Author
Chloe Shearman
Looking for the perfect gift? Bought locally? Supporting an independent and innovative business? Sustainable? Well… you’re in luck. We have an abundance of creative startups in our community creating and inventing unique products that make the perfect gift.
Here’s a few of them…
1) Soapstone
Pete Barr and Eli Heath, founders of Enayball and The Soapstone have just graduated as one of six compassionate innovators on the 7th CRL Accelerator Cohort. Originally, Pete and Eli were developing Enayball, a tool making art accessible to people with disabilities. Inventors by nature, when Covid-19 hit, they momentarily pivoted to create a solution to the plastic waste created by plastic hand sanitiser bottles.
In comparison to plastic hand sanitisers, Soapstone is an aesthetic delight. It attaches easily to your bag, belt or keys for ease of use and can be used on the go with just one hand. You can also customise your Soapstone with a range of loops, from sustainable leather to coloured ropes.
You watch their Demo Day pitch here and support them on Kickstarter here.
Soapstone price: £21
2) Gomi Design
Brighton local sustainable startup Gomi Design are rethinking the future of sustainable living, by transforming waste materials into everyday technology products. They create beautiful and unique portable chargers made with waste plastic and waste batteries, each one completely unique from the next.
And if that’s not already impressive enough, you can charge your device up to 5x with a single charge of the Gomi charger, it’s lightweight, and you can charge two devices at once, should you wish.
Check out Gomi Portable chargers here.
Gomi Portable Charger price: £69
3) Lois O’Hara
We’re huge fans of Plus X Brighton member Lois O’Hara’s artwork. Her large-scale pieces have not only taken Brighton by storm but have made it as far as Australia. In 2021, we will be collaborating with Lois to bring her art to the BRITE floors at Plus X Brighton.
You can bring the joy and delight of her art into your life with prints, phone cases and even basketballs – check out her shop here.
Lois O’Hara price range: £5 – £65
4) Gamely Games
Gamely have moved into Plus X Brighton to scale up their business on the BRITE (Brighton Research Innovation Technology Exchange) business support programme. Winner of the Amazon 2019 small business of the year award and famed for being told by Peter Jones on Dragon’s Den that she’d regret not taking an offer of investment, Hazel Reynolds, founder of Gamely has been on quite a ride.
Hazel created the first game, Randomise, as a fun way to lure her 12-year-old sister off of her iPad and connecting with the family at Christmas. The game became loved by the family and soon, they all convinced her to quit her job and start a Kickstarter. Fast forward to the following Christmas and Randomise was in the top 10 card games on Amazon.
Gamely now create and sell a whole range of games, grab one for Christmas here. You can also read our interview with Hazel here.
Gamely price range: £8.99 – £50
5) Maker’s Cabinet
Comprised of Odin (head of design), Noah (head of sales) and Ben (head of marketing), Makers Cabinet are pioneering the future of great design and uncompromised quality in the specialist stationary industry. Since graduating from the CRL Accelerator, the brand has raised over £500,000 from product launches and crowdfunding and has retained all shares of their business as they continue to grow.
Their first product, the Høvel, is an entirely reimagined pencil sharpener. The Høvel pencil plane enables you to whittle your pencil perfectly to any desired point. Their most recent release the Iris, allows you to draw and measure single, concentric, or even shaded circles with its unique moving aperture. Iris is made with utmost care and consideration, featuring a solid brass body and carefully selected corrosion-resistant stainless spring steel leaves.
You can get yourself some Maker’s Cabinet tools here or check out our interview with Maker’s Cabinet here.
Maker’s Cabinet price range: £36 – £108
6) Myomaster
MyoMaster is on a mission to build the biggest athlete recovery community in the world. They are creating game-changing recovery technology that improves performance and reduces the chance of injury for everybody who exercises. Now the official recovery tech partner of some of the biggest sporting clubs in the UK, they’ve grown fourfold this year.
From massage guns and compression devices to gym accessories, find the perfect gift for the sportsperson in your family here. You can also see their Demo Day pitch here.
Myomaster price range: £3.99 – £599
Interested in surrounding yourself with creative and innovative entrepreneurs and businesses by joining the Plus X community? We would love to meet you and show you around.
Book your tour at Plus X Brighton.
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