WALD
Jakob and Freya are a husband and wife team from North Leeds. The pair create paper goods, products and prints, made in England with care and attention to interesting ideas, patterns and print processes. Their main focus is then wholesaling their work to independent boutiques, florists, museums and galleries in the UK and abroad. Jakob and Freya also work with larger retailers and prestigious stores such as Kew Gardens, the V&A, RA and Bloom & Wild.
The couple met whilst studying for a degree in 3D design, and on graduating they spent time working as part of a collective on commission-based furniture. However, with experience they realised that they wanted to be completely in charge of what they design, how it is produced and where it is sold. They discovered that they had nice ideas in the field of paper and print, and that this route offered an accessible path to producing within the UK and specifically their local area. This was the stem of what has now developed into their business Wald. Freya has also studied in fine art, and Jakob has a family background in the arts with his mother Ulrike Rost being an artist/ printmaker who they work with, and who also has a unit in Dock Street.
The scope of products that they make, and the volumes that they produce have grown considerably over the years. The business has gone from being a team of two to a team of six! These fantastic assistants have enabled them to make much more and allowed them to grow the amount of stockists that they work with from around 50 when they first joined LCVS to over 500 at present.
Wald works on bespoke projects with galleries and retailers - they have collaborated for many years with the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield on a range of Yorkshire Rhubarb inspired products and have also worked with the V&A and Science Museum on exclusive products, and they produce a Flower Press for Bloom & Wild.
Jakob and Freya found LCVS whilst searching the internet for workshop/studio spaces. From the outset, their experience has always been positive, LCVS are a friendly and flexible company to work with. The fact that LCVS’ main goal is to help with the development of small businesses in an otherwise expensive rental sector has been a massive help to Wald. The stepped increase in rates over years coincides very well with the steady growth of Jakob and Freya’s business.
