Tobias Oliver Interiors provide a professional interior design service and produce luxury furniture pieces that are totally unique and reflect the lifestyles of their clientele.
Our Co-Founder, Ray Wright, virtually sat down with Tobias Trigg, Director and Owner of Tobias Oliver Interiors, to discuss what’s made the brand so successful and what they’ve put in place to carry on after a worldwide pandemic.
Q1. You launched your business after 12 years interior design experience. What were the driving factors behind that decision?
Being an interior designer has always been my dream for as long as I can remember. I wanted to gain as much experience as possible from all aspects of the interior design arena, so that I could understand what it is that I wanted to specialise in. Once I found my niche (residential design), I decided to try freelancing as a designer to see how I would manage without being part of a large design house. After a year I had raised enough income, learned enough from my mentors, and written a pretty thorough business plan to make the decision that it was the right time to open my own design studio.
Q2. Since 2016 you’ve developed a recognisable and prestigious brand. What’s the secret to the business’s success?
Hard work, determination, collaboration, teamwork and staying true to my core beliefs – honesty and integrity.
The business has developed rapidly which keeps me on my toes! We have diversified a lot since the studio opened to now having a full showroom and shop in Berkhamsted. Branching into retail with the showroom was a huge transition, which I have loved.
Some things come your way almost by accident but having the flexibility to be able to embrace them can often mean they are what become part of your ongoing success
We’ve also started hosting events; the first was a huge Christmas party for our town hosted at the showroom with a marquee, cocktail bar and live entertainment. The second was our first ticketed event, a wine and cheese evening where we collaborated with a local cheesemonger, wine sommelier and our stemware supplier to create a relaxed, informal and educational event. These events helped bring the community and local shops together to support one another as well as helping promote the brands we work with.
We also branched into wedding gift lists earlier this year with two successful wedding fairs. Since COVID19 we have diversified and created our e-design service which is a very affordable way of accessing our professional interior design services. We are always thinking outside the box, which has recently been especially important - more than ever!
Q3. You’ve ventured from interior design into online ecommerce. What successes and failures have you had?
E-commerce is not for the faint hearted! Many may think it is simple to set up an online shop and then people will purchase from it. This is not the case… if you want to make it successful and see a return on your investment, you need to be prepared to work hard, test and learn.
Firstly, most suppliers will require you have a bricks and mortar shop. Then you will need to invest in stock and gauge from your personal experience what customers are likely to purchase. The website needs to be easy to use, with your USP made very clear. It has probably taken about 18 months of constant work, making tweaks here and there, to get our website working exactly how we want it to. And there’s more to come! Website’s need to be updated and new brands onboarded, otherwise your audience will become bored of looking at the same thing.
It’s a continual learning experience. When we first started on our ecommerce journey, we didn’t know that much about optimisation of the website, but this and the domain authority are very important aspects which need definite consideration. A clear digital marketing strategy is also key to drive traffic to the website and improve conversion rates. We work closely with digital strategists to help us reach the right demographic and importantly, how to drive the right traffic to our site.
Q4. What would you say are the real signature pieces from the Tobias Oliver brand and why?
We love our Porta Romana Duck Lamps, we’ve even named them Alfonso and Hettie! Also, we stock the L’Objet HAAS Brothers collection, which has been particularly popular, specifically Lynda! Lynda is a little monster sculpture who has small plates hidden inside to surprise and delight your dinner guests with chocolates or truffles. The collection is highly collectable, especially the limited edition 24kt gold Lynda. We love the quirkiness it brings to the showroom and really gets people talking.
We have some amazing artwork in the showroom & design studio too. At the original launch party, I asked my artist friends to hang some art to draw people’s eyes from the blank walls and nearly all of it sold! So, we decided we would keep the design studio upstairs as an art gallery! Sometimes these things come your way almost by accident but having the flexibility to be able to embrace them can often mean they are what become part of your ongoing success.
Q5. COVID19 has hit the world hard. How has the pandemic affected your business and what have you learned?
We are a forward thinking multi-faceted business, therefore, we learned to diversify quickly. The main arm of the business is our interior design services which we decided to pause during COVID19 for the health and safety of my team and our clients. That is why we launched our e-design service which has been hugely successful as we do not need to enter peoples’ homes. We have also chosen to give 5% of our online profits to NHS Charities Together. We do a lot for charity; since we opened last July, we have raised over £12,000.
The showroom is back open since the government eased the restrictions for non-essential shops to open once again. We have put all necessary measures in place that support the health and wellbeing of all staff and customers.
Going forward it’s important to remember COVID19 is by no means going away until we find a vaccine, therefore being as responsible as possible and following the government guidelines is of the highest importance to us. Learning not to take the simple things in life for granted will be something we will take from all of this.
Finally, I am a member of the committee for our local chambers of commerce. I have taken on the responsibility of engaging as many independent shops and businesses on the high street to engage with for Save the High Street. The purpose of this programme is to quite simply, save the high street! With so many gaps appearing on many high streets and livelihoods being turned upside down, it's clear that many businesses are struggling and need support. That is what this programme does. You begin by completing their online questionnaire, which is very thorough and throws up many questions that in turn make you query how you're approaching your business. The next day you will receive a phone call from a business mentor who will provide professional advice based on your answers. And guess what?! It’s totally FREE. So far, I have engaged 16 other local shops to sign up and all have said they have found the process very insightful and helpful.
Q6. Are there any new product lines or major announcements that we can get an exclusive on for our community members?
We have just launched a new brand – Reflections Copenhagen. It is a stunning hand-cut fine crystal range of vases, cake stands, lighting and perfume flacons. During lockdown we have secured contracts with a number of other suppliers who we will launch at the appropriate times over the course of the year.
It's important to onboard new brands at the right time, so that we can offer a range of diversity to our clientele but we also want to work with our suppliers as partners so we enable the best chance of success by supporting them through appropriate marketing and in-store merchandising.
We are looking to expand our showroom and take on the building next door, which will become an extension of our art gallery, where we hope to also showcase sculptures. We also plan to do pop-up shops in the new space for smaller emerging lifestyle and fashion brands.
Our project portfolio is going from strength to strength along with our wonderful team. Our team is like a family, in fact we have all known each other since we were very young which makes everything we do seem like fun rather than work.
Thank you to Tobias for telling us more about Tobias Oliver Interiors. Be sure to check them out on ufurnish.com. We hope you enjoyed this interview. Find more inspiration and top tips for creating your dream home on ufurnish.com!
