The day before The Henries event (which took place last Thursday), work started with a vengeance on a massive revamp of Belly Button Design’s shop in Manchester’s Burton Road. While wielding a sledgehammer to help bash out walls, Giles Warrell, (husband of Belly Button founder Rachel Hare) spotted a page from an historic Progressive Greetings edition making its way into the skip. It featured Rachel on stage at The Henries 2003 (next to Bruce Forsyth who hosted the awards event that year), collecting the first Henries award Belly Button ever won – for the publisher’s Valentine’s range, which evolved into Paloma.
Last week then, history repeated itself as Rachel took to The Henries’ stage to collect the trophy for Best Christmas Box for its Paloma luxury box.
“What a coincidence that we came across a reminder of our first Henries win as we refit one of our flagship stores just before we received a 2017 Henries award for the continuing evolution of our Paloma range!” a delighted Rachel told PG Buzz.
Meanwhile, with another Henries trophy in its collection for the progression of its Paloma flagship brand, so work is well underway on the evolution of its new look flagship store, located in the heart of West Didsbury.
The new look store is not only likely to go down well with loyal customers, but will also provide the Belly Button team with an invaluable route to test products the market for the publisher’s many retailer customers as well as feedback first hand insights into the creative team.
Looking back and forth on how Paloma has progressed, Rachel says that “The same core focus runs deep, to create a luxurious send with a handmade quality and with hand-finished techniques. From our original designs to now we’ve followed current trends and styles to keep a contemporary collection flowing to produce best-selling collections.”
Commenting specifically about the Christmas product that was feted in the recent Henries, Rachel says, “I believe the essence of luxury is created even more so in our Paloma Christmas Boxed packs, releasing only limited editions and displaying in their own presentation boxes to create something special to look out for. This is the second time we’ve won for the category Best Christmas Boxed Pack, so a real honour that it’s been a double!”
