Welcome to REVOLUTION; A message from our Founder

I'm absolutely delighted to kick off our blog after the exciting launch of our website last week. Coinciding with easing of lock-down it really has been an invigorating few days for all. Finally today we are free to work, play and relax together, visit restaurants, spas, gyms, events and most importantly support local businesses and small retailers who have taken the burden of this lock down financially.

Charlton House, Somerset. I took great pleasure this morning in visiting my local gym & spa at Charlton House, Somerset, followed by a quick work lunch (indoors!) at the Frome flyer. Classy I know, but everywhere else was fully booked and actually, it was just nice to eat indoors! Its great to see small businesses in Somerset blooming and well supported again.

Like many small businesses, I have personally spent the last 6 months preparing to launch REVOLUTION pretty much under wraps. Negotiating lock-down rules, face masks and zoom meetings we are now ready to go with our beautiful Studio located in Frome. It's an amazing place to work from, a hub of creatives, entrepreneurs and freelancers with a wonderfully supportive hosting team. What I love most about it is the cool interiors (of course) that just work wonders with our stock. We are looking forward to many open studio events as early as August 2021 so watch this space! In the meantime you can always visit us by appointment and is where you will be collecting your bargainous interior goods from once you have shopped online.

Our studio in Frome

And what can I say about Frome? What a beautiful, vibrant independent town. In the short time we have been here we have seen huge support from the local residents and businesses and it is clear that small businesses thrive here. The cobbled streets are lined with independent shops, restaurants, bars and cafes. Luckily I need not brave the UK weather to start trying them all!

We not only have our studio here but we also have our warehousing here at Your Storage Space. A local, family run enterprise who are keen to support local business. They have bent over backwards to welcome and accommodate us (we need quite a bit of space) and we hope to stay with them as our business grows. In fact we are 100% committed to using as many local services as possible. Not just to reduce our carbon footprint but to contribute to the local economy, support independent business and help to support what we have all missed this lock-down, real people, real faces and unique experiences. I don't know about you, but I am somewhat bored of Amazon! We are very much looking forward to meeting everyone and really integrating with and sharing with our community.

Cheap Street, Frome, Somerset.

So why did I set up REVOLUTION? Well, its hard for me to keep this brief but I started my career as an Interior designer when I was in my early 20s. Its been a whirlwind of a ride, from running a market stall in Trowbridge, to my own studio in Bradford on Avon, then helping other local interiors businesses in the Bath area. My final stop was as Head of Design for Homewings, a start-up interiors company based in London intent on disrupting the Commercial Interior Design industry where I still work today on a consulting basis. REVOLUTION somewhat spawned before that, and with free time on my hands during COVID (I can never sit still) it seemed like the perfect time to start thinking about it. One thing led to another and now I have the most amazing team, studio and community around me. I love interior design, I have always been arty, doing well in creative subjects at school, but I am also fiercely independent and entrepreneurial. I was the one at school bossing everyone else around on projects! I've always known that leadership and the creativity needed to grow a small business was somewhere I would thrive.

Commercial Project for large AirBnB operator, London (Designed by Lois) One thing though, that has always bugged me, is I have always felt somewhat out of place or uncomfortable in the commercial world. I am an entrepreneur, yet I have always had a strong interest in business ethics, environmental issues and social justice. There is not much in the interior design world (there are some) that directly addresses issues that I care about. I do feel a strong need to do something not just to be profitable, but to make a difference. I think if you are like me no job simply for the pursuit of profit will be enough. In fact, I do believe that if I were profitable enough just to pay my wonderful teams wages, and enough for us to re-invest in new ideas, any spare would be completely unnecessary in my view. I do not need much but the greed that we are sometimes unconscious of (let alone its effects) is the inherent problem we face.

Over consumerism is causing not only unacceptable waste, but in my view it seems exceptionally cruel when so many go without. Think about shopping online, or even in store now - how much do you take back or return? Are you aware that many retailers will not re-sell returns? In which case that item will often go to waste. Would you be so frivolous if you saw or knew the magnitude of it, saw it incinerated or worse were able to find out who made that piece and the time and effort they put in for it just to be rejected, and then thrown away or unused. What about people that do not have access to nice clothes, furniture, accessories? It is careless.

That is what REVOLUTION is for. I saw an opportunity to buy returns, ex-stock, ex-display at knock down prices (The retailers agree, it's better than burning it). We take it as it comes, boxed, un-boxed, wrong box, unwanted, tiny scratch, used once in a showroom.... In other words PERFECTLY GOOD STUFF. We then sell them on for often 70% less than the full retail price and I can guarantee you, because quite often I have used the exact product in my own designs, that it is high quality, usually un-affordable high end stuff. Whats not to like?

Many of my friends have said, oh so you are like TK Maxx? Yes, we are, but way cooler. We also donate goods to local community projects and charities, and our Lovely Dina Chehrazi will be setting to work on that straight away; I am sure she will have a lot to share with you all. On that note, I should probably introduce my extremely talented team. You can meet them all on our Team Page

The REVOLUTION team: Jake Marshall, Hollie Bishop, Myself, Robbi Desport & Dina Chehrazi The lock-down has been devastating for many, with thousands of people losing their jobs and livelihoods. What struck me also was the problem many talented young people face in light of the pandemic. Imagine graduating from university or college and entering the job market now. According to a report in March 2021 in the Guardian, younger workers under 25 account for 60% of job losses in the past year. Devastating when there is so much talent to be found among our younger generation. For example, I have no clue how to use Instagram! Cue 20 year old on hand to help.

We heard about the Kickstarter scheme and decided to apply. Since, with the support of the Government and Somerset Chamber of Commerce, we have created 3 job placements for three exceptional young people. The standard of the applications we received was extremely high (which begs the question why these talented, experienced young people are out of work) but it did not prepare me for the determination, ability and quite frankly fun that these wonderful young people have brought to REVOLUTION. I am extremely grateful and lucky to have them and we really do have fun together; working as a team and supporting one another, be it a creative project or lugging boxes round the warehouse! I am so excited about what we can do together. The last thing I want to talk about is our beautiful product and service. I promise I am not lying when I tell you this stuff is unbelievable value.

At the moment we are just serving members from the Frome and the surround area, covering most of Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset. Items go fast, because when we receive goods, we get what we are given and cannot order more. This is someone else's unwanted stock remember. Once it is gone, that's it!

We very much hope to expend sometime in the future, offer national delivery or perhaps have another REVOLUTION hub open in another part of the country, but for now our focus is 100% on the South West and our local community. Having said that if you want to visit us from further afield, please do!

Make sure you sign up to become a member which is the only way to get access to our stock, as well as hearing about exciting collaborations, projects and places we have donated to, because that's a big part of what we do too.

Until then, take care and hope to see you soon. Lois Sheen,

Founder, REVOLUTION x