When I am looking at other websites I often wonder about the people and the business behind it. Take our site for example, are we a one man band working from a kitchen table or a multi million pound corporation? Well, we’re some where in between.
The website is run from a real jewellery shop in the historic quarter of Lincoln. At street level is the shop whilst the floors above are devoted to the website. This has given us a big advantage over our competitors since we have most items in stock and have first hand experience of what we are selling. Also, lots of people can come and visit us, try things on and have a chat.
Did you know that the electricity we use in our business is generated by a wind turbine and is carbon neutral!
But what about the website itself, what does it take to create and run one like this? Let me introduce the members of the band.....
Ine : (Web) : Packing, phones, emails, customer testamonials, copy.
Michael : (Business manager) : Packing, phones, emails, special orders, packaging and supplies.
Lingy : Packing, eBay, Amazon, stock control.
Jos : Packing.
Andrew : Website production - php, mysql, html scripting. www.amorphic.co.uk
Simon : Graphics.
John : Additional html scripting.
Rebecca : (Shop manager) : Day to Day running of shop; stock control, displays & customer relations.
Myself, John : (Greed) (Owner) : Website design, functionality, story boards). Photography and digital post production, copy, business development and the occasional brilliant idea.
Then add £250,000 of stock, a gigantic rack server in docklands ,10 computers, 6 printers, a photographic studio, and a dozen little boxes with flashing lights that I can't remember what they do and you’ve got yourself a busy web business.
So that’s us, add the itunes in the background and a big wipe board for urgent orders and the picture is complete.
Thanks, John Greed.
Who is John Greed?
John studied Product Design at the Central School of Art & Design in London. After graduating, he worked as a prototype model maker in London, Antibes and Ljubiana.
Returning to the UK he set up his own studio in Lincoln, UK to work as a sculptor using materials like carbon fibre and exotic resins. He was soon selling to The Conran Shop, Heals and Liberties and his work was regularly used in films and fashion shoots.
To supplement his income John had a small shop attached to his workshop selling interesting gadgets and jewellery. Eventually John smelt the coffee and moved entirely into jewellery retail.
His love of new materials and reinterpretations of the old ones has really been the driving force of the business. Always on the lookout for new possibilities and designs, John continues to push the boundaries of jewellery design.
Today John still lives and works in the historic quarter of Lincoln and still loves his work as if everyday was his first.
