Hello Flamingo says hello to Newhaven
With help from Locate East Sussex, Hello Flamingo, an award-winning creative design and props manufacturer from Brighton, has moved its production facilities to Newhaven.
With triple the size of our old workshop we’ve been able to expand and make the place our own!
Paula BestfordCreative Director
Hello Flamingo
Hello opportunity
Hello Flamingo creates wonderfully unique immersive displays and props for clients such as Joseph, Barbour and Ted Baker, that stand out and make shopping and exhibitions a more interactive and exciting experience. Co-founders Paula Bestford and Roo Solis, started the company five years ago to meet a growing need for more experiential retail experiences.
Paula recently told international design magazine, Konsept Projeler:
Consumers need to be able to understand the story, product offer, and styling extremely quickly. It’s important to keep the creative concept and product story focused and uncluttered’
Hello quality
People value great quality design, and their success proves that, whether in the events industry or in retail. Self-funded from the start, it has managed to build a varied portfolio quickly, investing in new machinery and completing small and large scale projects with companies like De Beers, Habitat and Playstation.
Building a reputation for quality design and finishes, Hello Flamingo has been able to offer competitive services in-house to create permanent spaces or pop-up shops. From design and project management to the manufacturing of permanent installations or temporary window displays, they turn clients’ ideas into reality.
Emily Maben of Penhalgion’s commented: ‘…From transforming the roof terrace at Harvey Nichols into a magical garden to creating fragrance display units and window schemes for our boutiques…(they obtained) the perfect mix of creative and commercial’.
Hello impact
Recently Hello Flamingo was nominated for four awards at Virtual Merchandising & Display Awards 2019, working with brands such as Lispy, Floral Street and Selfridges. Winning in one of the categories for Best Christmas Window, the ‘To The Moon And Back’ campaign for the shopping brand Oasis, suppling the key prop moons for their flagship store and LED versions for other key locations.
Reflecting on the reality of the post-Covid world, 2020 is different for Hello Flamingo, but momentum has returned as retail starts to grow again. Hello Flamingo did not rest despite being in ‘hibernation’ during the lockdown period, it seized the opportunity and capacity to effect positive change.
Utilising their expertise and their workshop, the team managed to fundraise nearly £3,000 for the raw materials to create thousands of face shields for NHS hospitals, working at no profit with volunteer freelancers.
Hello future
Having outgrown their premises and turning down projects due to hindered projection time, Hello Flamingo needed to find a new home to realise its growth potential and take on larger scale projects both in terms of ambition and volume.
Finding a promising new unit in the Eastside Business Park, Newhaven, Locate East Sussex acted as a crucial connector, assisting the company with the right business planning tools, making their move less disruptive over the lockdown period. With the new unit, they will be able offer new inhouse production facilities, increase output, and better showcase their work to clients.
Locate East Sussex was also able to help them accelerate their plans, opening the door for access to further funding through the East Sussex County Council’s East Sussex Invest programme. The match-funding facilitated the shell’s conversion to a modern manufacturing standards outfit, allowing them to appoint six people locally into full time positions.
Hello Flamingo are excited by the future, with their experienced, fully qualified team preparing the first few orders that are coming in, and making sure every design is high quality and on-brand.