Life in Charms with Chrissie Rucker

10:33Chrissie Rucker OBE:quite a hard thing I mean it's a really good it's a really good kind of comparison in order to get better points to win etc but how do you encourage your team when they think actually this is a bestseller or this is the most wonderful experience etc how do you get them to be better than that

10:53Annoushka Ducas MBE:we'll constantly look at something together yeah and um and then I might ask them what they think a bit and you know that so say oh this is lovely but how could we push it even further how could we make it even better yeah and um and then we just you know we we just keep working at it we

11:12Chrissie Rucker OBE:keep because i've seen you i've seen you absolutely when most of us will think actually that's perfect you'll be like no i think it could be i know i drive them all bonkers i drive them all bonkers

11:27Annoushka Ducas MBE:but I hope that I drive them all bonkers in a very loving way.

11:31Chrissie Rucker OBE:Because it's all about the detail isn't it? I mean it's like jewellery, you know, actually. It's just about the detail and if, you know, the dog's legs don't move and when you turn his little upside, when you look at him upside down he hasn't got the little paw prints, it's just that attention to detail. Detail is everything. Retail. Retail is everything. So this is your next charm and it's a cross. I've just done it literally as a cross. I've done it in yellow gold. I've got princess cut diamonds, which are square cut diamonds down the front. I've put a peridot, a cabochon peridot stone, semi-pressure stone in the middle because I think this has got to do with your mummy.

12:26Chrissie Rucker OBE:And that's her birthstone. And on the back, it's plain gold on the back because I wanted to engrave her initials and 24th of August and her birthday. And I just think that would be really representative and really kind of meaningful. But tell me about this cross, because you said to me cross and kind of New Year ritual. And I want you to describe this because it's so interesting. OK, so my mum is Scottish.

12:56Annoushka Ducas MBE:If you're Scottish, New Year is everything. Hogmanay. And it's all about you see out the old year and you see in the new year. and growing up as children um it was a scottish tradition that the children of the family would entertain the older members of the family and mum mum actually was a very natural entrepreneur um and in in in so many different ways anyway one of the things she would always make us do at New Year is she would make us dress up. I had to be somebody called Lady Time. Lady Time. And I had to kill off the old year and I had to see him in New Year. Right. But we always had a New Year's Eve party.

13:52Annoushka Ducas MBE:That was her thing. New Year was happening. And, you know, she was very hardworking, had a very busy life. and would rather keep stables clean than actually keep the house clean. Right. But New Year was her thing, and she would morph into being the total hostess with the mostess. And she would put on this amazing buffet and lay the table beautifully, and she would actually spend hours ironing napkins. She used to do these rather amazing swan napkins. and she was sort of, she was very definitely somebody who when she did something she did it 150 % but for me I look back on that time and I think of it as an amazing, New Year was always a time when the family were together, she had this enormous sense of family and there was never anything that couldn't be solved over a cup of coffee and the power of good conversation and she was a great gatherer of people.

15:00Chrissie Rucker OBE:I've tried to get you as Lady Time. You have to kind of act in front of all these people.

15:05Annoushka Ducas MBE:I mean, actually, there was a photo of it somewhere.

15:08Chrissie Rucker OBE:You might have to see that.

15:10Annoushka Ducas MBE:And it was actually, it was a purple, it was a purple long dress. Oh, marvellous. You must have loved that. And she would put my hair up in a bun. And anyway, I would, we would do this play and all the children and members of the family would do some funny little act and I would have to recite this this uh this lady time poem and I used to dread it every year I mean you know I can actually feel the hot rash coming back now talking about it but she made me do it and if I didn't do it was going to really make her year miserable it meant everything to her and I would literally do it gritted teeth and then actually be quite pleased with myself afterwards yeah that's when I when it was over yeah um a bit like that doing a podcast isn't it yes yes feeling that itchy feeling so So she definitely was somebody who instilled in you, have a go, face up to your fears, and then actually she would sort of say, now, aren't you quite pleased that you just did that?

16:26Annoushka Ducas MBE:So I think she gave me confidence, a bit of bravery. sometimes when needed and and I think you know sometimes I do do just do things if you don't

16:43Chrissie Rucker OBE:ask in life you don't get do you do anyway uh um the new because you're a big giver of parties I mean best parties um but I'm not aware that any of your children got to dress up as lady time or something or do an act do they?

17:02Annoushka Ducas MBE:I love my mum do they but that's one tradition I didn't carry

17:08Chrissie Rucker OBE:forward. No but you definitely got the party bit, you definitely give the best parties, I mean white ladies I'm like.

17:18Annoushka Ducas MBE:Okay well yeah white ladies signature cocktail but actually my children have all, well some of them have ended up being quite creative and quite, you know.

17:29Chrissie Rucker OBE:Yeah, today Indy's launching her new brand.

17:33Annoushka Ducas MBE:Yes, so Indy's launching a clothing brand called India Grace, but she's going to, she's launching it whilst doing a full-time job as well. So it's very exciting for having it launch tonight.

