When we moved to Klaipeda, Lithuania...
von Greta Moon
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For those of you who have never heard of this city before it's in Lithuania. It's the third biggest city here, it's by the coast and surrounded by forest. It's Gretas hometown where she lived until her teenage years when the whole family packed up and moved to the UK. Why move here you ask? Well, for slightly sentimental reasons, we've recently started spending more time here whether it was simply holidays, friends weddings or family gatherings and we realised we really missed having people around we care about. Ireland was a marvellous place but it lacked exactly that - our people. People that are important to us and believe it or not, NOT that many of them were interested in coming to visit Ireland, they chose sunnier countries instead, haha. Can't blame them for that. So one day we sat down and had to make a decision - do we stay or do we go... We decided to go, but then we had to decide where! Which is always exciting and scary, but exciting! But scary. London still has our hearts and many of our friends, but we've been there, done that, so the second place in mind was Klaipeda - a new adventure but we'd be surrounded by family and a few close friends! So we decided to give it a go. We've rented a beautiful live/work space in the old town - cobbled streets, cafes, bars, a little romance and a little bustle. The studio is pretty bare still but it's functional. Zeppelin is still adjusting to the cobbles and being on a lead, but he's loving meeting all the little city pooches and peeing on every lamp post. So once again this might not be our forever home, but we'll be here for a while! Our website has now officially changed over to EURO, the postage is still free and so far all orders have reached their owners within a week - whoop whoop! We've announced it on our social channels and a few of your have asked some questions, we thought we'd share them here too.
Are we continuing with Vel-Oh over in Lithuania?
Absolutely! In fact, we hired a part time assistant here to help us with the load. It's the one thing we weren't able to do in Ireland as we lived and worked really remotely.
Are your prices changing?
Yes and no. The prices are now all in Euro, but they haven't increased, we've just used the current conversion rate, however our website should also convert it to your countries currency if you're not in Europe using that days conversion. For example, a Bud (earphone holder) is set to now be €12, if you're in London you'll see a GBP price using the current conversion rate, which will be about £10. So nothing has changed ! We might possibly be looking at a fabric and leather supplier closer to us here (we currently use UK) so that might change our prices, but not to worry - we will give you a heads up! Oooooh, one more thing. The Closca x Vel-Oh bottles are now €40 euro (about 35 GBP) as we're able to post them cheaper, so there's some good news!
Will you still deliver to UK now and after Brexit?
Yes, absolutely. London is our second home, we'll never abandon the UK, the way we post our orders may change, but we won't stop!
Will you continue working with Gym+Coffee?
We really hope so! In fact, we made a batch of beautiful wash bags for them just as we left, they're available in all their shops, but not online YET!
Will you continue showcasing and selling at design markets abroad?
Yes, yes and yes! We love meeting people, showing you our products in person and traveling.
Was it hard to make the move?
No, not really, everything happened very very quickly and quite smoothly, we hope we don't jinx anything by saying that now! We like to challenge ourselves, we felt like we couldn't do much more in Ireland, we needed a new chapter, a way to grow and a change of scenery. Saying that Zulfi will have to learn a whole new language - so there's that! If you asked him this question again in a few months I bet he'd hesitate to say it's all smooth sailing, haha.