The part I love most about being a trade show reporter is seeing the new products, obviously. It’s often like going to the biggest department store ever and getting a little giddy because there are so many lovely things. Brands make a huge effort at exhibitions like Ambiente as there are thousands and thousands of individual products to charm even the weariest of buyers. These products will quite literally be coming to a store near you (or maybe an online shop) soon. What is surprising sometimes is how a brand can have been ‘under the radar’ and then boom they knock your socks off. This happened with Eat Sleep Doodle who I met at Frankfurt’s Ambiente fair (see here for my other favourite picks).
Thankfully I can pinpoint why they haven’t been at the forefront of my attention, and this gives me some comfort for being blinkered. I haven’t been focused on kids products launches, as my day job has me trained to seek out interiors and home accessories. I seem to have a homing beacon for wallpaper and chairs or a smart use of concrete. The remarkable thing is timing though. I have a 4-year-old who loves to draw, absolutely loves it. So when I saw the team at Eat Sleep Doodle presented in the product speed dating event I attended, it made me sit up and pay attention. Hey, I thought, it’s a home accessory product but aimed at KIDS. Oh, and my son would love it. It turns out the team behind Eat Sleep Doddle are an incredibly nice bunch too. I spent quite a while with CEO Chrissy Probert Jones talking about her days working for Magazines such as being the beauty editor at Vogue and deputy editor at Brides. She also liked my lipstick, which you know was a “moment”. The company was started in 2012 with one product line that wasn’t particularly aimed at children. The central idea is about unique textile gifts with wash-out pens. Doodle, wash and then re-doodle. It’s part stationery, part textile and ultimately customised by you or your kids. Now there is a range of pillowcases, placemats, duvet cover, tablecloths, backpacks, pencil cases and more. Each item comes with a set of wash-out pens so that you can colour and personalise. Then, when you’re ready, you just pop them in the washing machine, and the ink disappears, ready to be re-drawn, re-coloured and re-customised.
I was given a world map pillowcase in my press pack which I can say has gone down a storm in our house. I had a little doodle while on the stand and particularly liked that then pens came with a “fat nib” and a “fine liner”. When I got it out for some rainy day fun at home, all my son was interested in was the thicker end so he could draw trains. I found the pillow to be a really great talking point about which countries we have visited and where we would like to go. As you will be familiar with we travel a lot (my 4-year-old has taken over 30 flights!) but what was fascinating was his desire to go and visit Africa to see the big cats (like Kion from the Lion Guard Mummy!), Paris to visit his friend Evie and wanting to find out where Father Christmas lived. In an age of ipads and short attention-spans this is a really thoughtful and unique playtime idea that I think the whole family will enjoy – as long as the ink is limited to the pillowcase and not to furniture (thank goodness it’s washable!). I look forward to many more world map adventures.
It was such a pleasure to find a playful brand like Eat Sleep Doodle at Ambiente. Thank you to Eat Sleep Doodle for gifting me the pillowcase. I attended Frankfurt Ambiente as a member of the press delegation and the guest of Messe Frankfurt, this means that my flights and accommodation was paid for.
This is not a sponsored post.