2023 Wrap Up!
Our retail store closes Sunday for 2023 (we close at 3:30pm Saturday and will reopen on Monday 8th Jan at 9:30am), and we wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very happy & safe holiday season and thank you for your continued support throughout 2023!
It's been a busy & exciting year for us here at Dooney & Daughters. We have run 32 workshops & event nights & taught over 160 people new skills this year! And here's what else we have accomplished in 2023...
Our New Ranges Designed by Dooney & Daughters
One of the biggest highlights and accomplishments this year is the development of our wholesale range of MDF products. We noticed a big jump in customers wanting to do smaller craft projects as well as big furniture projects, which led to us developing our range of MDF trays, photo frames and tissue boxes. These were developed with crafters in mind, so the whole range is ready to paint or decorate with no preparation needed. This range is now available at Funky Glass Art in Warkworth and we are looking forward to bringing on more retailers in 2024.
We love a good art journal and were struggling to find ones ourselves this year - so again, we made our own and these have also been added to our wholesale range as well as being available in store. Our journals are made from high quality unlined recycled paper & card and can be used for any type of journal at all!
Our decoupage collection has grown in leaps and bounds this year. We are proud to have developed our own unique range of decoupaged giftware, including our very popular pots, jugs, vases, plates and more. We also added to our gift collection with our decorated bottles which have also become super popular. We were also very excited to have our decoupaged pots stocked in one of our local florists this year with their own designs developed exclusively for them.
If you have been following us on Social Media this month, you will have seen the introduction of our new Side Tables!! We love the look of a contemporary side table, that is also the perfect size for lots of situations and uses. From taking outside to use when entertaining, to guest room bedside tables, so we decided to design one ourselves. It took all year, but we did it and we are super happy with the shape and look of our them! You can see our current collection of decorated side tables online. We can also customise these tables to suit you or if you would like to learn how to make one yourself, make sure you check out our Decoupage Next Steps masterclass where you get to decorate your own!
L-R: Dooney & Daughters custom side tables, Dooney & Daughters trays and journals, our decoupaged pots collection, Dooney & Daughters MDF range.
We Continued to Support NZ Businesses
We are very proud to support NZ Businesses wherever we can. As well as our Efex mouldings (made here in Auckland), The Artisan Company premium paint range (made in the Bay of Islands), and Two Fussy Blokes rollers (an eco friendly Auckland business), this year saw us stock a new range of transfers from White Cloud Decor Transfers that are also made here in Auckland. This range has a huge selection of designs available, and work perfectly with our MDF range of trays and glass bottles, they look fantastic on furniture too. And best of all, we can get custom made designs made for your next project!
At the beginning of the year we launched the Metallic Alchemy Range by The Artisan Company. We love this system which provides you with the absolute freedom to create anything from liquid leaf like metallics right through to semi-translucent metallics for layering. It seems like you love it too, with the second colour release being an instant sell out!
We also expanded our furniture for sale in store by supporting two of our local NZ Furniture painters: Wendy from Wai-O-Taiki Furniture Redesign & Fleur from Fleur's Furniture Upcycle With Style. They have both done some amazing pieces that we have been privileged to have and sell on their behalf in store and we are excited to have more of their pieces in store next year.
Lastly, we also expanded our Private Facebook Group to support our customers who make to sell, so they can advertise their finished furniture & craft projects for sale and saw our membership grow to over 1.2K members this year. This is a great group of people to ask questions, share projects with, and get lots of tips and tricks for your own projects.
L-R: Young Girl Reading drawers by Wendy from Wai-O-Taiki Resign, Baroque Flowers Drawers by Fleur from Fleurs Furniture Upcycle.
On a Personal Note
Deirdre continues to be busy behind the scenes of the business, as well as helping in lots of our workshops and event nights. She also managed to get a lovely mid year break where she travelled around Europe for a few months!
Nicolette has been very busy this year. On top of running the business, she also graduated from the Nanette Cameron School of Interior Design this year. We are super excited to see the growth of Nicolette & Co Interiors in 2024. Nicolette also had a well-deserved holiday earlier in the year, travelling to Nepal where she went on an 11 day hike through the mountains near Tibet.
Tracey has been busy in the store this year and you will have often seen her at the paint bar, with new decoupage designs and creations. Tracey is having her big dream holiday next year, but has been spending this year ticking things of her bucket list, including walking & kayaking the Abel Tasman.
L-R: Deirdre in France, Nicolette hiking in Nepal, Tracey hiking the Abel Tasman.
Thank you for your continued support throughout 2023. We wish you and your family a wonderful holiday period and we look forward to sharing a creative 2024 with you!
Thank you,
Deirdre, Nicolette and Tracey