Building an Irish Brand People Love with Pawpear

Well, welcome to season 10 of the award-winning Retail Tea Break podcast. My name is Melissa Moore, The Retail Advisor. I'm a retail educator, trainer and retail conference MC, and each week as your host, I'll be joined by industry experts, retailers, and brands to dispel the myths, share their knowledge, and give you an insight into the retail industry. There's over a hundred episodes now that you can listen back to on your favourite podcast platform, or of course, go and watch us on YouTube.

And while you're there, please do hit that follow button so that you get to listen first every week. And remember, caring is sharing in this industry, so share an episode across any of the platforms with your network, and if you're on LinkedIn or Instagram, tag me, Melissa Moore and the Retail Tea Break podcast. Oooh.. and a little secret we've been keeping, you can now find the Retail Tea Break podcast on Substack.

You'll get to read my take on each episode with extra learnings and lots more insight, so subscribe to the Retail Tea Break podcast on Substack today. So in the meantime, grab that cup of tea, sit back and enjoy season 10 of the glorious Retail Tea Break podcast. This episode of the Retail Tea Break podcast is brought to you by SCAYLE, the enterprise commerce platform, empowering B2C brands and retailers to easily create outstanding customer experiences with a seamless and flexible feature set that can be extended through APIs.

Trusted by brands like Levi Strauss®️ , Harrods, Manchester United and Deichmann, SCAYLE enables businesses to accelerate innovation and drive real growth. So for more information, visit SCAYLE.com today. So today I'm joined by an incredible creative with more than 20 years experience in print, stationary and brand design.

She began her career in London as a stationary designer for a high-end fine stationary boutique, creating work for clients, including the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell, and the Grenadier Guards. She spotted an opportunity to create a design-led stationary brand made here in Ireland, supporting local manufacturing while bringing a contemporary expression of Ireland to retail, inspired by Ireland's, landscapes, language, and cultural heritage. So founded in 2022 from her rural Waterford studio, Pawpear is now stocked in over 80 retailers across Ireland, the UK, Europe, and the United States with collaborations including Guinness and Trinity College's Book of Kells.

Kim Whyte, founder of Pawpear, welcome to the Retail Tea Break podcast. Thanks so much for having me, Melissa. It's an honour. Oh, I'm thrilled to have you.

We've obviously known each other for quite a while, and as I said to you recently, I just keep seeing the work everywhere. It was like a sign I had to have you on. So very excited to kind of hear about your journey over the last few years. But look in the age old tradition of The Retail Tea Break podcast, in the time that it takes to boil a kettle, which of course is about two minutes we're all told, tell us a little bit more about you and your background in the industry.

Sure. So your intro was, uh, there's not much more I can add to it, but I'll try. Thank you. So I'm Kim Whyte.

I'm the founder of Pawpear. I'm an illustrator and designer, and my background is in design and print. So I studied visual communication at Limerick School of Art and Design. And then I worked at a commercial printers early in my career, and then I spent over 20 years in design, including, as you mentioned, as a stationary designer in London.

And then I later led a creative team at a global not-for-profit. And Pawpear wasn't like some completely random leap. I was definitely the child that collected fancy notepaper and obsessed over it. Didn't we all?

The smelly stuff, the nice stuff, the pretty stuff, yes. Yeah, I still have some of it. I mean, it was, yeah, it was a special time. But equally I'd spent years kind of understanding print production and materials and design and how creative ideas work commercially.

So when I returned to Ireland, I set up my own brand design consultancy called Figgydoo. That was going well. But the idea of owning my own stationary brand was sort of like an itch that I couldn't scratch. And I saw an opportunity to create something that was contemporary and proudly Irish and commercially strong.

So Pawpear launched in 2022 and today, we're stocked in, it's, it's gonna be over 90 retailers. And as you mentioned, the collaborations including Guinness and, and Trinity College, Dublins Book of Kells. So it's going well. That's an understatement.

It really is. And I'm definitely going to pick that apart. But actually one thing that I think reminds me of you is you've spoken a lot about the importance of mentorship in business. How influential have people like the great Thomas Ennis, we've had him on the podcast, an amazing, amazing retailer.

