Name: Tara Lane

From: Kilcock, Co Kildare

Base: Running the business (Centrepiece Rosettes) from a workshop in an old coach house in the yard of my family home, Bridestream House, a former equestrian centre. I live here with my husband, John, and three daughters, Emma, Lucy and Lily. My mum Anne Lane also lives here in the main house.

Experience in the equestrian industry: I never remember learning to ride, I was sitting on a pony before I could toddle but I started competing at three years of age in lead rein and progressed up through working hunters until moving onto horses and competing at open Riding Club level for many years before starting a family.

I have always been involved in the bloodstock industry having worked at Weatherbys Ireland for 10 years before moving on to Juddmonte Farms and temping with industry leaders such as Moyglare Stud, Sycamore Lodge Veterinary Clinic and Goffs. I still am involved on sales days at Goffs, it gives me a day off out of the workshop.

Why did you opt to start your business? I started Centrepiece Rosettes in March 2016 as I wanted to be at home for my mum, Anne, who many will know from her little white trailer selling equestrian books at Tatts and many events across the country, as she is now approaching 90 years of age. I had been working in marketing and sales. I love the equestrian world, business and crafts so a rosette business seemed to be ideal. We all love our rosettes and we really enjoy making them. I started it at the kitchen table, and it has now grown to employing four people and we send out approx. 2,500 rosettes per week during the busy season.

What does your job involve? Initially I when I started the business I was doing everything, but as the business has grown, I have had to put processes and procedures in place for each area and train staff so that each department of the business is covered. I am constantly developing products, researching and sourcing machines to improve our production, and working on business development. Currently I look after stock control, production planning, sales, accounts, marketing and business development. We have two ladies who look after sewing and then a workshop manager who looks after the assembly and despatch.

How many people do you employ? We currently employ four including myself, but I can see us increasing this by another two people within the next year.

Was there any start up grants available to you? I have always had a great relationship with my Local Enterprise Office in Co Kildare, and I would encourage anyone in business or starting a business to contact their local office. They are a great source of training, mentorship and grants. I have been lucky enough to receive a grant towards one of the machines and it improved our production turnaround time from the day it arrived. I am looking at another centreboard printing machine now so I will be back onto them.

The business has been self-funded apart from that. We have grown slowly and reinvested back into the business constantly, including purchasing one of our competitors (O’Sullivans Rosettes) in December 2017 so we would have a second set of machines. I am constantly watching out for new machines as these are needed as the business grows and we increase staff.

What do you enjoy about your job most? We really enjoy producing the rosettes, we make everything in-house, the ribbon comes in on rolls, we pleat it and sew it into the round or oval shapes. A lot of companies glue their rosettes, but I find sewing the rosette gives a better finish. We also only use the Elizabethan pleat unless the design calls for another type of pleat and this gives a denser, more solid rosette. Every rosette is checked on packing and if we don’t love it, it doesn’t go out and we remake.

My workshop manager, Becky, knows the standards that I like and she is on the same wavelength so its great reassurance to me. I love when I scroll down through Facebook or open The Irish Field and see our rosettes and sashes in the photos. One week in The Irish Field we had our rosettes pictured at a local show and one of our sashes being worn by an Olympic rider in the prize-giving. We get so much positive feedback about our rosettes and lovely comments; it makes the 6am starts and the late-night finishes in the workshop worth it. I also get to meet and chat with lovely people and its exciting providing rosettes to shows and events that I would have competed at over the years.

What is the most challenging part of your job? The last minute orders. We are constantly busy, and we have a lovely book of very loyal customers who are with us from the very beginning. As the business grows, we get lots of new customers, which is great. Sometimes they are in a pickle or forgot to order so it can get stressful trying to help them out and look after our orders that are already in production but we do manage it and we are building up stocks this year to try and keep ahead.

What is the future for Centrepiece Rosettes? We have exciting new products coming on board. We have just launched our new two-tone engraved centres which are fabulous and are ideal for championships, international shows etc. I developed these from a product that I saw being used for something totally different, so we are the first company in the world that I know of, that does these centres.

We can also now produce competition plaques for international events and shows and we are also introducing oval rosettes to the range.