Getting ready for the Country Life Fair with Bagmaker Emma Cornes
The Country Life Fair September 2014
** Buy your tickets for the Country Life Fair
Emma Cornes Tweed bags are made in Cheshire. If you’ve been watching ITV1 documentaries recently, you might recognise Country Life Fair exhibitors Emma Cornes and her husband, Pete. They’ve been part of the NFU Mutual’s on-going TV advertising campaign.
On TV you can see them designing and making tweed bags from their Cheshire countryside home – all of which are destined for the Country Life Fair.
Emma Cornes, Dug their Glen of Imaal Terrier and Pete at home in the Cheshire countryside
The stock challenge
As a small business, the biggest challenge we face getting ready for a big event like the Country Life Fair is making sure we’ve got enough of the right bags. And of course getting those bags made in time. Up until recently we used to make every bag at home ourselves, but thankfully we now get help from an amazing workshop in the Midlands. But we’ve still had a mammoth few weeks of cutting tweed and finishing leather. We’ve just got our fingers crossed that all the sewing work is finished on time…
Emma in her Cheshire bagmaking workshop
Based on our sales at events and through our online shop we’re getting quite good at making an educated guess about what might sell well at each different event or fair we attend. Will our best seller at the Fair be our popular Kirsty Bag, like this one in Lewis Tweed? Or will it be our Hopper and Fairweather Bags that people at the Country Life Fair will love?
Making the most of the space
We’re proud to be taking a space in the Grand Marquee at the Fair. For us, it’s a big investment to be there. There’s the cost of being there, but also all the time and effort that goes into planning and being at the event. That means we’ve got to make the most of our time there and every inch of the stand.
** Buy your tickets for the Country Life Fair
For more details on Emma, her bags and her story, you can:
* Visit www.emmacornes.co.uk
