My Backstory

Back in 2002 when the interweb was truly in its infancy, the idea of creating a website specifically for welsh gifts eventually gave birth to thewelshshop.co.uk. In those early days, websites were pretty basic and eCommerce was only just starting so taking online payments was something that was available from only a few small enterprising individuals. But it was fun, exciting and everyone was learning as they went.

For the first couple of years, the welsh shop was run from my back room. But for a while I had been toying with the idea of becoming a candle maker - purely because I figured it would be a cool and groovy profession. So when I had the opportunity to take on one of the craft workshops at Tredegar House, a then Council run stately home on the outskirts of Newport, I jumped at the chance. Acquiring the craft shop premises meant that I could expand the welsh shop while also turning my hand to candle making.

The new candle-making business was called Celtmyth (got the name from a book called Celtic Myths) which started off making non-scented handmade candles which were then decorated with ceramic decals, like those used on mugs & plates, so that they could be sold as decorative gifts. These proved popular but it soon became apparent based on repeated customer requests that if the candles could be personalised we would be onto a winner as it would mean we could tap into a lot of other markets like weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays. So using individual sticky-backed foil letters the personalised candle range was born. This original technique was highly labour intensive and proved taxing especially if multiple bespoke candles were ordered. So I began searching for an alternative which led me to a printing technique used by a company in America to create custom candles and the rest as they say is History.

While I had been looking for means to create the new personalised candles I also stumbled across a new printing technique called Sublimation which allowed designs to be printed onto anything that was polyester or polyester coating. Adopting this new printing technique meant that I could create a range of welsh designs that could be put onto t-shirts, mouse mats, baby bibs, and even mugs that have been coated in a layer of polyester.

So the products base of the welsh shop duly expanded, I created a website called celtmyth.co.uk for the personalsied candles and because the welsh mugs proved popular, especially ones that could be personalsied I eventually added a website called the mug-shop.co.uk to my portfolio which specialised in personalised mugs. And things bobbed along rather nicely for a while....until December 2013 when one of the adjacent craft units caught fire one night and unfortunately took Celtmyth candles unit with it.

It was a testing time but ultimately I decided to run the businesses from home as we had enough space and that is where we still are..and its all working rather nicely.

Since the fire I have added a few new printing techniques which in turn have led to a few new product ranges like printed aprons, rugby jerseys, wall art posters and printed scented glass candles. I also found the time to create a new range of products designed specifically for men in the form of man mugs and man candles which I launched on a new website I called Mandangle.co.uk. In September 2017 I also added a new personalised scented candle mug range. Bit of a mouthful but was fun getting the concept to market.

You may have already come to this conclusion, but I only recently realised that I was I had too many eggs in different baskets as far as websites, blogs, facebook, instagram, twitter and pinterest accounts etc were concerned. So I have finally made the decision, which on a logistical level was massive and which was probably one of the reasons why I have shied away from it, to combine all the different websites under one roof and call it brinleywilliams.co.uk .

And there you have it ...now you know all about how I got here.

If you wish to contact me please use the contact form on the website as I no longer have a business phone because I was being inundated with spam callers.

Cheers.