A Gift for a New Baby, a Gift for a Family
A year and a half ago, our closest friends had their first baby.
Inga and Hugo had been trying for a long time and when Augusta finally arrived, the entire family was beyond ecstatic.
This family has done a lot for me over the years. A lot. I wanted to give them something really special to celebrate the arrival of Augusta Rose – and something to say thank you. For everything.
I decided to write a book that introduced Augusta to each member of her family - her parents, her Mimi, her Grandad-Jonny, her fiery Aunty Sophie and her three wild and wonderful uncles. I told Augusta what each person liked, what they were good at, and what weird little quirks made them, them. I also told her what each person was going to teach her throughout her life – things like how to be adored, how to be kind, how to fit a bouncy castle inside a flat for a party and how to be truly, uncompromisingly generous.
Like the books before it, Augusta Rose was handwritten and illustrated, then nervously couriered to the unsuspecting recipients.
What I got back was pretty amazing. A reaction like never before.
After receiving his copy of the book in London, one of Augusta’s uncles called me and suggested that what I was doing should be more than just a hobby – it should be a business. He said I should use the idea behind Augusta’s story to provide an alternative gift option for everyone out there who wanted to give something special to a loved one having a baby. A gift for people who already have everything from the organic cotton aisle. A gift the baby would never grow out of. A gift for the whole family.
We spoke for a long time. He explained a few of the basics - how to start a business, how to run a business and the what the difference between 'raising funds' and having a baked-goods fundraiser was. And, aside from the financial forecasting, estimated output, and scalability (are these all the same thing?), everything he said made total sense, and finally my own baby – Books Bestowed – was born.
