Laura Ashley in Bulgaria

I am Daniela Petkova and for the past 14 years we have been the main operators of the Laura Ashley brand in Bulgaria. Since their restructuring, we have been working with a wide range of UK companies, in order to maintain our success.

Representing a wide range of UK companies

The Laura Ashley brand has been bought by a US investment company, Gordon Brothers, and they are now rebuilding the company. It is a period of uncertainty and we have to survive in the meantime. 

So we are now also working with a long list of other UK interior design, lighting and furnishing companies: iLiV – SMD Textiles, Art Marketing, Trade Fair International, Dar Lighting, Daro Cane, Daro Furnmiture, Roper Rhodes, ADB Furniture, Lanfine, RV Astley, etc.

The most likely scenario is that we will divide our business – one of our companies will look after the other UK businesses we are representing here, while the other will concentrate on Laura Ashley. We have a large stock of Laura Ashley goods in warehouses which we bought in advance of Brexit. We had no idea how things would change after February 2020 so we filled our warehouse. For the moment we have plenty of merchandise and we have no problems in supplies from the UK, even with the customs clearance that we can expect after 2020.

Marketing

We mainly market our goods through social media and clients who are happy with our products. They spread the word because Laura Ashley has a good reputation and image in Bulgaria. My goal is to maintain this image. We have worked so hard for the past 14 years to protect their reputation and strengthen it, and I do not want to lose it. 

All Laura Ashley’s precious personal archives have been kept. They contain original fabrics and wall papers and I hope they will be the inspiration for future collections. I also hope that we in Bulgaria can make our own contribution to the future success of Laura Ashley. We have already sent our own proposal to help the UK team and we shall wait and see. It could be a very good success story for Bulgaria.

We have our own very strong in-house design team. It is an important added value we need to provide in the present conditions. I hope Laura Ashley will listen to us and we will be more than happy to help, so that we can come together and work as a team. It takes more than just one person or ten people to ensure the future success of such a company. They need our support. In fact all the European franchises- Greece, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Sweden, work really well together, we are helping each other during this period. We have offered our full support and expertise to the UK office of Laura Ashley and to Gordon Brothers.

Working in Bulgaria and the region

Bulgaria is an EU member and we are protected by EU legislation. We have a good tax and legal system which are clear and are available to all companies. In addition, we have created our own environment through our clients and the services we provide to them. We have clients throughout Bulgaria and not only. We also have many in Romania and a lot of clients from Northern Greece, who can travel easily to Sofia and select their goods for delivery. We have our own office in Kosovo. It is as easy to travel to Kosovo as it is to Varna. We also have clients in Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania.

Showroom

We have our own showroom in Sofia on Khan Omurtag, no.88, where clients can see and touch everything. We have eight people working here in Sofia and four more in Kosovo. The strong side of Laura Ashley is the English home lifestyle which is also suitable for Bulgarian apartment lifestyle. I really hope that this will be preserved in the next phase of Laura Ashley under Gordon Brothers. Laura Ashley has a huge range of products with which you can create a bespoke British home but also a really modern Sofia apartment. It is all a matter of client taste and the designer’s feeling and sense of environment.

Success and quality of life

This is something we have to fight for every day and I recall the words of Laura Ashley,

These are the words which underline our success. Time passes, but things which have real value remain. This is a principle of design and life itself. I believe that everyone deserves a quality of life and this is what we are trying to do. The client’s budget is not important, if they want to create a beautiful environment for their children and family, we try to fulfil it. A beautiful environment at home creates and opens the space for beautiful people to grow. I remember seeing three or four-year-old children come with their parents to our showroom, and now they are coming back as adults looking for beautiful things. Interior design is an art. When you hang a painting on a wall, you look at it. When you listen to music, it ends and there is silence. But when you create a space, you live in it every single second. This is my responsibility. I want people to feel at home, in their environment, and to feel good in their space.

UK Embassy connection

Our support from the UK Embassy gives us confidence. If I have a question, I know whom to call. Brexit was a huge change and we did not know what to expect. I just sent an email to Tim Buisseret at the British Embassy and I received all the replies I needed. This is priceless. On top of this are all the connections and support network.  I feel I have someone behind me and this is great. I want to thank the UK Embassy team for this. 

We are not yet members of the BBBA and we are looking forward to future cooperation as members. I am sure we shall expand our network and benefit from new ideas as members of the BBBA. That is something money cannot buy.