Nicola Jane Betty beaded breast form

On July 4th 2023, our babe's birthday, we received a phone call from NJ (Nicola Jane Ltd) asking if we would be interested in designing a breast form for ladies who have had a mastectomy or lumpectomy.

Given that we have family and friends who are going or who have gone through this, we said, yes. We could only not find a solution. But what if we could........

We received a sketch with dimensions from NJ and made a prototype out of upholstery vinyl. The shape, we thought, was there or thereabouts. 5 weeks later, we received an existing product that sat, 100%, over ours.

So we knew we had the shape, the key then was the filling to create the right density. We tried various avenues, always with the view that we wouldn't fail, we would just find a way of not doing it.

We didn't disregard anything. This was far too important. Cutting up old T-shirts (and my T-shirts are jolly big) to create samples - the aim was to learn. We found a company that recycle glass, making glass beads that are used in runways and roads and through Linkedin, found that the UK MD worked with and knew Philippa's sister, Lucy.

One phone call to Lucy, one phone call to the MD.... "how can I help?" The first time we loaded a sample, we broke down in tears as we knew we were so close to nailing the brief.

Our contact at NJ, Sarah, fabulous lady, decided on the outer fabric and here we are.

Made by us, here, at home. We always maintained that if we could help one lady, fabulous, two ladies, job done.

We know that we're not going to rock everyone's boat: akin to our Techbed portfolio. Having said that, at the beginning, we could have said, no thank you.