The friend of a friend who knows somebody who also runs a craft business; but hear! “this one is really nice!” (the girl or the business she runs, you might ask, well – both really!). 

We got to know each other over a glass of wine, met up again for coffee and dinner and found that we had something more in common than a nationality, a couple of kids and a life in beautiful Wicklow: we shared a passion for creating things for the home and accessories – specifically using cottons, pure wool, naturals, genuine and trendy stuff!

Both of us think we are pretty clued in when it comes to trend developments and we had been watching how chunky wool had started to make its way into the home design magazines and social media – but we could not find any in Ireland. No beautiful chunky wool available in any shops, but we were dying to get our hands on it. 

We did some research and before we knew we had ordered some merino roving wool, made our first chunky knits and introduced them to markets around Wicklow and on Etsy under our brand “Olannmor”, which is Irish for “Big Wool”. That was back in 2017.

It is now September 2019, we have moved on a few steps and learned a lot along the way! Our very own website www.olannmor.com launched in October 2018 and our sales started to pick up in the run up to Christmas –thank goodness we have a lovely and growing customer base.

We know by now that our business drive is serious and that we don’t “do this just for fun”; because fun goes a long way, but the investments need to be paid for – and we do like to earn an income! 

As a team, we can push each other – and at times that is really necessary. We have developed from attending relatively small markets to also going out to reach a wider public; like the Dublin Flea Christmas market in 2018;we got a stall there and it was a really encouraging success! 

This year we have challenged ourselves and booked a stand at Gifted 2019 in the RDS.

We love doing our workshops and teach how to knit beautiful chunky blankets, cushions and this year we are also adding wreaths to the options. We have learned that workshops are a great way to get in touch with our customers, sharing the fun of making something so beautiful yourself. Creating beautiful products with pure wool and natural materials that do not damage the environment is at the core of what we do.

Now you know how Olannmor came to life. Next month, I’ll write a piece on the beauty of real, 100%, soft chunky merino wool!

Cheers! 

Frederique – team Olannmor