Welcome to Studio Hop and thanks for stopping by!
In case you were wondering, Studio Hop goes all the way back to 2005 when founders Sam & Kikiyo took the plunge and started a market stall in Spitalfields on a wing and a prayer. Our nights were spent designing, creating and making handmade jewellery whilst our days involved persuading gentle city-folk and the odd tourist to purchase our creations.
Fast forward a few years, and after oodles of hustling and hard work, we had opened shops in Camden Lock, Portobello Road, Gabriel’s Wharf and Hay’s Galleria – all fantastic London locations with history, charm and character. We took to the road and exhibited at trade shows around the country taking on stockists from Truro to Tasmania convincing shop owners along the way that their premises really weren’t complete without the latest range from Studio Hop.
Around 2014 we realised that the retail landscape was changing a lot quicker than we were (although we were definitely looking a lot older by now!) Despite both being avowed technophobes, happiest when armed only with paper and pen, even we could see that the world of retail was moving online and probably not coming back. With this in mind, we took courses in photography and photoshop and began to move Studio Hop online.
Our range started to develop in new ways. Since our early days, we’d always been happiest designing and making fashionable accessories with a twist but now we wanted to offer the option of personalisation to make our ranges more suitable for online gifting. Whilst scarves and jewellery will always remain at our core we’ve had such great fun expanding into baby, print and homeware ranges also.
In 2015, we discovered two like minded partners in Etsy and Not On the High Street. Both platforms inspired by giving a showcase to the small creative business. We’re delighted to say that we now have over 8000 5* online reviews and many, many more happy customers.
We moved to our current studio in Brockley, (the sunniest part of SE London) in 2016. We have a small warehouse downstairs for stock picking (quickly, because it’s always, always cold) then a studio on the first floor for design work, photography and the personalisation of all our pieces. We started with one dye-sublimation printer and a heat press for personalising scarves. Now we have an embroidery machine, counter-cutter, two laser guided engraving machines for metal work, a hot foil press, a wood engraver and everything you need to hand-felt personalised scarves. There is not so much space upstairs these days!
As everything is done by our fantastic team under the one roof we can get orders despatched on the same day if you order before 12pm and we guarantee that we give each and every order the care it deserves. Customer service has been at the heart of what we do since we first set up shop in 2005 and whether we see you in person or not, we see no reason to change things now!
We hope you’ve enjoyed hearing a little about the origins of Studio Hop and if you need any help then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
