We have published 94 blog posts over the course of the last twelve months! I have to give thanks to so many of our wonderful contributors who continually pitch lots of great ideas and create wonderful posts for us. Also, a special mention to Shelley and Sine from Team 91, who together manage our Shopkeeper Spotlight and Meet the Maker posts, and Sine has also recently started taking care of our new Love What You Do posts, too. It is a real team effort.
It’s always interesting to take a look at Google Analytics to see which blog posts have been the most read throughout the year. They tend to be the ones that have gained traction on Pinterest. I thought I’d share the five posts that are currently at the top of the charts so here goes, in no particular order…
TEN OF THE BEST PLANT SHOPS IN THE UK AND EUROPE
Victoria Haynes rounded up a great selection of plant shops, from Spider Plant shop in Brighton to Grow Urban in Edinburgh as well as her faves across Europe. View the full post.
HOW TO: FLOWER PRESSING
This post by Claire Holland published in early March, just before the UK went into national lockdown. Flower pressing ended up being one of the favourite lockdown activities in our house! It’s lovely to forage for pretty blooms, then spend some quiet time carefully sandwiching them in a press or book, and then the joy of retrieving them weeks later. If you’ve never tried it, make sure to bookmark this post for Spring 2021. View full post.
SOPHIE CARPENTER HOME TOUR
The minimal, boho-style home of Sophie Carpenter attracted lots of attention and I can see why, it is one of my personal favourites too. Alena Walker writes about Sophie’s story beautifully, and the images speak for themselves. Head to the full post to see more.
20 OF THE BEST INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE STORES IN THE UK AND EUROPE
As an indie magazine publisher, it is great to see that there are clearly lots of Google & Pinterest searches for indie magazine stores! This post by Sara Hesikova lists 20 great stores to find some of the best magazines around – across both the UK & Europe. View the full post.
15 UK-BASED SUSTAINABLE HOMEWARE BRANDS
Our round up posts have proved popular and this is another one put together by Sara Hesikova. Here, Sara shares a great edit of sustainable homeware brands that are based in the UK, including Aerende, Firera and The Small Home. Head to the full post for more lovely shops.
As well as those fab posts, here are a few that I personally feel are either useful, inspiring or informative that perhaps haven’t got the hits they deserve yet!
IS PRINT ADVERTISING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES WORTH IT?
As a magazine, we obviously deal with many queries from small brands about advertising with us. But we get the feeling sometimes that people aren’t sure if ads in magazines are worth it these days. In this post, I break down some of the reasons why it is a good option and speak with a few of our regular advertisers to get their viewpoint too. Read the full post.
A RECIPE FOR BRICKS AND MORTAR RETAIL SUCCESS
This year has been especially tough for those in the retail industry, but as we head into 2021 and the promise of life returning to normal in the near-ish future, this post could be super useful for budding shopkeepers or existing ones wanting to make changes in the year ahead. Karen Barlow looks at why an established shop such as Petersham Nurseries is so successful. Full post here.
HOW TO AVOID OVERWHELM WHEN STARTING A NEW BUSINESS OR PROJECT
For some, 2020 will have brought unexpected career challenges, but as difficult as this often is, sometimes it can encourage a move towards a dream you haven’t yet followed. If this is you, but it all feels a little scary, this post by Jessica Rose Williams looks at ways to avoid becoming overwhelmed with starting a new business. The full post is here. You might also find this Creative Session useful – Starting a small creative business from scratch – an online workshop which you can watch live on the 13th Jan 2021, or at your leisure any time after that.
REPRESENTATION IN THE INTERIORS & HOMEWARE INDUSTRY
Diversity is something that is very important to us here at 91, and the events in the US in 2020 were a stark reminder that things need to change and that we can all do better. For us interior lovers, we can help fight against under-representation in the interiors & homeware industry by supporting & shopping with BIPOC brands. Isatu Chadborn discussed the topic and shares a great selection of small businesses run by people of colour that we adore. See the full blog post.
USING SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCTIVELY, ETHICALLY & HEALTHILY
I found myself thinking about my social media usage a lot in the past year and what effect it has on me but also the planet. I dive into this in this post and consider how it can be used for good without having negative effects for ourselves or the environment. Read my ramblings on that here.
I hope you enjoy looking back on some of last year’s content and here’s to lots more inspiration, advice and interiors eye candy in 2021!
