As Talking Tables celebrates the company’s 25th anniversary this year, founder and ceo Clare Harris revealed to The Times this week (7 August), it was the Millennium that really helped to drive her business forward.
“I was able to put a collection together that the retailers could say was for the biggest party the world was ever going to have – the Millennium. So the gap was there and the opportunity was there, because retailers wanted to get behind the Millennium,” she told the newspaper’s Hannah Prevett.
A Christmas range followed in 2001, and today, Talking Tables counts John Lewis, Tesco, Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer and Amazon as key retailers.
A B Corp and global leader in design-led table and party products, the company is aiming for an annual turnover of £25m in 2024 to match the company’s 25 years.
Winner of a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise last year, Clare also received The Greats Outstanding Achievement Award in 2023 – the highest accolade within the industry – and was recently named among the top 100 UK women in business by E2E and the Independent.
“It’s been a wonderful 25 years,” states Clare. “Bringing people together has always been at the heart of everything I do. Whether that’s socially around a table, or commercially in a meeting room, my aim is to create those magic moments.”
Talking Tables’ online presence and strategic B2B partnerships have ensured their products reach a global audience, helping to make gatherings and celebrations special across the UK, EU, USA and further afield.
As Clare, Mark and the team look forward to the next 25 years, there are ambitious plans afoot to grow Talking Tables further still.
Top: Clare Harris, founder and ceo of Talking Tables was interviewed by The Times this week.
