Last week Rebecca and I set ourselves the fun challenge of asking each other 5 surprise questions. It was truly a testament to our friendship and all the time we've spent together building Forivor that we knew what would tickle the other and peak our interests. We found out how many sheep there are in Wales and what our favourite childhood books are.
Making the film made me realise how long we've known each other and everything we've experienced together since we started the company (a very early picture of us together just about to launch Forivor below). When Rebecca asked me to become part of Forivor we barely knew each other and I'd originally been commissioned by her to bring her Enchanted Forest idea to life through an illustration. Thinking back now it seems quite impulsive that we decided to become business partners after only meeting a few times but I'm so glad that we did as I always feel that our paths were destined to cross.
Working together means supporting each other’s different needs, visions and all the curve balls that life throws at you along the way in this personal game of life which inevitably enters one’s professional one. We've supported each other through the big stuff like breast cancer and break ups and the smaller everyday stuff like making each other laugh during a photoshoot when it’s raining, cold and your feet are wet (please see photo below for reference!). We talk to each other at 11.30pm at night about a website issue whilst also talking about bad news we've just received or a show we're enjoying watching. To be able to support each other and then enjoy the highs of business and say thank you to the person that’s helped you get there is beautiful.
I feel very proud that we both continue to strive to make Forivor a company that sets out to be the best that it can. By best I mean taking time to create something we genuinely feel will be cherished by families for a long time to come and treating everyone we work alongside with respect. Finding joy in the details and the worlds we create. I always follow the advice of much loved illustrator and author of The 'Tiger who can to Tea' Judith Kerr that you shouldn't ever make anything you wouldn't buy yourself.
Over the years working in different industries from hospitality to education and then heritage before Forivor, I've realised that work in a professional sense usually ends up being about the people you're surrounded with. If you sit in an office with inspiring, kind and supportive people chances are you're really going to like your job. The beauty of choosing your business partner is that ultimately you're choosing who you are going to spend the most amount of your time with. We feel very lucky that a chance introduction led us to each other.