This week Oxford Fashion Society interviewed Dominique Piche, co-founder and Creative Director of UPROSA. The UK-based company creates a range of striking fashion and tech accessories printed with scientific imagery sourced from laboratories all around the globe! Dominique is currently studying for a DPhil in Nanoscience at the University of Oxford, as we chat entrepreneurial musings, Oxbridge life and Christmas wishlists...
What was your 'lightbulb' moment and how did the idea for your
company originate?
The original idea was actually supposed to be a
spin-off from a biotech company which Nik (the CEO) was writing a business plan
for during his Master’s. Nik was discussing the idea of selling scientific
images generated from the biotech’s imaging technology as art prints, as a way
of generating revenue for the company whilst it was in the R&D phase. I was
in the same room at the time taking a break from doing experiments in my lab
next door, and as a scientist, I was intrigued by this conversation and joined
in. I was interested in the idea of using scientific images as a way of
showcasing the seriously cool research that is going on in university labs to
the general public. Following many coffees and dominoes fueled discussions,
this idea evolved into creating a design brand that offers products created
from real scientific images. The products act as the voice for communicating
scientific research to the curious consumer, whilst supporting researchers by
sharing 15% of the profits back to the scientist behind the design.
Can you explain the process of creating your products, from the
initial concepts and obtaining scientific images to manufacture and sales?
We wanted to offer popular products that could be
accessible to a wide audience, and which could also be produced with
high-quality prints and good profit margins. This is why we chose tech
accessories and tote bags. The next step was to identify suitable suppliers, we
only use UK-based suppliers and all of our products are hand-made in the UK to
ensure top quality and fast turnaround times.
In regards to sourcing the images, as we were
originally based in the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of
Cambridge, we were able to reach out to our immediate network to build our
initial portfolio of products. Then we started approaching researchers from
universities all over the world who not only had great images, but were also
undertaking fascinating research. We are fortunate to be at the stage now where
scientists approach us, we frequently receive image submissions directly via
our online submission form on our website.
Selling is the tricky part as there are so many
different directions to pursue. As we sell predominately online at the moment,
we are exploring a range of digital marketing strategies, from social media
marketing, to email campaigns. To gain traction online however, you also have
to be noticed offline, and we are working hard to build our brand. We have been
featured in fashion magazines such as Vogue and Glamour. We also have a number
of exciting promotional events in the pipeline, we recently retailed with the
ASOS Marketplace at the Clothes Show in Birmingham. In January we are
exhibiting at CES (Consumer Electronics Tradeshow) in Las Vegas. We also recently
retailed at the British Science Festival, so as you can see we are testing
marketing channels across the fashion, tech and science sectors to see which
work best for us. We have also recently launched an affiliate program, where
anyone who likes our products can be paid for recommending them to friends and
family. This is working well for those who have signed up already, so if you
like our products and want to earn for recommending us then sign up!
What role do fashion and trends play when you create your designs,
and how do you manage to fuse the distinct elements of science and art?
Fashion trends play absolutely no role in creating our
designs, as our designs are real scientific images generated by scientists
themselves. However you could say scientific ‘trends’ do – for example graphene
has been a hot topic in research, therefore we have a lot of graphene-based
designs. We let the science define the designs! Perhaps when we start introducing
more sci-fashion products trends will start to become important for us.
The elements of science and art are not distinct in my
opinion, scientific research in itself requires a lot of creativity, and the
scientific images are artistic in their own right. The difference in defining
science as ‘art’ is how you are looking at it. We have simply stripped away the
academic label and technical jargon usually attached to scientific content,
allowing people to view microscopy images from a different, more design-oriented
perspective.
With many fashion labels now dominating the tech accessories market
(such as Paul Smith, Marc Jacobs and Kate Spade), how do you compete and
attract consumers?
The only way to compete with big brands is to offer
something different. Our unique selling point is that not only are our designs
colourful and visually striking, but they are real scientific images. Each of
our designs is by a real scientist – customers can read about the scientist
behind their design and what research they are working on – it adds an element
of intrigue to our products which Paul Smith, Marc Jacobs etc. cannot compete
with ;).
Who would you say are UPROSA’s target consumers?
Our target consumers include science-lovers, art
lovers and fashion lovers. We have some customers who buy because they love the
fact the designs are scientific images, and others who buy purely because they
like the colourful designs. Our target age ranges from 16 to 30.
Can you explain a little bit about Oxford Launchpad, and how it's
helped your business venture?
The Oxford Launchpad is a free working space for
Oxford based start-ups and is the best place to go if you are interested in, or
already pursuing your own start-up. We have been working from the Launchpad for
almost a year now, and it has helped us enormously, not just by giving us a
nice space to work from, but also the support network around you where there is
a wealth of advice, contacts and good events to take advantage of. Through the
Launchpad we have been able to get valuable advice from MBA students, computer
scientists, investors, etc., all facilitated by the Launchpad curator, James
Murray.
With fashion brands now dependent on social media to market
themselves and stay relevant to the new generation, how important is
Instagram/Facebook/Twitter for your company?
Very important! For us the main focus is Instagram
because it is an image-based platform so it’s a great tool for us to showcase
the scientific images we have curated. We have learnt that it takes quite a lot
of effort and time to build up a good social media following when you are a
company, so for the meantime we are only focusing on growing our Instagram
account.
Do you have any future plans to extend your business or introduce
more products?
We have lots of plans for the future, the difficulty
is deciding in which direction to head! We are definitely planning on
introducing new products, some accessories we have discussed include socks and
stationary. We want to become the #1 shop in the world for real science-based
products so watch this space!
And finally, for those of us who are yet to start any Christmas
shopping! Can you recommend any of your products to suit a range of budgets?
Our phone cases are great gifts for any budget at
£19.90! For those looking to give someone a special treat, I recommend our
colourful MacBook cases, which are £49.90.
OFS exclusive! UPROSA are offering our readers a 15% discount on all purchases at www.uprosa.com using the discount code OFS15 so get a head start on your festive gifting...
Also follow UPROSA on twitter @theuprosashop and Instagram @_uprosa_
By Lottie Jackson
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