20 ALL SHINY AND NEW fresh starts


CLAUDIA ORRELL Publishing pro turned vintage fashion queen


So, when the opportunity for


‘If we can change the minds of people through products, we could create a positive


social change’ ERIC RYAN


≥products, making them fun and easy to use, we could really start to create a positive consumer social change.’ They started researching cleaning products in more


detail and realised that they were on to something. ‘It’s ironic how things that are meant to clean are actually really dirty,’ Eric points out. ‘You use poison to make your homes healthier – you pollute while you clean.’ Motivated into action, the pals started to explore an approach using technology instead of chemicals. With Adam heading up the development of the


formulae and Eric leading the design aesthetic, both men quit their jobs to launch Method in 2000 at their local grocery stores. ‘When you start a business, it’s such a personal expression of yourself. You know that it will be embarrassing if you fail, but we deeply believed in it – we were willing to fail,’ says Eric. But their story is a happy one. Twelve years on,


Method’s products are selling in more than 40,000 retail locations globally, including Ocado. Not bad for two boys who hatched an idea over beers in a fl atshare.


Adam says: ‘Family and nature make me shine… they are the two things that give me the greatest pleasure. They both make me feel connected, to people and to place, and when I feel connected, the best in me comes out.’


Claudia Orrell, founder of Silk & Sawdust – purveyors of ‘vintage chic with a modern tweak’ – swapped a dull day job for a career that lets her creativity shine through. When her enthusiasm for


working in publishing started to wane, Claudia’s long-standing passion for dressmaking started to fl ourish. ‘I made dresses for my friends, and squeezed fashion courses at London’s Central St Martins around my day job,’ she says.


voluntary redundancy came up, Claudia took it. Next stop: Thailand, for two years with the Voluntary Service Overseas. ‘I fell in love with the place,’ Claudia recalls, ‘and when I returned to London, I decided that I would start my own little project, so I got 30 vintage-look dresses made up in Bangkok.’ Her ‘little project’ was so well received that Claudia decided to focus on it full-time. Now, Silk & Sawdust is an online retailer specialising in vintage-inspired clothes ‘for today’s fi gures’, all hand-tailored by highly skilled dressmakers in Thailand. ‘I love making the decisions,


as well as the creativity,’ says Claudia. ‘It’s not a job where I’m sat at my desk all day.’ And how does it compare to her previous career? ‘I feel fulfi lled,’ she says. ‘When it’s your own business, there’s a diff erent feel to it.’ silkandsawdust.com


NIAMH SHIELDS Science boffi n turned food blogger extraordinaire


After a particularly bad day


at the offi ce, Niamh’s mind was made up: she would scale back her science work to make time to set up her food-tastic blog. So began Eat Like a Girl.


MADNESS IN THE METHOD?


The screening process at Method is rigorous. To make the cut, ingredients have to be natural – nothing nasty will do. So don’t be surprised to fi nd corn husks in the cleaners, vegetable glycerine in the detergents and compostable bamboo in the wipes – all 100% safe for people and the environment. A kitchen should smell good enough to eat, not like harsh bleach. That’s why Method’s pink grapefruit non-toxic surface cleaner leaves nothing but a fresh, fruity fragrance and the French lavender variety – with its lingering scent – makes for a relaxing bath-time backdrop. Great-smelling grimebusters. Genius. ocado.com/method


With a degree in physiology and a career mapped out in science, it seemed that Niamh Shields’s academic future was set. So how did she end up as one of the top-rated food writers on the web? ‘I couldn’t work in a lab,’ the Irish-born blogger explains. ‘I worked for a science publisher and just realised that I wasn’t happy. And in trying to work out why, I’d always come home and cook. It just became a big feature in my life.’


Why that name? ‘Because,’ Niamh explains, ‘it annoyed me when people said that – like women can’t eat?’ A huge hit with food lovers, it has since been named one of the world’s top ten food blogs by The Times, and in 2011, Niamh’s fi rst collection of recipes, Comfort & Spice, was published (£14.99, New Voices in Food). These days, Niamh’s day job


is travelling to culinary hotspots, indulging her passion for foodie cultures, then writing about it for her legions of followers online and in the national press. And this Girl has never looked


back: ‘I love how much freedom [the blog] has given me to do something I’m passionate about.’ eatlikeagirl.com


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