Marvling Bros

The creation of Marvling Bros is a story that began in 2010 with two mums at the school gates of a sleepy suburban primary school in Essex…

In 2010 the head mistress of the school held a competition for the pupils. The task seemed straightforward and simple enough: How much can you fit in a matchbox? Hayley’s seven-year-old son was not enthused by idea, but Hayley entered for him and came up with all sorts of objects that not only fitted in the matchbox but fulfilled a concept too. For example, a grain of rice and a coriander seed which she labelled ‘curry takeaway’, and a picture of the Mona Lisa and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers became a miniature art gallery.

She did not win the competition, and most people thought it was mad, but one other person at the school totally got it - Emma. Two years later, Emma, inspired by the matchboxes, (and having just offloaded her youngest child at school) thought the concept could be the basis for a business and for nine months she and Hayley beavered away researching products, developing ideas and learning how to run an ecommerce company.

They launched in July 2013 with an ecommerce website and 12 different product designs. In the first week they sold exactly ten matchboxes, half of those to people they knew. Not the big hit they were hoping for. However, by their first Christmas, they were flying out of the door. In the last eight years the business has gone from strength to strength, while keeping the company ethos - to provide inspiration.