Meeting Sally from Konoc

One more year I wanted to get into the homes of three wonderful women and that they tell us a little more about their family and their way of life and thus be able to offer you some inspiration and a moment of reading for this Christmas.

I met Sally a while ago, she wrote me and told me that the magazine Real Homes had published in a beautiful report of her house and my dolls came out in it! Imagine the illusion! When I saw the photos, I not only fell in love with her house but I also fell in love with her brand, Konoc. Also, this fall in London I had the pleasure of meeting Sally in person during the “Junior Magazine Awards” ceremony and she is a lovely person. That is why I wanted to meet her and know her a little more with this interview.

  

 

Hi, Sally! First of all, thank you so much for letting us to get into your house and for this little interview. There are a lot of fans of Konoc but for those who don´t know you, please, introduce your family (how many kids you have, how old are they, where do you live…).

My name is Sally Tooth and I’m the creative director of KONOC, a British leather accessories brand. My partner is Jay and we have two kids Rocco, who is 6 and Maddi, 4.

What did you do for a living before creating Konoc? Why did you decide to create your own brand?

Me and Jay met in Thailand about 10 years ago, while I was living in Koh Samui (one of the islands in the south of Thailand). I lived there for 8 years in total and was working out there as an independent hair and make up artist for international weddings. We experimented with hand sewing leather, Jay taught me, from his little experience and we very much ‘learnt along the way’ while selling our wares at the local night markets, but at that time, it was very much just a hobby for both of us. When we moved to England 4 years ago, I was heavily pregnant with Maddi (our second child) and the thought of working back here made me feel extremely nervous as having lived and worked in Thailand ever since travelling there straight after uni, I knew your typical 9-5 job was just not for me and with no real experience I wouldn’t have even known where to start. So I knew working for myself was something I wanted to pursue, but I wasn’t entirely sure in what direction to take it! We launched Konoc in 2016 with the idea that I could slowly build the brand up in and around raising the kids. It was definitely a slow start, as I’m sure many other #smallbiz owners can relate to. It’s really tough at the beginning, especially when you are doing everything yourself. Not only was I self taught on the creative side, but learning how to “run a business” didn’t come ‘easily’ and I’m definitely still learning today! I think having your own brand, is a constant learning curve and for me, the Konoc ‘brand model’ today is very different to what I envisaged it to be 5 years ago. I think the brand naturally involved over time and in some ways I let it guide me, rather than me forcing in a certain direction.

So I leave you with Sally and I hope you are inspired by her wonderful family!

Read the full interview HERE