Posted: by Jo Wednesday, 29 January 2020 @ 13:35
January
has been a busy month for us here at Mantra. We have been working on new product
designs, new collaborations, and getting ready for events. It has felt like an
exciting start to the new decade.
We
are very keen to share more customer stories with you this year, so we have
invited a few of our customers to come and chat to us, and share their Mantra
stories on video. We’ll be sharing one a month, so do get in touch if you’d
like to feature later in the year.
We
have also just finalised our collaboration with Dr Gemma Newman, which we are
very excited about. She is a GP with many years of hands-on experience, and
also has a very keen interest in holistic medicine and the mind, body, soul
connection. You can read all about our upcoming launch here on our blog.
Event
season starts for us very soon, with the first one being The Sunday Times LifeLessons Festival on Saturday 15th and 16th February, followed
closely by Live Well London in early March, and then the Mindful Living Show.
We absolutely love bringing Mantra to events, as it gives us a chance to meet
all of you.
One
of my heroes is at Life Lessons – the brilliant Marie Forleo. Her mantra for
life is ‘Everything is figureoutable’, which is now also the title of her first
book. I have just listened to it on Audible, and loved it.
I
have become a huge fan of podcasts lately, with Dr Chatterjee being a firm
favourite. Some of our Mantra collaborators are also brilliant to listen to –
with Chloe Brotheridge’s Calmer You being particularly good. In fact, she
recently interviewed our new collaborator, Dr Gemma Newman, on her show, which
is definitely worth a listen.
I
popped along to the National Running Show at the NEC towards the end of
January, to get a feel for it. We are exhibiting there next year, and are in
early discussions with a few runners about creating a running-based Mantra collaboration.
It was truly inspiring to hear from runners like Jo Pavey about her
determination to succeed, winning her first Gold medal at the age of 40.
As
many of you will know, the idea for Mantra came from running. When I trained for the London Marathon a few years’ ago, I had 26 mantras, one for each mile,
to keep me focused and motivated. It reminded me of the power of words, and
gave me the idea to combine inspiring words with beautiful jewellery. It was
inspiring to be at the event amongst so many people who love running.
The
other really exciting thing I can tell you this month is that we
have been able to bring some of our prices down. As we are now producing more
pieces, some of our production costs have reduced slightly. This means that our
hugely popular Disc pendants in the Rose and Yellow Gold-plated finishes have come
down to £55 from £65, making them just £10 more than the same piece in Sterling
Silver. And a few of our Symbol necklaces – like the Feather (‘She who is brave
is free’) and North Star (‘May you always find your way’) - have come down to
£20, from £25.
I
am always delighted if we can make Mantra more accessible for more people, and
both price reductions and increased awareness help with this.
On
a personal note, I have spent many weeks emptying and clearing my parents’
house, ready to sell. It has been a difficult and emotional experience, as it
was our family home for all my life, and the walls and rooms are bursting with
happy memories.
But
I am ready now to say goodbye to the house, as it’s time it became someone
else’s beloved family home. I am embracing Nicky Clinch’s mantra, for our‘Trust’ necklace, that now is the right time to let it go: ‘I trust myself. I
trust life. Everything is unfolding in perfect timing.’
I
look forward to seeing you at one of our many pop-up events this Spring. Bye
for now!
Jo
xxx