Our third and final blog sharing insights from the Retail Ready Fieldtrip for Ulster University Enterprise Placement Year Students we hosted in October 2025.

We previously shared some of our best insights from the day from Linzi and Emma, today we are sharing those from Rachel McIlgorm founder of @storyboxni  a Belfast based ethical gifting company offering curated, sustainable gifts from small and social impact businesses across the UK and Ireland through corporate gifting initiatives and a gift shop based n Portview Trade Centre in East Belfast.

01. Email and introduce yourself. Rachel suggested for retailers such as hers which are social enterprises and interested in the ethics of their suppliers you should send an email and introduce yourself and share your story and why your product would fit their shop.

02. Invest in good quality images of your products

03. Make sure you know your pricing. Account for retailers margins and include details of your pricing when contacting retailers.

04. Don’t be afraid to follow up if you don’t get a response from a retailer.

05. Use your story to market your product. Make your story personal and use it throughout your marketing and branding to differentiate your product.

Rachel is also very kindly taking part in our Rapid Feedback for Makers event on Wednesday 6th May as part of Belfast Design Week

During this event 8 emerging makers and designers will have the opportunity to meet with and get one-on-one feedback from 4 independent design and retail professionals Rachel, Catherine McGinnis co-founder of Maven, Celeste Macormac Owens Retail Co-ordinator Belfast School Of Art Shop and Kate McILhagger-Ng KMN Creative Consulting – formerly Head of Product Development at Made.com.

Get more info and sign up on the Belfast Design Week website www.belfastdesignweek.com

-- OUR IMPACT--

Blick is a social enterprise, we put profits made from our services into supporting creatives in NI, we are currently busy working on Belfast Design Week but here is a summary of some of our social impact from 2024 -2025. You can also find more info on our past impact on our website

https://blickstudios.org/the-team/our-impact/

-- OUR STUDIOS--

When we started Blick back in 2008, our ambition was to create beautiful but affordable spaces in great locations in Belfast for creatives to work in productively and creatively alongside other like-minded creatives.

We started with just one building, our Malone Studios in South Belfast, then took on two others in the Cathedral Quarter, our Hill Street studios and Cotton Court studios. In 2024 we had to leave our beautiful Malone studios, but were super fortunate to find our gorgeous new Great Northern Street studios instead. All our studios provide a mix of private studio spaces and shared workspace with dedicated desks and storage.

- - HILL ST - -

Our Hill St studios are our biggest providing workspace to over 25 creatives within an open plan loft space with high ceilings and original features close to Belfast School of Art right in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter. Our Hill St studios can also be used as a virtual office for creatives who want a professional city centre address for their business.

- - COTTON COURT - -

Our Cotton Court studios are our most affordable studios providing both shared and private workspace to over 10 creatives in a building full of different creatives in the Cathedral Quarter.

- - GREAT NORTHERN STREET - -

Our Great Northern Street studios provide shared and private workspace to over 15 creatives and are located just off the Lisburn Road in a modern glass fronted building nestled between traditional red brick Belfast terrace houses.

Our spaces all offer dedicated desks with storage or private studio space with prices from £130 per month. All our prices include rent, rates, utilities and broadband. Our spaces are all designed to be professional, but welcoming creative environments.

Taking a space at Blick is more than just a physical space; it`s about meeting and working alongside like-minded people, collaborating, learning, and sharing experiences. Our Cotton Court and Great Northern Street Studios are both fully occupied at the moment, but we do have a couple of spaces available in our Hill St studios, get in touch if you would like more info

https://blickstudios.org/contact/

- - BLICK CREATIVE TALK: Maureen Laverty Product and Fashion Designer - -

Join us on 5th May for our next Creative Talk with Blick Resident @maureenselinalaverty as part of @belfastdesignwk

ABOUT MAUREEN:

Maureen is a product and fashion designer, and inclusive design researcher. She works on a variety of design meets disability projects. At the heart of her practice is the relationships that she builds with people’s diverse lived experiences. She believes in co-creating knowledge collaboratively to empower people to have ownership over how design can improve their quality of life. She carries this ethos into product development through embodied ethnography and participatory prototyping with those who resonate with the design solutions in their everyday life.

