Vision Made

Specialties

Vision Made is a charity shop with a difference. It is a vocational training project that is part of Vision 21 Cyfle Cymru. We train three students a day with learning needs mainly in retail training in the view to gaining employment. The shop also sells products from other Vision 21 projects such as hand made pottery, woodwork and cards. It also sell eco-​shic fairtrade gifts.

History

Established in 1987.

Vision Made (previously Vision 21 Gift Shop) was refurbished in July 2014. The Vision 21 Gift Shop desperately needed a face lift after over ten years. The manager of the shop had two weeks in all to completely empty and revamp the shop with the help of a visual designer Maria Faurie of miakat creates to give it that professional look. With a charity status the shop had only a small budget so saved money with the Manager and Maria doing most of the work, along with an electrician and Vision 21 woodwork team.

It was decided that the shop would be transformed in to a cute shabby chic gift shop with old furniture that was upcycled by our students.

With a new name, a new sign, canopy, completely new layout and more space Vision Made opened only three weeks later and we have had positive feedback from the majority of our customers.

Meet the Manager

Rachel B.

Manager

I have worked for Vision 21 Cyfle Cymru for seven years. I originally worked in catering for five years and then became a cover worker for a year. I have years of experience of working with hundreds of students with different learning needs. I used to work in the shop on weekends and covered it when I became a cover worker. When the job came up I got recommended for the post and applied for it. I used all of my experience gained in this organisation as well as the knowledge learnt from my degree (BA Media Communications) to come up with lots of ideas to improve the shop.

When I got the job I was given the challenge of completely re-​branding and refurbishing the shop. In July 2014 along with a visual designer we completely refurbished the shop which included painting walls and the shop frame, stripping walls, moving and sourcing furniture, replacing a tiled ceiling, redesigning the layout, ordering new stock and thinking of a new name and much more DIY. Vision Made is now open.