How, I suppose, influential have people like that been and helping you shape not your skill because you have that and you own it, but I suppose your confidence, the business decision making and the growth, of course, over the last few years? Mentorship has been absolutely instrumental. Like I don't come from a business background, so learning from people who actually built businesses has been invaluable to me. Thomas Ennis has had a huge impact on me personally and professionally.

And from right at the beginning. So I joined the Back for Business programme. I'm sure your listeners are familiar with it. But it's for returning Irish immigrants.

And Pawpear was literally like, it was just an idea, a sketch in a notebook. And I remember telling Thomas about it and he asked when I thought I'd have products ready to sell, and I said six months. And he said, can you do it in three? And I, I did.

And by the end of the programme, like, my website was up and running. I was selling products that I had designed and produced. And like what he, what Thomas gave me wasn't just encouragement, like it was a kind of an urgency. He said, you know, I, I don't want you to miss the boat with this.

And he believed in me and, and like really practical commercial advice. And like, he, he really saw the potential from day one. And then later, when the business was at a different stage and kind of wholesale was growing, I did the Back for Business for development programme and Paul Duggan was a lead entrepreneur for my round table. And he, he was like hugely helpful from a kinda strategic perspective.

So like, Thomas kind of helped get me, get me moving and, Paul kinda helped me to think bigger. I'm still in touch with both of them and they're like, they're just phenomenal people. And so supportive. And then I, I work with Ruth Larkin.

She has been a fantastic mentor, like practical and experience and incredibly generous with her knowledge. I've worked with her through kind of the local enterprise office and now with Mentors Work. And I, I think for me, like mentors are teaching me things that I wouldn't learn in the book, simply because they've lived it. And if I was to do a business course now, I wouldn't learn the things that they have taught me, you know?

Pawpear isn't, wouldn't be where it is today without the mentors that have helped me along the way and continue to help me. I think that's really good advice for people listening. As you say, like this industry moves at such a rate that actually reading a book and trying to learn business from a book wouldn't work anyway nowadays. But as you say, you need the reality check.

You need the good, bad, the ugly. You want Thomas saying to you, actually, urgent, do it now. Don't wait, don't wait till it's perfect. And I think that's really valuable advice that, mentors are people that have been there.

They've seen the good and the bad. They've seen the ugly bits, they know the lived reality. They can mind you through the pitfalls, but they're still gonna be there to let you make mistakes that you're gonna learn from. But I think it's that guidance, isn't it, that we, we all need.

Yeah. Oh, for sure. Like, like Paul checks in with me every so often and like we that, like they're just, they really care, you know what I mean? They, and they want to see you succeed.

And, and also because they've been through it, you know, more than once, they can see where you're going as well, and they, they see the opportunity, they see the vision, and they understand it, and they, they're gonna kind of help you get, get there. And actually on that then I suppose scaling, growing, being on that journey, as you said, your stock now in so many retailers and not just in Ireland, of course, across the world. What's that like then scaling the business while, I suppose still staying true to what you believe in your values, obviously Pawpear's identity.

I think one of the biggest lessons for me has been not to be seduced by economies of scale too early. Yeah, so that, that, that happened in a big way at the, in the beginning. And you know, like, as a product-based business, it's, it's so easy to, to think lower unit cost equals better business. But, that only works obviously if you, if you sell all the units.

And I learned that fairly quickly. That overbuying stock, you know, because the mass look attractive is, is a trap. The other lesson, and, and this is a big one for me actually, was kind of building systems before chasing growth, like putting systems in place before they're urgently needed. Like revenue kind of without that operational structure can create chaos.

And so I reached out to my local enterprise office and they suggested the Lean for Business programme. So I worked with a great man called Ian White and we mapped all my kind of processes and workflows and we identified kinda where there was like time wasting and this and that. So I've become much more intentional about systems and inventory management and kind of integrated digital tools and things. And I've, I'm really designing the business to scale properly.

