Meet the Founder of Flaura Rose, the Ouseburn Boutique Putting Female Creatives in the Forefront
The newest - and pinkest - addition to Ouseburn's thriving independent scene is Flaura Rose
I’ve always known I wanted to do something fashion-related and have my own business,’ says Laura. The new shop is just the latest development in what has been years of work to build the Flaura Rose brand.
In fact, Flaura Rose began as the name of Laura’s own clothing brand, which she has been selling at markets and festivals for the last seven years. Laura grew up in County Durham and studied fashion buying at the University of Westminster before heading back up North. She loves travelling and, after a brief stint in recruitment, decided to start a business bringing the boho-style clothing, accessories and homewares that she had fallen in love with while travelling across Asia to markets back home. From there she started designing her own clothing, a mixture of her own designs that she has specially made, and reworked denim jackets that she creates with her mum. These collections are available to buy in her new shop, but that’s not the whole story.
‘It is my shop, but it features nine other female-owned businesses,’ Laura explains. ‘We wanted it to be all female-owned, girl-gang vibes. That’s why I set this up as a new business, because it’s a completely different concept to my old one.’
I ask how she chose the other brands. ‘I was looking for funky artwork, something to make the walls come alive and that fits in with the shop,’ she says. She didn’t have to look far. ‘They’re all my friends,’ she continues. Nevertheless, the multiple brands and products available at Flaura Rose were specifically chosen to create a singular (and emphatically pink) aesthetic dreamt up by Laura.
‘The first girl that I got in was Jen, [otherwise known as] Bianco Perry, who does custom banners,’ Laura says. ‘She does “girl gang” ones, “girl dinner” ones… Another girl, Amy Sedum, does massive canvases.’ The store’s iconic Sophie Ellis-Bextor-inspired ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ disco ball painting was Amy’s work.
‘Becca [Rebecca Wood] does Raw Print,’ Laura continues. ‘She does funky artwork that’s related to the North East and travelling. Prints of the Tyne Bridge, the Angel of the North, North Shields, and then Thailand and Bali and places where she’s travelled.
‘Megan [Archer] does Rooted, she does dried flowers and she’s made really funky arrangements in disco balls.’
Take a mooch round Flaura Rose and you’ll also discover empowering prints, homewares and clothing from ITgirls, the canine and feline-inspired artistry of JLH Print, pre-loved treasures form Durham Vintage and hand-made candles from Witchy Woman Wax.
Alongside these businesses, there’s a plant seller, Plantopia, and a coffee shop for customers where they can sample the caffeinated delights of Tynemouth Coffee Company with doughnuts and sweet treats from R Place. ‘Rather than it being a shop, I wanted it to be an experience,’ Laura explains. ‘You can come and chill – it’s more of a community.’
In order to cultivate this community, Laura is also using the upstairs space to host a regular programme of events. ‘I’ve done some sip and paint workshops, Jen’s doing Taylor Swift-themed banner workshops, we’ve got disco [ball painting] workshops and we’re going to be doing pop-up events.’ There is a real variety to these events, from workshops that will teach you specific skills, to evenings that are more angled towards making friends and having a night out than achieving artistic brilliance.
Helping Laura to promote the shop is Lauren Logan, who is in her final year of studying design and marketing, but has already been working for Flaura Rose for two years. ‘She’s been doing a lot of social media and she’s really good at it!’ says Laura. I ask Laura what the biggest challenge has been since they opened the shop. ‘Just making people aware that we’re open and getting people through the door,’ she says.
On the flip side, when I ask if there’s been a highlight since they opened in March, she tells me that its been great to see how busy the shop has been. ‘We took a big risk,’ she says, ‘it’s a big commitment. I’ve just been really happy with how many people have seen us on socials and actually come to see it.’
In terms of the shop’s future, Laura confirms that there are more announcements to come (including some very cool collaborations), but it’s too early to reveal anything just yet. In the meantime, watch this space…
