This year taught me…

As 2023 draws to a close, we asked our Managing Director Heidi Omar and Founder Director Tim Seyner Harness to let us know what they learnt during what has been a challenging year for everyone in the luxury retail and heritage attraction sectors.

Heidi - Stay ahead of the curve but do not compromise on quality

This year has taught me that it’s never too late to revive your business relationships. It’s easy to be seduced away by the new kids on the block but then didn’t live up to the hype.

We are continually innovating and coming up with fresh ideas. We have just launched “Artisan Pro” our brand-new Software but we will never replace our People! It’s a marriage of technology and the human touch, that’s how the magic happens! Our valued clients realise we have substance and longevity to get the job done and do it well. So the moral of the story is to stick to the tried and tested, to the people who know you well enough to understand and anticipate your wants and needs. In other words, never forget why you fell in love with Artisan People!

Tim - Keep recruiting and carry on

This has been a strange sort of year recruitment-wise. We thought the retail market was dipping, but after stores experienced a better Black Friday than they were expecting, they’re back in the game and are recruiting hard. It’s a good job that we never stop recruiting new talent and getting them shop floor ready, because we were able to fill vacancies as soon as the rush of new bookings came in. The lesson is to never assume you’ve got enough people because you never know when you’re going to get last minute bookings. So my advice is - as they nearly say on Strictly - “Keeeeep recruiting!”