We were lucky to catch up with Sara Roberts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

From Day 1, I have asked my family and friends for help and they have always been there. Since I am running the business 100% on my own, it’s imperative that I can rely on my friends for advice, help with logistics when I need it, feedback/input on fabric and designs, help with spreading the word, and support to show up and just be there.

What I have also learned from starting a company is that you build an incredible community of other female founders. This has been one of the best parts of the hustle–the other women I have met who are hustling just the same. There is no competition or jealousy amongst us. Instead, it’s an immediate safe space to be honest, share ideas, struggles, wins, and knowledge. I have made a new set of close friends who happen to also be female founders over the past 2.5 years. I look forward to growing this network of women I can depend on for help, understanding, and shared laughter over the craziness that goes into starting your own thing. It’s an incredible shared experience we have.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After spending over 20 years working in the Fashion, Publishing, and Advertising industry, Covid hit and it was time for a change. I had been vying to make a change for a while but I didn’t know what it was I wanted to do and therefore I stayed where I was. When Covid hit, everything changed when it came to my career. I left my job at ELLE magazine where I had been for over 12 years. I am innately a super Creative person but when in those early weeks and months in March and April 2020, I started painting and dyeing textiles all the time. It was the best thing to take my mind off of the unknown plus making something everyday felt so productive and tangible — it gave me so much joy. Additionally it was the first time my family sat down for dinner every night together. Dinner during Covid, like so many households, became the highlight of the day, and I started setting the table beautifully every night with napkins, candles, and other accoutrements – anything to make it feel special. My kids, 9 and 11 at that time, took note how special the table looked and much effort was put into dinner, and I believe because of that, our dinners lasted longer, we laughed more, and we connected deeper.

It was then that something clicked; I wanted to take my Art and design textiles (napkins, tablecloths, and so on) to commemorate how special gathering around the table for a shared meal can be (and should be) either it be with family or friends..I wanted to put Art on the Table for everyone to experience, be a part of, and feel connected by. I wanted the designs to be colorful, playful, sophisticated, yet for the every day. I wanted tables to be set with personality and style–a backdrop where conversations can linger, laughter is a must, and people are relaxed and having fun.

Naming the company was easy. Goldie was my grandmother’s name (my mother’s mother). She always had a smile on her face, loved her family unconditionally, and gave my mother that same spirit who passed it onto my sister and myself. I love to entertain in the most informal sense of the word–I love having people over for any occasion. My daughter’s middle name is Goldie as is my niece’s. All the women in my family are connected by the name and we all share the love of creativity, of hosting, and connecting with the people we love.

I hope that those who follow Goldie feel a sense of warmth and joy when they use our table linens and are inspired to have more meals together as a family and of course throw more dinner parties as they are the perfect excuse to set a beautiful table. All the designs are my Art and the linens are produced in Portugal in a beautiful town about 30 minutes outside of Porto called Guimares. The designs are meant to stand alone or mix and match for a layered, a bit maximalist effect.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

When I originally started the business, I was hand dyeing every napkin, runner, placemat, tablecloth, etc…in the small laundry room in our NYC apartment. I was buying linen from a great linen store in the garment district, soaking the fabric in a natural fixative type solvent, hand dyeing each piece, cutting the fabric, and bringing the cut pieces to a costume maker’s studio in the garment district to sew. It was a a very costly, extremely time-consuming, and in no way scaleable approach to production. However, it was Covid and I was just starting out, and I was balancing researching outsourcing production while I hand-dyed to fulfill orders. Then, I got my first BIG order from a great store and I needed to produce over 3,000 units. Somehow, by day and by night, I managed to produce all the pieces by hand. But that was the turning point for the business. I realized I needed to expedite finding a legitimate, scaleable, cost-effective, and high-quality production partner.

The advice I received was to outsource production to an expert as I did not have any experience myself nor could I begin to imagine how difficult it would be. Nevertheless, I did not follow that advice and. I was adamant I figure it out myself. What followed were many mistakes, stops, and starts. I found a printer in South Carolina, a sewer in Maine, I found a factory in India, and luckily, I discovered a great manufacturer in Portugal. It took an incredible amount of work, tenacity, patience — production has been by far the most difficult thing I have had to do since starting the company. I learned to be patient–rushing the process does not work. I learned you have to be there, in person, meeting with the production team, and understanding every aspect of the process. I learned something great does not happen overnight–it’s an iterative process and you have to stay at it, be tenacious, dedicated, and you have to believe 100% in your vision.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

When I was a young girl visiting NYC on the weekends with my mother, ABC Carpet + Home to me was the mecca of cool, beauty, style, art, and luxury. It was everything. From that point on, I would visit the store often–when I was in the neighborhood and or when I just needed a shot of creativity. Walking through the displays, installations, looking at the beautiful pieces was enough to fill you up. The store was curated and merchandised like a dream.

When I first launched Goldie Home, I only dreamed my product and designs would be carried there someday. Lo and behold, I did my first trade show at Shoppe Object and the buyer and her team came right to my booth. I followed up many times after that first conversation at the show. I was adamant that I would close the sale and make this happen. Lo and behold, ABC Carpet + Home. made an order from Goldie Home from our first, formal Collection. Seeing the pillows, napkins, and placemats merchandised throughout the store was incredible, motivating, and still keeps me working hard each day to keep making milestones such as these happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.goldie-home.com
• Instagram: @goldiehomenyc
• Facebook: @goldiehome
• Linkedin: sararoberts

Image Credits
Denis Ogrinc