SEPTEMBER 2019 /NEXT 61
‘THERE ARE SO
MANY THINGS
AROUND ME THAT
INSPIRE ME...
TRAVELLING, ART...
JUST ALL OF IT’
suffered. With the nancial pressure, we
had to let staff go, and we didn’t have that
many. In hindsight, I think we probably
tried to grow a bit too fast. We had a
production manager a couple of days a
week, a junior, a machinist part-time, and
it was just not feasible. It was so tough,
having to let them go. So then it was just
me and one other, and we did everything.
Having two children and being pregnant
with my third, it was really hard.
Did you ever want to
give up?
There were de nitely times of wanting to
give up. Just thinking, what’s the point?
But our amazing suppliers, machinists and
all the people supporting us along the way
operated almost like banks, to oat you
through those tough times.
How did you manage
starting a business and
raising a family?
I had my youngest, Gertie, with me for the
rst year, as well as juggling two other
children with work and life, as most
people do, but my workroom was at home,
so I was always around. Since Gertie was
six weeks old we imported help in the
form of au pairs, and we couldn’t have
done it without them.
Ten years on, how is
your family now?
Our twins have just turned 11 – Ned, my
son, and his sister Olya – and they are in
their last year at primary school. Then
Gertie is seven. Olya is in a wheelchair –
she has cerebral palsy. She has her
challenges, but in our family they’re all the
same and we treat them the same. We
really push for her to row her own boat
and be her own person. They are full on,
and Simon said the other day, “Who’d
have thought we could have three children
so dif cult?” But looking at each other,
we’re both pretty full on.Having twins sounds
hard enough on its own!
Oh totally! Our son at the moment, oh boy,
he’s a piece of work! Out of three, there’s
always one at any given time. But being 11,
they’re on the cusp of that tweeny age, so
there’s a lot of talking back, lots of sass. Olya
will say things like, “Don’t you talk to me
like that!” I’m like, “Wow excuse me?!” But
you de nitely see yourself in them. It’s full
on, but it’s great, I wouldn’t change it.Is Simon still an integral
part of the business?He joined a company about a year and
a half ago called Previously Unavailable.
He works nearby, so he’s quite often here
for lunch, but he’s stepped back from
where it was at the start. He was really
involved in organising the whole retail side
because he had a strong retail background,
and he was working in the store at times.
He’s de nitely still a major part in terms of
marketing and that sort of side, and
everything that’s going on, we talk about it
all the time. There’s probably never »Q&A
For Ingrid it’s always been about
beautifiul fabrics, construction and
fit, and attention to detail.