FK talks to Jayden & Jess from Perth about their felt based label B&M and new flagship store.
Tell us about your label B&M, and the new store under the same name.
We opened the flagship B&M Store in November 2010, to give our range of 100% wool felt supplies, and the B&M Lifestyle Collection, a platform and their own retail presence. The B&M Lifestyle Collection is a collection of items designed and made in Fremantle, Western Australia. Currently it includes a range of tableware, a tote, pencil case and Macbook, iPad and iPhone cases.
Wool felt is such a lovely and tactile material, it needs to be seen, touched and envied in person, not just via our online stores. We’ve met so many wonderful felt lovers from our stands at various design events around the country over the years, and after testing the waters with a pop-up shop, we decided it was time for a permanent home where we could meet, greet and generally talk felt with like minded crafters and designers, on a daily basis. As well as offering our range of German made 100% wool design felt in various sizes, thicknesses and 20+ colours, our store has expanded to offer a range of carefully selected goods from designers around the world.
Brands currently stocked include:
Poketo (USA)
Skinny Laminx (Sth Africa)
HanaBlomst (Japan)
eBoy (Germany)
Bellroy (Australia)
CB Perfume (USA)
Rifle Paper Co (USA)
and lots more.
What are your backgrounds and how it lead you to start B&M?
We’re both crafty/designery peeps who figured out office life wasn’t for us early on. M’s background is photography and graphic design and B’s got almost a decade of retail and events management experience, much of it at a Museum, despite her svelte age. We think these skills and experience have helped us immensely running a label and a store!
What qualities do you love about working with felt?
Felt is bold, easy to work with and natural. It doesn’t fray, you get clean lines and the colours available are fantastic. Felt is one of those funny things, people just LOVE it! Often they can’t explain it, but they have to touch it. Us included.
What inspires your work and keeps you motivated?
Swedish and Danish design. Also our favourite cities Tokyo & NYC. (We head overseas as often as possible for a bit of a reboot and to get ideas, we want our shop to have international scope). Lastly, we’re a pretty great team after 4 years together so we keep each other motivated.
What are you up to when you are not working?
We work pretty long hours for B&M so it doesn’t leave too much time for other things. M is a photographer and B works for a catering company a couple of nights a week. Currently we’re renovating a big old retro Ice-Cream cart which we’ll use to sell M-Pops (French style Macarons on sticks). *Name needs work haha.
What’s up next for B&M?
We’ve just opened a store in Fremantle so that’s going to keep us busy. The plan is to add a couple more colours each year to our felt range, and continue to refine the B&M range of products. Working on a couple of exciting collaborations too.
B&M ‘Flagship’ Store Now Open
49A High Street
Fremantle (West End)
Western Australia 6160
A gorgeous new store in High Street Fremantle…a great addition to a fantastic shopping strip!