece (no two bags are the same). The excellent quality and the originality of the designs seems to stand out to shoppers who look for unique items that are also affordable. People are genuinely surprised at the affordability of our somewhat exclusive bags which, price wise, are in line with the mass produced factory bags on the high street.

We are determined to keep our business low scale production. Although, our biggest problem of keeping up with demand, is good for our suppliers. The more work they receive the more people they can afford to employ. The lack of employment in Bolivia is a huge problem and any little difference we can make backs up the reasons for starting the business in the first place. It improves our friends standards of living and gives employment to a handful of otherwise destitute people.

Although the majority of our customers are delighted by the value for money of our products, we do sympathise with those who cannot afford our more expensive bags. We regret that we cannot drop the prices as if we were to charge the consumer less then we would have to pay our suppliers less, which would then create a situation which the business was setup to prevent - slave labour. We pay our suppliers well and although we are not fair trade registered we adhere to our own morals and philosophies about good work practices, comfortable in the fact that by buying one of our products, you are certainly improving another human beings quality of life.

We do not hail from the glamorous world of design studios and fashion shows but from the warmth of ordinary people's living rooms and work shops. We are delighted we can compete with the in-trends and must-haves. It just shows that not all people are void of independant thought and taste, and most importantly do still have a conscience.