Today’s young people are amazing, aren’t they? We’re constantly inspired by their awareness, resilience, initiative, and energy.
Here at Equipp, as well as creating inspiring gifts for teens, we’re passionate about celebrating today’s teens and love to highlight their achievements. We’ve worked with teenagers and young adults in various ways since launching our very first collection based on illustrations commissioned from Lilly, a young artist living and working near us in Hemel Hempstead. We now have our own teen research and design team, run competitions for young designers, and feature their writing on our blog.
Best of all, though, we love to find young entrepreneurs just starting out on their business journeys and sell their wonderful products on our website. We’ve placed the very first trade order with more than one of these awesome young people and it brings us absolute joy each time.
We’d like to introduce you to some of these talented youngsters. Herts, Beds and Bucks is home to some true creative geniuses!
El Illustrates
Ellie Mackinnon lives in Milton Keynes and specialises in fashion illustration. She did a fashion design degree and uses her love of clothes and design to create fashion-themed art prints. We especially love that Ellie’s super-stylish illustrations are combined with upbeat quotes that offer encouragement and enhance positivity.
Her 2021 collection is inspired by current trends and is defined by a palette of dusky pinks, muted denim tones, and a spectrum of soft greys, enhanced with warm skin tones. The hand-drawn lettering adds a unique touch.
Check out Ellie’s latest collection here
Shady Beach
We’ve been working with Darcey and Ed since the launch of their business last year, while Darcy was living at home in Hertfordshire during lockdown. They’re university students with a passion for travelling and aim to create a business that they can run while enjoying a mobile life around the UK. Truly the dream…
They up-cycle fishing line found on the Dorset coast to create their colourful, handmade beaded jewellery and sunglass cords. With sustainability being a focal point, they also scavenge local charity shops to use unwanted jewellery in their designs.
Shady Beach have created an exclusive collection for Equipp and it’s been a huge success. We recommend Shady Beach as a brand to watch – you heard it here first!
Check them out here
Bee The Light
Teenager Olive is the thoughtful, creative talent behind new Bee The Light beeswax candles brand.
“I called my beeswax candle brand Bee The Light to encourage young people like me to follow a path to ignite their inner light” Olive
Olive hand rolls her candles from pure beeswax and is passionate about only including natural ingredients. Beeswax is the most purifying wax available, and it has a beautifully subtle fragrance, perfect for relaxation.
We love Olive’s approach to life and to business and are proud to stock her gorgeous candles on our site. We wish her every success with her brand-new business.
“I know how dark things can become but there is a light that never goes out – you just have to look for it” Olive
Check out Olive’s candles here
We hope you’ve enjoyed meeting these local young entrepreneurs. If you know a young creator, why not encourage them to get in touch with us and show us their stuff? We’d absolutely love to see it.
About Equipp
We’re Louise and Anna and the extra “p” in Equipp is for our philosophy: finding great gifts that make teens happy shouldn’t be so hard. We don’t over-complicate things; we make simple but stylish gifts that teenagers will love.
Our collections are designed to subtly tell teenagers that they’re pretty great as they are. But we also believe in letting them know they can dream big, and that they can strive to be the best version of themselves.
Website: https://equipp.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/equippthem/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/equippthem/