Sara Davies

As the founder and creative director of Crafter’s Companion, a company which was established while studying for a Business Management degree at York University, Sara Davies MBE has achieved great success through her ground-breaking craft product. It was during a placement at a small craft company that she spotted the need in the market for a tool that could create bespoke envelopes for handmade cards. With help from her retired engineer father, Sara designed a ground-breaking craft product called The Enveloper.

After securing a slot on TV shopping channel Ideal World, The Enveloper instantly gained mass popularity, selling 1,500 in the first ten minutes and 30,000 units within six months of the initial demonstration. This demand led Sara to develop her first line of innovative products for the craft market. As a result, a first-class honours degree was not the only thing that Sara finished university with, she also left with a business turning over half a million pounds.

Today, Crafter’s Companion is a well-known and highly regarded name in the industry. It has expanded its range of papercraft products to include sewing and needlecraft items, in addition to its own brand of art materials, Spectrum Noir.

The company's 200 employees continue to design, manufacture and sell its craft-related products to customers across 40 countries. Although its head office, warehouse and store remain in County Durham, and its stores in Chesterfield and Evesham, Crafter’s Companion also has a US head office and warehouse in Corona, California.

Crafter’s Companion has appeared in the Sunday Times’ SME Export Track 100 list four times. It ranked at number 73 in 2019, 31 in 2018, after experiencing 72% year-on-year-growth in export sales, 52 in 2017 and number 26 in 2015.

The Ernst & Young UK Emerging Entrepreneur, Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur, Women of the Future Award and the Stevie Women in Business award for Young Entrepreneur, as well as International Business of the Year at the Federation of Small Businesses Awards, are just some of the 25 awards collected by Sara for her entrepeneurship and the company's accomplishments. 

Sara has also been recognised in the ‘Who’s Who of Britain’s Business Elite’ and CNBC’s UK’s ‘Top Ten Brilliant Entrepreneurs’ and received the Creative Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

In 2016, Sara was presented with an MBE in the Her Majesty’s Birthday Honours List, for services to the economy.

Sara regularly features on the Create and Craft TV channel in the UK, in addition to the Home Shopping Network (HSN) in the US and QVC Germany. She was the founding Chair of the board of directors at the Craft Hobby Association UK, now known as the AFCI-UK, which complements her role on the board of the affiliate US chapter.

The entrepreneur is passionate about championing women in business, mentoring and the North East of England. Most recently, Sara was named as the youngest entrepreneur to join BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den.

For further information or to book Sara Davies, call us on +44 (0)20 7607 7070 or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk