Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Gledhill.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My design career began in 2005. After a brief career in politics in the UK, I moved to Los Angeles to open and manage The Rug Company’s second US store. I was subsequently promoted to Development Director and charged with overseeing and building sales in all of their 16 showrooms around the world which gave me a unique experience of design and the business side of retail across the globe.
With this knowledge and experience under my belt, I took the plunge and started my own design company, Huddleson, in 2011.
The opportunity I saw was that there was not a contemporary linens brand that embraced home linens as a medium for innovative, contemporary design. At the same time, I was introduced to a digital textile printer which allowed us to use the whole piece – tablecloth, duvet cover, napkin, etc. – as a piece of art without the need for repeated designs and with small minimums orders. Voila! I grabbed the bull by the horns and designed an initial collection of nine digitally-printed tablecloth designs.
Luckily the collection was well-received and we have since expanded our product range to over 650 SKUs from cocktail napkins to luxurious duvet covers plus infinite options for custom table and bed linens. Everything is made in Los Angeles using linen and cotton fabric woven and printed in Italy.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
One of the hardest aspects of starting and running your own business is managing the money. I started Huddleson with a small inheritance when my father passed away, and we haven’t taken on any outside investment. The result is that the company remains true to my vision and I don’t have to answer to investors. But the pay-off is that growth can, at times, feel glacially slow. To fund expansion, we have to sell more products, which, frankly, is very good discipline. Big ideas have to be agonizingly boiled down to what can be afforded and what return we can expect on those scarce dollars spent. But it also creates a laser focus on selling, selling, selling, which should be at the core of every business.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Huddleson?
Huddleson manufactures and sells contemporary, fine bed and table linens. We are known for our unique prints, using the finest Italian fabrics, and making custom linens for our customers in our Los Angeles workroom. We sell our products online and in our San Marino store – in-between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena.
What sets us apart is a very personal level of customer service; the superb quality of our bed and table linens which start with the finest quality fabrics and are elevated with design details – exclusive prints, hemstitched or piped edges, curated color palette; and a singular aesthetic that comes from my British heritage, the Italian fabrics and the influence of living in the US for 17 years.
I’m most proud of creating a company that allows me to express myself creatively and also use my business skills; that is profitable; and that makes products that our customers really love and come back for more, again and again.
How do you think about luck?
Every life has an endless number of twists and turns and I have certainly been lucky to end up in certain situations. I was lucky to have a good upbringing and education; I was lucky to be able to change career from communications into the design industry when The Rug Company hired me in 2005. I have been lucky that most of the people I have worked with – employees, suppliers, photographers – have been wonderful assets in our business journey. And I think there is a degree of luck in your ability to find and connect with the customers that enable your business to continue. But my experience of starting and running my business that luck usually follows an endless amount of hard work!
Pricing:
- Linen Sheet Sets from $385
- Linen Duvet Covers from $330
- Linen Napkins & Placemats from $16
- Linen Tablecloths from $150
Contact Info:
- Website: https://huddleson.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huddleson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huddlesonlinens
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HuddlesonLinens
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNFHJLJ60sOprZ8GJ8Fx8Lg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/huddleson-linens-san-marino
