Introducing Whale and Bird – one of the newest members of the Heathhall Business Centre family. The company took on unit W157B – one of the old Sign Craft Signs Limited spaces – in December last year. Jamie MacDonald and partner Mary Harris head up the quirky illustrated cards, gifts, and stationery business and they’re originally from south west England.
Said Jamie, “I started the business 10 years ago in my hometown of Bath and my other half Mary came on board five years ago. We moved to Moffat a couple of years ago to be closer to my mum who had not long moved there herself and we just fell in love with the place – plus Bath is getting to be really expensive.”
Heathhall Business Centre: the perfect location
We brought all of our business in-house using Heathhall Business Centre
Moving to Heathhall Business Centre made the whole Whale & Bird operation slicker.
“We were running the business from home and using a third-party fulfilment centre warehouse which wasn’t ideal, so we wanted to bring it all in-house.
“We’ve gone from our little spare room where we did web orders and had a cupboard of stock to having everything in one place – office and warehouse combined. So we are still focussing on sorting through stock – 30 boxes of it! But it all has a place to go so this has been such a good move on so many levels.”
Jamie and Mary think that the distance from Moffat to Heathhall Business Centre is just right when it comes to travelling to work.
“The A701 is such a lovely drive from Moffat and only 30 mins and beats a boring commute any day. It’s just the right amount of time so Heathhall Business Centre is the perfect location for us.”
Whale & Bird: wholesale and domestic business
Where did the name ‘Whale & Bird’ come from?
“There’s not really much of a story behind it – we just came up with it really! Our designs are licensed from various artists and come in a variety of different styles – fun, sometimes rude, and not afraid to offend!
“We do a lot of wholesale business with the likes of Waterstones, Scribbler, plus lots of little independent stores all over the world. We also do trade fares, mainly in England so far but we’re looking at doing them in Scotland this year too.