Emma has key role to play in bringing people together

She might not be considered a key worker, but Edinburgh entrepreneur Emma Tulloch would dispute that her products are not in some way “essential” for families and friends suffering lockdown separation.

Personalised keyring from Edinburgh-based gift retailer Twenty-Seven

Founder of gift retailer Twenty-Seven, based at Castlebrae Business Centre, Emma has been operating as a partner with online shopping platform Not On The High Street for the past eight years.

With the Capital’s small bricks-and-mortar independents dealing with temporary closure, her business has seen growing demand for its unique, personalised gifts – from handcrafted jewellery to wooden toys and exclusive homewares.

Emma admits there have been challenges in finding ways to best serve customers while also protecting staff, in keeping with government Covid-19 guidelines.

“Our team members are currently rotating every three weeks to help me reduce our lead times and increase the volume of orders we can accept daily,” she says.

“We are really lucky to have a large studio with lots of space to allow our very small team to practise social distancing.”

She has been touched by the number of people seeking to make a special connection with others.

“We’ve seen that it’s really important at the moment for our customers to be able to send gifts to friends and loved ones at a time when they can’t visit. Whether it’s a birthday, a new baby or a loss we have been able to send a card or a gift on our customer’s behalf, allowing them to add a personal touch even when they can’t do so themselves,” adds Emma.

“The messages we have received from our customers have assured us we are doing the right thing. They are so grateful that we can send items with handwritten messages to bring some happiness to their friends in need.”

Easter, when many families felt the separation most keenly, was a particularly busy time.

Emma continues: “At the moment, our most popular items have been small items such as engraved keyrings, personalised necklaces, and greetings cards, with lots of happy birthday messaging and ‘just to say’ or ‘thinking of you’ notes.

“So while we are not an ‘essential’ service as such, I think we are able to offer something else – something that brings people together at this difficult time.”

www.notonthehighstreet.com/partners/twentyseven