In the last year Maureen has relocated back to Belfast after almost a decade working with inclusive participatory design methods in Norway. Currently she lectures part-time at NCAD in Dublin within their Department of Design for Body & Environment. She guides students through human-centred design practices and speculative future fashion systems that care for each other and our environment.

ABOUT HER TALK:

Maureen will talk about her practice-based PhD research that explored the sensory experience of clothing with neurodivergent communities. Clothing is traditionally conceived as a two-dimensional static visual statement; a conception that is at odds with the dynamic actions it mediates in our everyday lives. The outputs of such a practice are garments that restrict and fight against the body, causing sensory overload and discomfort. This is a universal experience, but particularly heightened for neurodivergent individuals. Maureen will share the results of an extensive ethnographic study on how clothing sensations are experienced by her research participants. She will then discuss alternative design processes that prioritise the tactile, sonic, and kinaesthetic senses.

EVENT DETAILS:
DATE: Tues 5th May
TIME: 7pm
VENUE: Blick Hill St

Book through the events page of our website or www.belfastdesignweek.com

Throughout the month of March on behalf of the Rural Community Network, in the beautiful Hill of The O`Neill & Ranfurly House Dungannon we had the best time facilitating a series of 4 training sessions to support participants to have more confidence when organising rural heritage events. 

Big thanks to Emma Mc Aleer from Rural Community Network for inviting us to facilitate this course and to all the great participants for coming along. 

It was such a lovely and welcoming group of people and very inspiring for us to find out about some of the amazing things happening in rural areas of NI. 

We came away with lots of ideas and inspiration for the future for work projects and day trips to explore places such as Lough Neagh, Coalisland, the Sperrins and Portadown.

Our second blog sharing insights from the Retail Ready Fieldtrip for Ulster University Enterprise Placement Year Students we hosted in October 2025. We previously shared some of our best insights from the day from Linzi Rooney, here we are sharing those from Emma Johnston founder of @hunterpaperco  a letterpress stationery brand and stationery store located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

01. Create products with a function. Emma suggested creating products that have a function to increase your sales and stockists.

02. Focus on your packaging. Emma echoed Linzi’s thoughts on our last retail ready blog about the value of packaging when creating a successful product for retail.

03. Visit tradeshows for merchandising tips to set your products apart from others.

04. Consider sending physical samples to potential retailers so they can properly experience your product and your commitment to your creative business.

05. Emma suggested Faire https://www.faire.com/en-gb/ was a great resource for researching competitors pricing.

You can read the full blog on our website link below and in profile
https://blickstudios.org/blog/retail-ready-insights-for-creatives-from-emma-jackson-founder-of-hunter-paper-co/

- - BLICK CREATIVE RESOURCES - -

Some weekend reading - ‘Rebuild - How To Thrive In The New Kindness Economy’ by Mary Portas is our second book recommendation by Linzi Rooney founder of Born and Bred during our Retail Ready Fieldtrip visit to Born and Bred October last year. Born and Bred sells unique gifts and accessories, created by artisans and craftspeople in Northern Ireland.

About: Rebuild - How To Thrive In The New Kindness Economy

Retail and brand expert Mary Portas argues that over the past thirty years the business of what we buy has been dominated by the biggest, fastest and cheapest. But those values no longer resonate. We’ve come to realize that more doesn’t equal better. How we live, buy and sell is changing. We are all ready to put people and planet before profit. The post-pandemic era is all about care, respect and understanding the implications of what we’re doing. This ‘Kindness Economy’ is a new value system where in order to thrive businesses must understand the fundamental role they play in the fabric of our lives. They need to add, not just grow, balancing commerce with social progress. Because we don’t just want to buy from brands – we want to buy into them. Full of expert insight and invaluable advice, Rebuild is about resetting the dial. It gives business people pause for thought about how to make money, as well as the practical tools to build back post-pandemic. And it speaks to anyone who votes with the pound in their pocket – all of us who, with social progress in mind, want to spend our money differently and better.

https://blickstudios.org/resources/book-inspiration-rebuild-how-to-thrive-in-the-new-kindness-economy-by-mary-portas/

- - BLICK CREATIVE RESOURCES - -

`Work Like A Woman` was recommended as a source of book inspiration for creatives by Linzi Rooney founder of Born and Bredwhich sells unique gifts and accessories, created by artisans and craftspeople in Northern Ireland during our 2025 Retail Ready Fieldtrip for Ulster University Enterprise Placement Year Students.

