My first ever podcast guests are Andrea Hawkes and her husband Dan, who, in addition to their roles as parents and partners in life, are the co-founders of Andrea Hawkes – a British bridal design brand based in London and stocked at some of the best luxury bridal boutiques throughout the UK and Europe.
Andrea Hawkes is renowned for creating sustainable, modern, minimalist and contemporary designs for brides. Using earth friendly and plant based fabrics, her designs are fuss free, incredibly flattering and beautiful to touch and feel against the skin. Every single gown is hand-crafted at the brand’s London studio and this reflects Andrea’s passion for sustaining and nurturing time-honoured, traditional dress making skills. This also provides valuable jobs to a workforce of skilled pattern cutters, seam-strusses and stylists.
As well as her gowns, Andrea has also created a collection of exquisite wedding veils and luxurious, sustainable pyjamas and nightwear – and, as this episode goes to publication, she will have just launched a natural dyeing service that will enable brides to have their wedding dresses revived and transformed into something really special and re-wearable.
Andrea is a huge inspiration to me – she and Dan are thoroughly lovely, decent human beings and for me, their story exemplifies how to grow and nurture a small business whilst staying true to yourself and your original vision. I admire and respect their unwavering commitment to their core values and their passion for helping brides not only look and feel the absolute best possible version of themselves, but to wholeheartedly embrace the joy of weddings.
Whilst the past three years have brought deeply profound, life altering transformations for Andrea in both personally and professionally – and for reasons that will become clear throughout our chat, this year, Andrea Hawkes celebrates 10 years in the bridal fashion business and I feel both privileged and delighted to be cheering them on from the sidelines as they celebrate this milestone.
Trigger Warning
Please note, this episode contains discussions of a sensitive and personal nature relating to women’s health. Listener discretion is advised.
A Note on Sound Quality
Please be kind, this is the first Podcast we recorded and there are one or two patches of impaired sound, as my guests were sharing a laptop with no mic’s and somewhat unreliable wifi. This doesn’t detract from the ability to enjoy this episode fully.
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Discover Andrea Hawkes
andreahawkes.co.uk
@andrea_hawkes_bridal
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Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
