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beyond the valley
Beyond the Valley is a new creative community in the centre of London that supports and promotes emerging talent across the fashion, art and design industries. The starting point is its not-for-profit store next to London's famous Carnaby St., providing young designers with a centrally located retail, gallery and studio space where they can test out new products and sell at affordable prices without getting exploited by unfair commission rates.
The founders of Beyond the Valley, Kristjana Williams, Jo Jackson and Kate Harwood, met while studying Graphic Design and Fashion with Marketing degrees at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design. As they were graduating in 2003, Jo 'borrowed' a vacant shop unit in Covent Garden and opened an unofficial graduate shop to sell her classmates' degree show work and products. From the success of this project the three decided to join forces and make a permanent version of the store because they were frustrated at seeing exciting new product designs, works of art, and fashions fail to achieve their commercial potential due to lack of exposure to their potential markets.
Early in their planning, Kristjana and Jo visited ECCA for advice on starting and running a business. In October 2004 they opened their shop just off Carnaby St. in Soho, stocking over 120 products covering fashion, fine art, product design, music and film, ranging from furniture and illustrations to ceramics and jewellery. Within six months they had achieved the level of sales they had forecast for their first year of trading, and had been featured in almost every major media publication.
Within a few months of opening their first shop, they returned to ECCA for more advice on forming a not-for-profit company, VAT and employing people. The partners had decided to concentrate on developing their business as a social enterprise, retaining its original remit to promote the work of new designers. In April 2005 Beyond the Valley won the Shell LiveWIRE London South Central Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition and opened a temporary store in Helsinki the following month. By September 2005 they had relocated their main store to larger premises, also in the Carnaby St. area.
This unique space is a stepping-stone for the community's 100+ emerging designers, providing a platform to showcase and test out new ideas before developing them for larger scale production and general distribution. New products now in-store range from fashion, books, jewellery, illustration, furniture, wallpaper to design products & accessories. All items are produced in limited quantities.
Beyond the Valley now offers further support with in-store exhibition and studio spaces for new designers and artists, as well as providing manufacturing/distribution assistance, and opportunities through their design agency and international events.
They are always looking for new designers to join the store and community: designers should email examples of their work to store@beyondthevalley.com. They also have a gallery space for hire: any artists wishing to use this space should contact Jo directly jojackson@beyondthevalley.com with a short proposal of their exhibition.
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