About How To Work Like A Woman

Are you ready to be your best self at work? Packed with advice, tips and decades of business experience from Mary Portas, this is a book for every one of us: whatever level you are, wherever you work. It’s about calling time on alpha culture and helping every one of us to be happier, more productive and collaborative.

Visit the resources section of our website for more info

- - SHARED CREATIVE WORKSPACE AVAILABLE - -

We have dedicated deskspaces available in our beautiful Hill St studios

– £165 per calendar month

– All inclusive prices (rent, rates, utilities, broadband) no VAT

– Minimum 3 months contract then on a rolling monthly contract

– 1 months rent required as a deposit

– Cathedral Quarter location

Email christine@blickstudios.org for more info or to arrange a viewing or visit our website for more info link below and in profile

https://blickstudios.org/locations/hill-street-belfast/

Happy St Patrick`s Day here`s our latest roundup of funding and opportunities for NI Creatives

01. Belfast Stories Community Grants 
Closing date: 14th April

02. Heritage Crafts – Fashion Textile Maker of the Year Award 2026

03. Open call for applications for the 2026 RDS Craft Awards
Deadline: 13th April

04. Bank of Ideas Funding 
Closing date: 23rd March

05. Garden Show Ireland Craft NI Craft Village Call-Out

06. The Ampersand Foundation – Annual Grant Applications Open 

07. The UK Artist Touring Fund is now open for Phase One applications.
Deadline: 11:59pm on Friday 20th March

08. Rowntree’s `Free the Fund` Community Grant Programme

09. Alleyway Transformation Fund

10. Belfast Design Week - Get Involved

Full listings including links on our website link below and in profile

https://blickstudios.org/blog/blick-creative-roundup/

Way back in October last year we organised a Retail Ready Fieldtrip for Ulster University Enterprise Placement Year Students.

With the students all learning about how to get their creative products ready for retail from Linzi Rooney founder of Born and Bred, Emma Johnston founder of Hunter Paper Co and Rachel McIlgorm founder of Story Box NI.

It has taken us a while but we took lots of notes on the day and have written up some of our best insights from the day, that we thought might be useful for other creatives on a similar journey. Starting with Linzi Rooney founder of @wearebornandbred_ which sells unique gifts and accessories, created by artisans and craftspeople in Northern Ireland.

01. Create a strong brand and social media presence.

Linzi really emphasised the value of creating a strong brand and social media presence for your creative business to make you more attractive as a potential supplier for retailers. For her shop she said brand is quite often more important than the product itself.

02. Streamline your production processes.

To ensure you can create your products at the volumes required for your chosen retailer.

03. Work out your pricing to take into account retailers margins.

Try and charge the same price directly to clients as shops are. Don’t undercut retailers by charging wholesale costs directly to customers or if you want to charge more make sure you have a reason for it.

04. Focus on your packaging.

Packaging is as important to many customers as the product itself.

05. Tell your story.

Through both your branding, packaging and social media to set your creative business apart from high street alternatives.

06. Linzi also really recommended the following books for inspiration.

Mary Portas Rebuild and Work Like A Woman.

For @irish_designweek 17th – 21st November 2025 with @belfastdesignwk we collaborated with @futureislandisland on an event an exhibition on the theme Islands of Design. The exhibition was showcased in @belfastschoolofart

Some lovely colourful pics of our collaborative workshop in @kitschsistersbelfast as part of Irish Design Week last Nov with @belfastdesignwk @onebite.design and @futureislandisland for both Belfast School of Art and Queen`s University of Belfast Architecture students!

https://blickstudios.org/projects/onebite-student-design-workshop-irish-design-week/