What is your company name?
Electric Heels
(formerly Electric Paintbrush.)
What is your line of business?
Hand painted
shoe customisation of the highest standard!
How and why the company begin?
I wanted to
hand paint my own wedding shoes, so I bought a ‘practice’ pair and uploaded
work in progress pictures on my artwork Facebook page. The response was
phenomenal and it all started from there. I now work in partnership with my
brother who is also an artist.
Tell us a little about
your wedding….
I just got married last week April 5TH! We had a small
Las Vegas wedding, just me and my husband, our 2 sons and my sister and my
brother in law. We married at the Chapel of the Flowers and had an amazing day,
everyone loved my ‘Las Vegas’ themed wedding shoes. We wanted somewhere relaxed
and fun for the meal afterwards, so ate at Bubba Gumps on the balcony
overlooking the strip. Brilliant and stress free, I would recommend it to
anyone. We were inundated with ‘congratulations’ from the Americans, such
friendly people!
Why
do brides come to you?
I think brides
are getting more adventurous with theme and wedding ideas. They come to us
wanted something totally unique and personal to them, shoes are a total blank
canvas and we can paint them to match the required theme perfectly. Also, they
are a fashion investment as they can be worn after the wedding, I’ve already
worn my Vegas pair again I love them. Word of mouth and support for us has been
fantastic and I am very grateful, we get a lot of referrals from friends of
friends.
What is your favourite design and why?
Difficult question! Both my brother and I are perfectionists, and
as artists spend hours scrutinising and studying the work to get it right, I
fall in love with every pair I paint and seem to think that the latest pair is
the best as I feel I improve artistically with each one.
What is the most popular item you supply and
why?
We get a lot of Disney requests and have now stopped accepting them,
purely for copyright reasons. What started as a bit of a hobby is now my
profession and I want to do things right. I have honoured a couple more orders
that were booked initially but turn down all Disney now. The more finished
shoes that we showcase enables customers to think outside the box and request
non branded designs and fresh ideas.
Where
do you get your inspiration from?
It’s a cliché but I was and still am a
massive Disney fan, I used to spend hours copying the artworks when I was
young. This is where my interest in art started, but for the shoes now I get
inspired by the quirky fashion that is out there. I personally like tattoo
culture and anything gothic or fantasy and that bit different. My time at the
moment is booked up with customer requests so I have not been able to showcase
anything from this personal genre.
What
is in store for you in 2013/14?
We are currently working on a shoe dedicated
website to enable customers to access any info about our services that they
need. We would also like to produce more ‘one off’ pairs painted in our own
styles and to release these regularly.
Who
would be your dream client, and what sort of design would you envisage for
them?
Again going back to the tattoo theme, I am a massive Kat Von D fan both
as an artist and as a style icon. I’d love to do her a pair! Think I would opt
away from the obvious though and paint her something personal to her, rather
than a cultural pair.
What
would be your top tips for brides when searching for a supplier in your
industry?
Shop around and do your research for customer service and a quality
product. Cheaper isn’t always the best option, good artwork takes time and this
will obviously impact the price. As does the use of specialist, professional
paints and materials.If you shop around a bit the good stuff always stands out.
Tell
us something super interesting about you or your business that we wouldn’t
already know…?
The brother I work with is actually my twin, David. We have very
similar painting styles and give each other constructive criticism. I don’t
like to see his in progress works, I like the wow factor of seeing a finished pair
so he doesn’t send me any images until I see them for real when they are ready.
Where
are you based and where can you supply?
We are based near Wigan
in the North West and have had customers from all over the globe.
How
can I get in touch to discuss my requirements or place an order?
We prefer
email rather than the telephone, purely because we spend most of the day
painting and as an artist, if you have mixed a specific colour it’s important
to get it on the artwork before it dries and interruptions can hinder the
process. You are welcome to leave us your number however and we can call back
when we are free.
We can be contacted via
email (currently under my old business name)
Or through Facebook
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