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Designs By Mo

My name is Maureen Roberts, known to my customers as Mo.

I’ve been married for six years, the mother of two sons, and ‘Nana’ to all my gorgeous grandchildren.

In the past I have had a hot dog van, then later an ice cream van, and I’ve also worked as a care officer with Social Services. However, I always dreamt of having my own business, and balloons and flower arranging have always been a passion of mine.

Eleven years ago, due to a long term health issue, my employment as a care officer came to an end. Knowing that I was unlikely to gain employment with another organisation and not wanting to be idle, I drew upon my previous experiences when I sold balloons at fairs.

After doing some research with the balloon association (NABAS), I travelled around the country to take various courses to gain the skills and relevant certification needed to help me confidently run a balloon decoration business.

Initially the business was run from home, but it soon became obvious from the amount of orders and enquiries that I was receiving, that I would need to diversify.

With that in mind, I completed a floristry course at college over the next five years, and also I took privately-run, jewellery-making classes, then later venturing out to hat and fascinator-making classes. Once again this led to traveling around the country to secure the best possible training courses and classes.

I steadily grew the business by setting up stalls in hospitals, care homes, day centres and the DVLA, where I sold gifts, jewellery, vases, artificial flowers and greeting cards. Customers would often ask where my shop was located. Opening a shop seemed the most obvious next move.

In November 2014, I opened my shop in Swansea. It was a very proud moment.

Having a shop allowed me to increase the range of products I could sell, so I introduced a range of mirrored furniture, mirrors, wall clocks, wall art and many more fabulous eye-catching pieces.

An added bonus with having premises meant that I was able to stock more and more items, with plenty of much-needed storage space for wedding/special occasion items etc.

I created a work area for flowers and to create floral tributes, which opened up a further opportunity to take on corporate orders.

I provide many services, including decor for weddings, civil ceremonies, engagements, christenings, baby showers, anniversaries, birthday celebrations and corporate events.

Most recently I dressed and decorated the EH Awards venue with glittering balloon table decorations, anchored and lit up by twinkling fairy lights. The tables and chairs were dressed with glittering gold sashes and the stage was flanked with EH-printed balloon towers.

I create beautiful flower tributes/designs for any occasion, and also balloon designs which can be as spectacular as you want. If you want unique and extraordinary, then that’s what I do. I can give your event the wow factor!

We also offer a hire service for bigger displays for weddings, parties etc with a delivery, set-up and collection service.

At Designs By Mo you have a free consultation, where we endeavour to give full attention to detail, to make the occasion unique to the customer’s requirements.

We strive for perfection and we like our designs to stand out, to be different, to give the wow factor. People cannot help but ask “who did those?!”

My hope is that the business continues to grow, that we continue to gain more customers from personal recommendation, or who stumble across our designs and are impressed by what they see.

I am constantly learning new ideas and tricks of this fascinating trade, to make the most creative and unique designs I possibly can. They are getting more daring, more impressive, more extravagant, more OTT, and I absolutely love it!

Only the sky and our imagination is the limit - and when I get there, I think I’ll keep on going!

You can visit Mo at her shop: Designs By Mo: 20 Llangyfelach Street, Swansea, SA1 2BQ

Visit the website: www.designsbymo.co.uk

You can follow her on Facebook: Facebook.com/maueen/