So like, even though I'm still a lean operation, I want someone to be able to step in and understand how the business runs. Like I don't want to a growth to create unnecessary complexity, like. And then I learned that repeat orders will tell you far more than first orders. Like it's very exciting when you onboard a new retailer, but a retailer coming back again and again tells you that the product is working.

And, so that, that's been great to see, to see those kind of patterns. And then, you know, I've been very conscious of protecting the brand as we grow. Like growth is wonderful, but not if you dilute kind of what's made people connect with it in the first place. Like my customers are fantastic and I like, it's, it's Pawpear is predominantly wholesale led brand, but on the occasions where I do meet the customers at things like the Irish Popup Collective, which is twice a year run by, the brilliant Debbie Millington and Kate Fine, that I get to meet the customers and they tell me, you know, what, what the, what the products mean to them.

And that has been fascinating actually, because I'm like, oh, you get it. You, like, they're talking the way I would talk about the products. Like, you know? The passion is there.

Yeah. And it's, oh God, that means the world. It really does. And what I find fascinating, actually, you mentioned the last time we spoke, is that you've noticed this and it's got gorgeous, gorgeous trend of your customers.

So we'd say like the first customer then gifting obviously Pawpear to another customer, and that second customer then coming back, it's this lovely loop and it's building this emotional connection. And as you say, this then enables that customer to be as passionate about Pawpear as you are. That, that has been one of the loveliest things to witness. Like, so for example, a woman in Dublin, she ordered stationary, like two boxes to be sent directly to her friends and Cork and Kerry, with just a little note, like I put in the handwritten note, saw this lovely stationery and thought of you.

And then those recipients ordered the stationery then for, for others. And then the others ordered it for themselves and like, it, it was just, it was a amazing like, kind of connection to see and this little kind of chain reaction and what it tells me is that people, they're not just buying stationary, they're buying the feeling behind it. And like that idea of the kind of handwritten communication, these are boxes of cards, you know, that, you know, they'll go, they'll send those on to their kind of loved ones and like that kind of meaningful kind of connection and communication and just the thoughtfulness behind it.

And I think, like for me, that's incredibly meaningful as a founder. And I was at Showcase in January and a woman, she's a loyal customer now for a while, her name's Carrie. She came over to me 'cause she was at Showcase supporting her husband. And she spoke so beautifully about what she loved about the brand.

Like she said, "oh, I saw that you were exhibiting here and I just want, I had to come over", and of course I recognised her name and, I joked the way she articulated what she loved about the brand, I joked with her that she should be writing my website copy, you know? Like these interactions are so valuable. Because they just, they tell you what the brand means beyond the transaction, you know? And I love that because also that it's talking about the brand in the customer voice.

I think there's an awful lot of founders, makers, creators want their wording, their language to get out there, but actually, no, what's more important is how the customer talks about you, their language. 'Cause obviously other customers are going to utilise that. I love that you've recognised that, but actually you've reminded me, we haven't actually talked about the brand itself. So for those listening who may not know you, do tell us a little bit about what it is you are producing with the stationary.

So, so the name Pawpear is a phonetic spelling of the Irish word for paper. And I'm an illustrator and I illustrate, by hand, that all the designs and they're all, inspired by Ireland, by our like landscapes, the Irish language is the first language in all the products with English translation. And I produce, prints and writing sets and greeting cards and greeting card boxes, the bestselling product is a box of greeting cards. And we do little miniature greeting cards, which launched in January of this year.

And little bookmark packs that have the kind of seanfhocails with the translation. And oh, like Pawpear for me, it's a love letter to Ireland. Like that's what it is. It's made in Ireland as well, so I'm, it's very important to me that I use Irish suppliers.

So it's designed and made in Ireland and it's celebrating Ireland and it's everything Ireland, like it's, it's something I'm hugely passionate about. I bring out new designs twice a year and I work from my a small studio in west Waterford onto my home. And yeah, I absolutely love it. And that, that's Pawpear in a nutshell.

A love letter to Ireland, really. Awh! Like, the reason it exists really is to help people connect more meaningfully. Like I grew up with pen pals like from all over the world.

