Tell us about your brand; what inspired you to start your brand? Where did you get the idea for your products?

My Perfect Neon Ltd lovingly designs, makes from scratch, and sells the most beautiful LED neon signs. We are a family run and independent business based in Warwickshire, and we are 100% a British brand - every sign we make is created here in the UK.  We don’t import any of our neon signs. We use premium quality products when we make our signs – only the best for our lovely customers – and we love creating bespoke and exclusive signs and ranges of signs for businesses and individual customers. In short, My Perfect Neon doesn’t just make and sell run of the mill neon signs; we listen to our customers’ stories, and we work with our customers to create their perfect neon sign. We can pretty much recreate anything in neon: logos, bespoke fonts – even handwriting.  So, our neon signs are always matchless, one of a kind and very sought after.  We are also super creative! We think outside the box when it comes to neon.  Our back-lit and halo neon signs are unique to the market, ditto our gorgeous back-lit and halo neon table lamps and Lyric and Icon ranges. We also have an exclusive contract with TfL to design and sell TfL licensed products and are we are very excited about the London Tube Map and iconic roundel collections we have made. 

How long has your brand been operating? Have you been at Home & Gift before?

My Perfect Neon has been in business for 18 months. Emma Brambell is the founder and boss of the business.

Her journey towards starting and running her own business began nearly three decades ago when she was an army wife. Her husband, David, and her spent 21 years married and, in the Army, and in that time, they lived in very nearly 20 houses. None of them was their house and they weren’t in them for very long!  Emma learnt, very quickly, the importance of making each of those (pretty bland) houses a home for her family. Having beautiful things on the wall, especially when they hold a genuine personal meaning and significance for you, is perhaps the most impactful thing you can do to make a house a home.

Jump forward to 2021 when Emma left her career as a teacher and moved back to Warwickshire with her husband, three grown up kids and now two Labradors, to help look after her mum who had dementia. She designed a neon sign to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary. Emma posted a picture of her standing under the sign with her husband, David, at their party on social media and was inundated with enquiries. My Perfect Neon was born and continues to go from strength to strength.

This year is the first time we are exhibiting at Home & Gift and we are very excited. Our products are showstoppers so we are confident that we will be a big hit at this year’s show.

What’s your biggest highlight of owning your brand? Why do you love what you do? 

The biggest highlight of owning my own brand is being my own boss.  I have always wanted to own and run my own business but moving around every 18 months or so as an army wife isn’t conducive to being a boss businesswoman! Now I am back and settled in the town where I grew up, I have been able to realise the dream. I am a very creative person. I love colour, beautiful things and I love selling! My Perfect Neon lets me be the person I was destined to!

Looking back, what advice would you give to yourself when you first started out? 

I would tell myself to not sell myself short, to not be afraid and to not doubt my ability, my drive and my passion to set up a business doing what I love. I would tell myself to not try to be all things to all people. My products are beautiful, they are superb quality, there is nothing like them on the market. Because they are premium products, they are not cheap. That’s a good thing. Don’t shy away from staying true to what you believe in. People buy from people and if you are authentic, honest and always deliver on your promises and if the products you are selling are unique and of premium quality, people will want to do business with you. 

What can we look forward to seeing from your new collections that you are bringing/launching at Home & Gift? 

You can look forward to being the first people to see my TfL licensed products. Here’s a sneak peak of the London Tube Map we are designing and will be bringing to the show.

Also, you will be the first to see my new ranges: my back-lit neon table lamps, my back-lit and halo neon signs, my streamable colour changing neon lyric signs and my unique Icon neon sign range. 

Visitors to the fair can get to meet me in person, to talk to me about my creating and making bespoke ranges for them. Business and brands looking to collaborate with an exciting new business can also seek me out and have a chat with me. I am thrilled about all the new opportunities exhibiting at Home & Gift will bring.

Do you have any personal favourites from your new collection? 

My TfL products, in particular the London Tube Map and the Roundels are probably my favourites. But I also love my back-lit table lamps. They are VERY special. Oh, and I love my lyric signs and my new icon neon signs. To be honest, all my products are my favourites.  I only design and sell products I love. 

What are you most excited for when exhibiting at Home & Gift? 

Meeting new customers, showcasing my new and beautiful ranges; hearing great feedback; selling my signs to the trade, making new connections for new collaborations and just being in the buzz of a trade fair.I love trade fairs.

How do you operate your brand sustainably?   

• All my packaging is 100% recyclable. 
• The LED flexi-neon I use for my signs is A+++ energy efficient.  LED lights are more energy efficient conserving up to 80% more energy than traditional lighting such as fluorescent and incandescent. 95% of the energy in LEDs is converted into light and only 5% is wasted as heat. Whereas fluorescent lights convert 95% of energy to heat and only 5% into light, and 50% as compared to CFLs.
• My neon signs’ low energy consumption reduces the load on electric power plants, which in turn reduces the amount of fuel being burnt to generate electricity.
• Compared to modern signs, my neon signs use 50% less electricity, in fact they cost less that 1p a day to run. So neon signs solve the issue when it comes to energy
• My neon signs emit almost no heat.  This is one of the most environmentally friendly aspects of LED lighting.  LED lighting has a very high electricity to light conversion efficacy, as high as 90% in most cases.  Because of the high conversion efficiency, using LED lights means minimal heat loss in the environment.
• The LEDs I use are efficient, long-lasting and low-maintenance, making them the ideal sustainable lighting.
• Because of their long service life, the replacement rate and disposal rate for my signs are lower, while fewer luminaires need to be produced. 
• The LED lights I use in my neon signs are free of any harmful chemical , for example mercury, which can be hazardous for the environment or public health.  So, my LED neon signs are good for the environment.
• The LED lights I use in my neon signs have a smaller carbon footprint. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with the LED lights are considerably lower than conventional incandescent or compact fluorescent lights.
• LED lights reduce light pollution, have a long life, are good for plant growth and do not draw insects towards them.