Every so often I’m sent images that truly take my breath away, and I certainly had one of those moments when I first clapped eyes on Victoria Made‘s incredible creations. They are essentially works of art — beautifully sculptural, contemporary , sleek, elegant , and so utterly pleasing to the eye. I immediately felt like I had to get the inside scoop on Victoria Watkin-Jones, the woman behind these works of art (that I’m sure delight the taste buds in equal measure) so I asked Victoria if I could talk to her for my Wedding Smashers series.
She kindly obliged and I was delighted that she spilt the beans to me on how she quit her 9 to 5 to start her business from her home kitchen just 3 years ago, what a typical day is like, and who she’d like to be trapped in a lift with!
So Victoria, what’s the ’Victoria Made’ story? How did you start your company and what’s happened between then and now?
My work life started in hospitality and catering and I always loved the creative element of putting a dish together, though not quite Masterchef standards I have to say! After a very different career change working in the fitness industry – health and fitness is something that’s always been part of me (in varying degrees!), I felt the need to go back to something creative.
The whole baking craze was taking off and wedding cakes seemed the perfect fusion of my previous food prep experience and an outlet for my creativity. I quit my old job in mid 2011 and set up Victoria Made, initially wanting to make cakes just in the Sheffield area. Not long into the business I started getting a bit of attention from further afield and was well received by some blogs so I started to look at shifting up a gear and aiming a little higher. Now 3 years in I have made cakes for Le Manoir, Jess Ennis and been featured in Brides Magazine amongst others. It’s been both a blessing and a curse that things have happened so quickly but it still seems an age ago that I was in my kitchen in Sheffield. My designs really have come a long way from then, it’s been a very quick, steep learning curve!
