Nina’s transition from luxury fashion to founding her own homeware brand is rooted in Scandinavian storytelling and emotional connection.
After years at iconic names like Burberry and DeBeers, she’s now on a mission to bring people together around the table through beautifully hand-illustrated tableware — all inspired by family, food, and Swedish traditions.
But with limited budget and no team, Nina’s challenge is visibility — both B2C and B2B. In this episode, we explore how to make Nina D a known name in both homes and shops across the UK.
Core business model:
- Luxury Scandinavian tableware and homeware
- All designs hand-drawn by Nina herself
- D2C via her Shopify site and Etsy
- Growing focus on B2B: corporate gifting and retail stockists
- Products include placemats, coasters, napkins, and bespoke items
Current marketing activity:
- Instagram as her main visual platform
- Press Loft for DIY PR outreach
- Mailchimp for occasional newsletters
- No ad spend — just organic effort and word-of-mouth
While her products are stunning, Nina’s growth challenge is common: how do I get these in front of more people without a big budget?
Key growth opportunities:
LinkedIn outreach for B2B
- Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find buyers and stockists
- Connect with people in lifestyle retail, hospitality, gifting and events
- Share behind-the-scenes content and personal storytelling
- Follow up with samples and a soft outreach message
Website optimisation
- Reframe the About page as “My Story” to better humanise the brand
- Rename the Blog to reflect her roots — e.g. Scandi Scribbles or Studio Notes
- Move the blog link into the main navigation to increase visibility
Low-budget paid media
- Use Meta Ads for light retargeting to website visitors and Instagram engagers
- Budget: £5–10/day to stay top-of-mind
- Promote gifting options and visual storytelling, especially around seasonal moments
Why she should avoid Google ads (for now):
- High CPCs in a crowded homeware category
- No baseline ad data to optimise from
- Better to focus on organic traction and partnerships before scaling spend
Strategic focus areas:
- Build strong B2B relationships through direct outreach
- Leverage her genuine story and design process to connect emotionally
- Turn her personal brand into a growth engine on LinkedIn
- Use Instagram for visual inspiration and brand awareness
Nurture past customers with beautiful packaging, storytelling, and repeat gift buys
Nina’s brand has all the ingredients to succeed — heritage, heart, and handmade detail. With the right outreach and smart storytelling, she can go from a solo founder to a household name in design-led homeware.
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