Ana Isabel Fonseca

During the last five years I was trained in low heddle loom weaving, starting in a workshop with a professional craftswoman. I continue to train through specialized texts and continuous practice. With a more technical training, I have developed my work in the field of engineering, planning, team coordination, technical design, where I have also learned from the relationship with clients; however, I have always been in contact with creation and fashion.

My products are fashion accessories, shawls, scarves, textile creations made with top quality materials, exclusive, of very careful design and production.

Pholcidea Atelier is located on the slopes of the Gibijo and Arkamo mountains in the Arkamo-Gibijo-Arrastaria Special Nature Conservation Area of the Natura 2000 Network in Álava, in the north of Spain, and a site of Community Importance. The work environment is surrounded by nature, located 25 km from the capital, Vitoria, and close to the main road network, which brings it closer to the main capitals of the Basque Country and the neighbouring regions.

I am in the early stages of creating the business, while preparing the workshop-store and disseminating my work.

My business objectives are:

My goal is to grow progressively until achieving a way to make a living, a solid, profitable company, from the production of quality textile pieces, with the care and detail of things well done, and that, at the same time, present an attractive design in accordance with current fashion, fashion accessories with their own style, elegant and timeless.

In the short medium term, my objective is to expand the supply, new jobs and new functionalities, and complement my work with research in new materials and forms of artistic creation. All this requires progressive investment in equipment, human resources, training, and collaborations, within the line that defines my product.

Among my business objectives is the promotion of artisanal production as a cultural achievement that recovers traditions forgotten in time, while contributing to the development of more sustainable forms of production and life, capable of being carried out in rural environments of quality, contributing to its growth.

My learnings from the Crafting Business Programme:

I found this Program very complete, taught by professionals of recognized prestige, and of great interest, in collecting the basic business elements, unknown to me, such as the keys to the business plan itself, and for the identification of the target customer, the strategies and tactics for marketing, information to face internationalization, and the financial method, to see profitability, and determine the key factors that can condition it. All this to complement the work of creation and production in the artisan process, and that could also help me in making decisions in the planning and future development.

The study program will help me face the competitiveness of a business market as globalized and competitive as it is today.

In summary, the classes and the experience of other artisans have allowed me to confirm the aspects of my proposal, but the experience of the Program has allowed me to reflect, identify what it is missing, and move on to a business model, that is, on paper, all the aspects that must be taken into account, planned, studied and organized.

The Program has also provided multiple and useful tools in all areas of work.

My 5 top tips that I have learnt on this journey:

In line with the previous question, these tips have served to outline my initial proposal. Among many tips, I would highlight:

1.- Negotiation with suppliers and customers determines the profitability of the company. We must take care of it and control it, without losing sight of our interests. If the sale to the client is not direct, we must mark the limits.

2.- The artisan company has the uniqueness of the product, with a high production cost. We have to learn to value the product we offer as an object that transmits value, to know how to communicate it and to price it accordingly, without fear.

3.- Marketing serves to sell the same thing more expensively. The importance of applying marketing strategies and tactics, according to the image you want to convey and the audience you want to address.

4.-In product development, it is essential to adopt and communicate the new values of sustainable development, in the choice of materials, the production process, packaging and shipments.

5.- If our product is good, they will copy us. This is not the important thing and it is not an argument to hide our product, we must improve ourselves and innovate continuously.