I dunno if anyone remembers the IYS Pen Pal society thing. At one point I had 11 on the go. And like, I just, I love sending cards. I still write letters.

I write letters to myself. I think it's, it's something that makes us human, that kind of, that handwritten connection piece. There's nothing quite like it. And like with kind of instant messaging, the norm, the idea of kinda sending a, you know, a handwritten greeting card, you know, like it's, it kind of, it usually they become a kind of a keepsake in someone's memory box, you know?

I, I know I keep a lot of mine and I keep, I've kept every letter. Yeah, I think it's important. I think it's so important nowadays. Everyone has a phone in their hand.

We can obviously jump online like this so easily that for someone to take the time out of their day and to go to the effort of writing a card, a letter, then posting it, receiving it is like Christmas, isn't it? It's so unusual even to receive posts nowadays that getting something handwritten like that is just gorgeous. It is gorgeous. A friend of mine, Liv, she told me that her most treasured possession is a letter written to her the day she was born written by her grandfather and at the end, he's, he's long gone now, but at the end of the letter he wrote, "welcome to the stage, Olivia", and then he put, next to his signature, he put his thumbprint in ink.

I mean, that's, that's better than any photograph, do you know? Like it's, I I have letters and cards from people that are no longer here and like, just to have, I even keep the envelopes where they've written my name just because no one writes it like they wrote it, you know? It's, that's gorgeous. It's special.

It really is. I love this. But actually on that then, so we've, we've talked about the customer, we know the brand. You are so staunchly proud as well of being connected with Irish manufacturing and suppliers.

Why was this so important to you to support, I suppose, the Irish makers in that respect and keep those relationships at the heart of everything Pawpear does. It matters deeply to me. I'm from Youghal in east Cork, and I saw firsthand what happened when manufacturing moved outta towns like ours. The impact goes far beyond factories.

Like it affects families and communities and local economies. So supporting Irish manufacturing is not just a nice brand message for me. Like it's a genuine business principle. I'm a firm believer that if something can be made in Ireland, then it should be made in Ireland.

And like, there's practical benefits too, like closer supplier relationships and quality control and, but there's also the wider ecosystem. Independent retailers are keeping our towns and high streets alive. Irish manufacturing's keeping skills and the economy alive. As a Irish product-based business, I feel a responsibility to contribute to that ecosystem where I can.

And like even at Christmas now, like I'm very conscious that that's the most important trading period for stockists, a lot of them. So I'm not aggressively trying to pull all of that business from my own website. Like I don't actively promote sales at Christmas time for that reason. I, we need to support our retailers and our manufacturers as much as we can.

You know, I'm gonna agree with that wholeheartedly. I absolutely do. I think it, it's so needed. It's so needed.

But also, as you said, it's, it's the people aspect and also the skills aspect that I think a lot of people forget. If we don't utilise people with the skills in this country, it's gonna disappear and it ain't coming back. No, no, for sure. Like, one of the reasons why I set up Pawpear when I did after moving back to Ireland, I went to, I was kind of topping up my own stationary collection and I went to a few kind of Irish stores that stock Irish products and Irish design products and things like that.

And actually a lot of the products on the shelves, stationary products were imported. I thought, God, these are things we can make here. This, that's not right. You know?

I mean, obviously you can have a, you can have a mix for sure. But yeah, I just thought it, it shouldn't be that the, the Irish made product is the exception on the shelf, you know? Completely agree. Absolutely do.

But look, we've gotta talk about kind of the big bonanza names you've been working with because it's, oh, you definitely keep cropping up. Doesn't matter where I am in this country, which store, who I'm working with, you're obviously working now with globally recognised names. So Guinness Storehouse and the Book of Kells experience at Trinity College. It's a phenomenal achievement.

But I suppose not to take that away from you. What have those partnerships taught you about brand storytelling? Because what you've done for them is very bespoke to them, but also creating products that resonate with visitors, obviously coming here from around the world, Those collaborations, they taught me that like, heritage absolutely can feel contemporary. But like, in fact, I think it, it has to like what resonates globally isn't cliche.

