Aoife Doherty set up her business in November 2020 after graduating from the University of Reading with a BA Hons in Graphic Design.
After noticing a gap in the market for eco-friendly stationery, she decided to take out a Start Up Loan of £9,000 to launch Floris – her own zero waste stationary company based in Cardiff. She used the funding to help support the manufacturing of her products and design tools.
With a natural flair for creativity, she wanted to harness the skills she learnt at University and turn them into a business. In the initial phase of the business she had a stall at a local market, but because of the restrictions and lockdowns she had to think on her feet about how she could keep growing her business in other ways. So, she decided to host an ‘online market’ through her website, which was a huge success.
Although things doing go exactly to plan, it gave her a chance to re-focus her attention on developing an online presence, which is incredibly important when so many people are still spending much time at home.
