Myfotowall

South Yorkshire Company weighs up the overseas market .

Huddersfield -based Myfotowall is an interactive design website which is proving to be a fantastic creative tool for interior designers all over the world.

The company’s success is all the more amazing since it all started  when the company’s founder, Stephen Armitage, wanted to put a blow-up picture of the boy band, West Life, in his young daughter’s room.

The website gives interior designers access to a bank of over 700 stunning images – from Manhattan skylines to flower-filled meadows. Myfotowall takes designers through a simple on-line process that allows them to adjust their chosen image to the exact wall size required. The system can also process the client’s own digital photographs into a unique wall covering.

Photographs and images are printed onto easy wipe, non-moisture absorbent paper and the final result is divided into 500 mm wallpaper width to allow for simple application by a professional decorator.

To make the most of the international potential for their website, early in 2006 the company went on a fact-finding mission to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Here they met UK Trade & Investment staff based in the British embassies who were able to advise them on the very real prospects for business there. Myfotowall then commissioned an Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) report compiled by UKTI staff in the embassy in Dubai. This report supplied the company with some strong business leads to pursue there.

But it was in June when Myfotowall exhibited at an international trade fair in Dubai that the potential began to translate into substantial orders.

Stephen said:

“We felt sure there would be some good opportunities out in Dubai  but I don’t think any of us were prepared for the level of immediate interest we got at the exhibition. In the last three months alone we have had more business from Dubai than since we first set up the company.”

Among other contracts, the company is now supplying a new  hospital in Dubai with natural ‘calming’ images in 140 rooms, as well as various shopping malls across the country.

 “We had key discussions with UK Trade & Investment staff at the Embassy in Dubai who work exclusively with the interior design sector since it is such a high growth area over there. We are now looking to place someone permanently in Dubai to service our clients there as efficiently as possible.”

UK Trade & Investment’s Brian Aungiers at the Business Link in Batley has been working closely with the company. Brian said:

“Our staff in Dubai were able to tailor their market report to suit the specific needs of the company and this has helped them to target their customers more accurately. Dubai is very much a design-led market and it’s easy to see how the dramatic effects that can be created by Myfotowall will have a strong appeal there.” 

Stephen added:

“The returns we have had in business after commissioning the OMIS report for Dubai, far outweigh its minimal cost, which starts at around £400.  It saved us time, money and resources, allowing us to make an immediate impact on the market.”

Contact at Myfotowall: Stephen Armitage 01484 344096 email: stephen.armitage@myfotowall.com

Contact at UKTI: Brian Aungiers    07764 376726 b.aungiers@blwy.co.uk