Mm-hmm. It's authenticity. And with both Guinness and Trinity College Dublin's Book of Kells, the challenge was kind of respecting that heritage while creating something fresh and relevant. So I think Irish culture resonates really powerfully internationally when it's thoughtfully kind of interpreted, like we have extraordinary creative heritage.

From mediaeval manuscript artistry to like iconic commercial illustration. Like, but the question I'm always interested in is, what expression of Ireland do we want to put out in the world today? Because I'm not interested in tired visual shorthand. Like I am interested in bringing Irish cultural storytelling into contemporary everyday life.

And one of, so one of those collaborative opportunities came through direct outreach and the other, through kind of building a body of work that made sense for the opportunity. And I think partnerships like that happen when your brand stories clear and collaborative storytelling is something I'm very excited about and it's definitely something I'd love to do more of. It's been, it's been an amazing experience. There's such beautiful pieces, as you say, but it, it's contemporary and I think that's why they jump out whenever I see your product, you know, it's beautifully sat on the shelf.

You can tell it's been so well thought through. But there is a hint. So the Guinness pieces you've done, there's definitely a smack of Guinness in there, but it's you first, it's Pawpear first layered up with Guinness. The same with The Book of Kells at Trinity, it's definitely got that Book of Kells vibe.

But you know it's you, the colour palette, the beautiful way you've designed it. Like they're gorgeous pieces in the, in in their own right. Thanks Melissa. So I, like The Book of Kells is 680 pages.

They gave me access to the digital archive, so I went through all 680 pages. There's endless inspiration there. I mean, I, whittled it down to one theme, which is Winged creatures. And I stayed true to the line work.

And like I, I tried to reimagine what the pieces would've looked like when they were freshly painted. So when, when they were vibrant, you know? And then I, I created like a, a colour key. So like if it was this colour, it would correspond to this colour in the Pawpear palette.

That they trusted me to do that I think was, I mean, I remember one of our first meetings, they said we would like The Book of Kells to get the Pawpear treatment. And like, that kind of floored me. I thought there's a Pawpear treatment? That's amazing.

Yeah. But I work with 20 colours. The colour palette is 20 colours. So I've used that for Guinness, I've used that for, so like there's a lot of scope there within those, you know, and the combinations and things like that.

But it worked very well, I think for Trinity. And obviously we introduced the gold from there kind of brand palette as well. But it was honestly, but I'm so lucky with those two opportunities because both of them have been absolutely fantastic to work with. Like with Guinness, they, they give me so much creative freedom, you know?

And to be able to go through their visual archive like, and to be, to see the actual, to be in the room with the original John Gilroy paintings. And yeah, that, like, that's an, an experience I'll never forget. It was, yeah, really cool. Career highlight.

Well, you deserve it. Good, but you absolutely deserve it. And I love the fact that they're utilising what you do to, to bring a bit of magic to both those, those retail houses. Look, one question we're asking everyone this season, I suppose on that is what are you most excited or most curious about when it comes to the future of retail in any of the stockists or stores that you're in?

So, what I'm really excited about is sort of a kind of experiential retail. And what I mean by that is like, so brands like Anya Hindmarch, so like constantly evolving, constantly curious and like, but that sense of play. So like, I went to visit the Anya Village last week in London, and like she's got the Anya Cafe she's got a pop-up store that's like a kind of a Duty Free kind of themed thing. And then she's got her, her bag stores and stuff like that.

And then Anya Life, which is like these kind of novelty keyrings and stuff. I think what she's doing is like, it's so fun. Like I, I went into her, her cafe and I ordered a coffee. It was just a black coffee.

But the little biscuit that came with it was a little stamp with like King Charles on the, you know, and like the sugar is, so the white and the brown sugar and they're wrapped, they were individually wrapped and had the little, her kind of iconic eyes on it. And like, and like, it's just, it's a tiny detail. Now it was the most expensive coffee I, you know, that I had in London, that trip. But it, it was memorable.

