We were recently interviewed about Chapter and we thought you might like to hear about life behind the scenes too.

Tell us about a day in the life at Chapter

All the team takes care of the school run and some have dogs and horses too so our mornings are usually busy. When we step inside the studio we’re all ready for our morning coffee and catch up. We all drink Flat Whites so one of usually makes these whilst we turn on the lamps, check in on our customer service emails and talk through the plan for the day. The majority of our small team work on manufacturing. Creating, blending, mixing and pouring our beautiful Aromatherapy Blends. They get to work with all our natural ingredients and the Studio is filled with their beautiful aroma. We usually listen to podcasts or music. Our taste is pretty eclectic, anything from True Crime, Politics or chatty interviews. We break for lunch early around 11.30 and we discuss recipes and left overs. We’re all big foodies and love to cook. My day is very varied I can be found talking to suppliers, meeting Trade Clients, proofing designs, working with our website team and working with our packing warehouse.  Our day ends by cleaning the studio down and checking in on customer service emails to make sure all our online and trade clients are happy before heading home for dinner and the evening routine. 

What is it like running a Manufacturing Business?

We’re an all female team and we know this is pretty unusual in the manufacturing sector. We are incredibly proud of what we’re building. Manufacturing everything onsite ensures that we get to know absolutely everything that goes into our products and we can ensure the quality is always exceptional. Working with ingredients, suppliers, deliveries, pallets and haulage companies is interesting work. There is nothing quite like watching our blends being made by hand and seeing the beautiful ingredients going into them. It’s of course not without its challenges we have to work hard to ensure our suppliers deliver things on time, maintaining their standards and sometimes things fall outside of our control and we have to act quickly to solve it. We’re always learning and developing our quality control standards and we love it. It’s hard graft and that feels satisfying. 

How did you set up Chapter?

Chapter began very much as a personal project for me during 2016/2017. I was becoming more interested in natural ingredients and conscious of what I was using on my skin and in the home. I also wanted to find new ways to rest and unwind. Part of this journey was exploring complimentary/ alternative therapies which I still love experiencing today. I’m a big fan of Acupuncture and Reflexology. When I started to try Aromatherapy. I noticed almost immediately how it made me feel. I loved how effortless it was to use, how aromatic the scents are and how it felt on my skin. When I brought these oils into my day I felt calmer or more energised depending on which blends I tried. I started creating my own blends to support my mental and emotional health and friends started trying them and noticed the difference in their moods too. After a few years of learning, trying and testing our products we launched with just a few hundred pounds to get our website up and running and to buy some ingredients and glass. My friends and family loved what we created and supported us sharing our brand with their family and friends. This helped us hugely spread the word. Over the past 5 years we’ve slowly and organically grown Chapter. Learning and developing as we go. We’ve moved premises twice, expanded our team, work with a talented bunch of freelancers and consultants and now work with some incredible Hotel and Restaurant brands. Customer loyalty has been integral to how we’ve grown and we’re so lucky that when a customer finds us they come back and tell their friends about us. We try hard to offer incredible customer service. This is really important to our brand. I often still feel like we’re just getting started. I’m excited for the future but also enjoying and grateful for this journey. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this

 

Any questions don’t hesitate to ask 

 

Love, Charlotte - Founder x