A Walthamstow mum and businesswoman is embracing technology and crowdsourcing in her move to fund a textile design project.

Petra Green, 40, of Chingford Road, has turned to Kickstarter, the website where individuals pledge an amount of money of their choosing to projects they deem worthwhile, to fund her new venture, called Knit Knit.

The mother of two already runs Room 39, an interior accessories company she started nearly three years ago, and now wants to raise at least £7,000 for Knit Knit, which is a graphic representation of knitting on bedding and cushions.

She said: “Kickstarter is the perfect platform for it.

“It gives you an opportunity to get forward funding and to gauge the reaction of the public and the end consumer, so it’s two-fold.

“You don’t invest in something that has no future.

“I’m quite excited about it and it’s only been a few hours!”

She said the products Knit Knit will make are something she launched in a limited version previously because the production process only allowed for a small amount of the product to be made.

She said: “To do it justice I need to work with factories and that means minimum orders and investment, which means backing and financing is needed.”

The print, which she designed, requires a specialist fabric printing company to print it in the widths she requires – of which there is only one in the UK, located in Cumbria.

Ms Green said it’s difficult to go into business on your own and it can take a long time for a brand to get established, but she encouraged potential business owners in the borough to be confident enough to start small.

She said: “You don’t have to start guns blazing, start with one product and promote it in various ways and develop your idea, and with platforms like Kickstarter you don’t need to seek funding through banks.”

While Room 39 makes different textile based products, such as placemats and rugs, Knit Knit is a single print produced on bedding and cushions.

She designs all the products and manages all the production of the boutique-scale company she describes as a one-woman-band.

Kickstarter projects leave complete control in the hands of the project’s owner,
Since it launched in 2009 more than 4.1million people worldwide have pledged over USD$625million, funding more than 41,000 creative projects.