From Country Kitchen Crafts to Regenerative Coffins
Who is the client? Bellacouche
Where are they based? In a beautiful studio nestled in the heart of Chagford village, an old market town in the Northern half of Dartmoor, Devon.
About Bellacouche
Bellacouche started over 20 years ago with Yuli and her then-business partner Anne, both seasoned craftswomen. Together they spent time developing a modern woollen product that could be used to reconnect us to our roots with nature in death through their eco-coffin alternatives, the design of which has evolved over the years. Over the decades, additional products were added into the mix, ranging from glasses cases, felt craft kits, to the eternally popular wool felt insoles.
How we supported Bellacouche
While the volume of products available was impressive, the overall cohesive vision for the company was lacking. Yuli spent a lot of her time at craft shows and running craft workshops, which she loves to do, however wasn’t the most profitable place for her to spend her time.
Enter, team Ipsa!
We began our journey with Bellacouche by identifying the client’s driving goal for their business. The client’s primary goal is to retire, but she recognised that this is not something that could happen overnight. Our support would therefore be focussed on helping the client to refine their strategy and construct a plan to help them work towards this exit. So, we began supporting them with rebranding and streamlining their processes and services in order to create a business that is not only sellable, but that could generate income for the client to live off of in retirement.
It was important to meet the client where they were at - for example, at the initial point of assessment, the client was offering a wide variety of felt products. We subsequently streamlined the focus onto high-value, interesting coffin products, with a focus on sustainability.
The process
A big part of the process was identifying what the client wants, what the client saw their current problems as, and discussing what pain points we identified at Ipsa Consulting.
We started with a series of workshops to look at the wider business strategy, where we then developed a vision, mission, and values for the future. From there, we curated a plan to focus on the higher-value, more creative death products - such as woollen shrouds and urns. With those products front and centre of the business, the company required a new look and feel to carry it into a new marketplace with a modern brand - that would, hopefully one day, be either franchised out or sold to a new custodian.
The challenges we faced
The budget was something we needed to be really creative with. We wrote a creative brief and involved an excellent graphic designer to design an earthy yet modern identity. With more budget available, we could have made a bigger impression at launch with paid advertising and PR to push the story across the UK.
The outcome
The new brand identity and website launched in late 2022, and since then we have made waves within the local crafts scene. The website is organically receiving around 1.5k visits per month and the brand is frequently picked up by retailers and strategic partners. Yuli continues to create videos and social media content to drive traffic to the site, along with her popular newsletter.
Why Ipsa Consulting chose to work with Bellacouche
Yuli’s passion for the environment is undeniable. We were able to support her creativity with our commercial acumen - together with the graphic designer and product photographer, we’ve created something truly unique and impactful.
“Guiding my small ethical business through a transformation, Ipsa - Cath - has been incredibly helpful, bringing fresh ideas, always ready to find an answer to the most vexing of questions. I was so impressed when she came to my Open Day and gamefully took part in the felting craft project on offer. I am very much looking forward to continuing working with the Ipsa team.”