Like, you know, it's the only one I remember, like, it was, it's so fun. And like I'm, I'm fascinated by, kind of unexpected collaborations as well. So like when two kind of very different brands come together. So for instance, Lulu Guinness X Waitrose.

Yes! So like, yeah, and Anya Hindmarsh X Boots I saw that actually a few months back. It was mind blowing that she had Carmex lip balm in a beautiful little case. And there was like little pills in a box, but it was there and it was cool and it was funky and I wanted to buy everything in the shop.

I know. It's so, like, that kind of sense of play and like, with the Lulu Guinness, you know, it's a, she's a luxury bag designer. It was a luxury shopper tote for 15 pounds. And like, and they were sold out and now they're this sought after item that you can only get on eBay and stuff.

Like it, I thought that was a stroke of genius, like, 'cause when I go to London now I see them everywhere, so of course I had to have one because there's her big kind of red lips motif, so it was a no brainer. Yeah, like that's really fun. And I like, I think like strategic yes, but clearly fun. And I think customers can feel when brands are enjoying themselves.

And I, I just think that sense of play, you know, like it's to make it memorable, make it really surprising as well. And yeah, I think like the way things are going digitally as well, I think, physical retail is a huge opportunity to become even more memorable and surprising and emotionally engaging. Oh, I completely agree. And as you said, like you bought that coffee, you will tell everyone about that coffee now.

And actually I want one of those now hearing about this. I love that playful idea, but as you said, it's building that emotional connection, which nowadays for physical stores is the only way we are getting people through the doors to buy from us, 'cause as you say, they can buy online. So it's a, it's a really, really good way, I think, to be looking to the future in. But last question, 'cause we could definitely talk all day, but I know you are busy having to fulfil orders and, and, and do lots of new exciting things.

What's coming up next for you as we kind of roll into the rest of 2026? So this is a, a really exciting year. I'm working on something beautiful at the moment, inspired by a breathtaking part of Ireland, which I can't fully reveal yet. We also have some lovely autumn winter developments in the works.

So, and those are building on, a small little thing that we launched in January that's doing extremely well. And of course I'm already thinking about Showcase 2027, so it'll be my fourth showcase. And the stand I designed in my head the night before showcase in January just gone, I couldn't sleep and I was designing it in my head and I just said, I need to bring this to life. So yeah, I'm very excited about that.

So that's in January, watch this space. And beyond that I'm very interested in kind of growing Pawpear internationally and expanding collaborative storytelling opportunities for sure. And I have no doubt that's gonna come into fruition. I'm so excited for you.

I really, really am. Well look, if you've enjoyed today's podcast episode, please do like and share it for many of the podcast platforms with your network. And of course, if you're on social media, tag me, Melissa Moore and the Retail Tea Break podcast. You can listen back to all, gosh, it's over 120 episodes now on any of those podcast platforms.

And while you're there, obviously do please hit that follow button so that you get to listen first every week. You can, of course, watch us over on YouTube and subscribe to the Retail Tea Break. You have no idea how useful that is to us. But Kim, more importantly, where can people find you?

You can find me on Instagram, it's @Pawpear.ie. And the website is Pawpear.ie.

And I'm on LinkedIn as well, which is Pawpear or Kim Whyte. Fantastic. And do you know what? We'll put loads of those in the show notes so people can come and find you.

And if you are an international retailer, uh, hint, hint, get in there now while you can, before she gets absolutely swamped after this podcast episode. Kim, it's been a pleasure. We've known each other a long time, but I am absolutely thrilled to bring this podcast episode to life. I'm so excited about what you've already done, and I have no doubt that the future's going to be exceptionally amazing too.

Thank you so much, Melissa. That means a lot. This episode of the Retail Tea Break Podcast is brought to you by SCAYLE, the enterprise commerce platform, empowering B2C brands and retailers to easily create outstanding customer experiences with a seamless and flexible feature set that can be extended through APIs. Trusted by brands like Levi Strauss®️, Harrods, Manchester United and Deichmann, SCAYLE enables businesses to accelerate innovation and drive real growth.

So for more information, visit SCAYLE.com today.