17:45Chrissie Rucker OBE:Definitely, yeah, it's definitely a chip off the old block. But hang on, there's one thing about about this cross which you haven't told me but you did in preparing for it, you said that you would have a cross and you would write in one section of the cross your intentions for the year. Anyway that gave me a kind of cold sweat because I'm like oh my goodness can you just tell me about that?

18:10Annoushka Ducas MBE:Yeah so again you know part of the new year thing you know I love this idea of you know January is a moment to you know reset reset killed off the old year yeah with the new year yeah and my sister-in-law um Nick's sister yeah who I absolutely love I couldn't be lucky enough she's just the greatest sister-in-law anyone could wish for and um instrumental actually at the beginning of the white company you know it was when we stayed with her one morning we had the idea for the business she once gave me a brilliant piece of advice and I think as you go on a journey of being a working mum and I've got four wonderful children who I love to death but you know that journey of having very young children a young business trying to make it all work yeah Susie would always say just draw a cross on a piece of paper and in the top right hand corner write the five most important things you're going to focus on this year.

19:22Annoushka Ducas MBE:Then in the next section, the next five, the next section and so on. So you end up with 20 things you want to focus on in the year ahead and you only do the first five.

19:35Chrissie Rucker OBE:Only do the first five? Yes.

19:38Annoushka Ducas MBE:You totally focus your energy on the first five.

19:42Chrissie Rucker OBE:That's so interesting. Do you still do that?

19:45Annoushka Ducas MBE:I'm going to do it this year.

19:47Chrissie Rucker OBE:Definitely, yes. It made me feel absolutely, you know, kind of, oh my God, I so need to do that. And those five things, do you categorise, I'm fascinated because I'm going to have a go next year, this soon. Do you categorise them kind of work, family, personal, or do they all tend to cluster? Do you kind of divide them up? No, I join them all together. Yeah.

20:14Annoushka Ducas MBE:So in this year, these are the five things I'm going to focus on. These are the most important five things for me to focus on. And they would change each year. And then after that comes the spreadsheet. Oh, God.

20:29Chrissie Rucker OBE:So do you do that? Are you able to say, OK, well, let's say you get to June and you'll kind of revisit that and think, actually, I need to reset in order to do that. or do the priorities change?

20:44Annoushka Ducas MBE:Well, I have this very annoying family spreadsheet. So it has a sort of load of columns, one for each of the children, one for Nick and I. And then, so I start the year and I put in first. I mean, I think because of the children growing up and Nick and I both running our own businesses, carving out family time was absolutely critical the whole way through so you know weekends always dedicated for the children and then I would block out periods of time for holidays um which which go in and they're just not movable and everything has to operate around those so so I think just making sure you've got that family time yeah locked in and then yes and then everything I just plan around it and also because you know you had four children four different schools and at different times and trying to actually get everything done became very complicated but that it's like a it's like a top level that's so annual planner but I can't think a diary the electronic diary doesn't work for me because I'm very visual so I like to see the pattern of the year ahead and I have a set pattern

22:07Chrissie Rucker OBE:for the year ahead. That's so interesting. Actually I think it might be you that told me that ages ago so I now have a wall planner because a bit like you I'm so visual I can't, so then you know that actually I can't be away that long. It drives me mad, he says why can't I just have a proper diary? For those people that don't know that you're married to Nick Wheeler who runs Charles Tyrick Shirts, also a fantastically successful business. So I'm fascinated because obviously I work with John, but now it's a bit different because we run different businesses. But in terms of how you, because what you've described is a spreadsheet that does that, but in reality, when you've had an absolute shit day and you've had, how do you manage that?

22:58Chrissie Rucker OBE:Do you discuss it? Do you discuss it around the table with the children? Do the children all go, for God's sake, can we move on? Or how do you do that?

23:10Annoushka Ducas MBE:Well, it's such a gift to have a husband who understands the business and I mean I mean the lovely thing with Nick is he was always sort of three years ahead of me yeah he'd started his business and um he he was you know I was so inspired by his passion and his energy and his love for his business and that's what really made me want to have a business um but yes I mean there have been a lot of I mean I as I said to you earlier I think really a gin and tonic should be on my chart but yeah it is incredible to have somebody who you can talk through things and and you know just that power of conversation

24:00Chrissie Rucker OBE:that power of mentors and trust trust because there's no politics is it when you're married to somebody yes there are no politics there's no hierarchy he's been the most wonderful mentor I mean in the beginning I think we talked about it you know non-stop yeah and

24:22Annoushka Ducas MBE:again he was an incredibly powerful person in my life because he said to me you can do this and I think having people in your life saying you know you've got this you can do this It does give you the confidence to sort of get up and have a go. It's been a wonderful sort of 30-year journey. And there are times when it's been very intense and difficult. Thankfully, touch wood, it hasn't happened to us both at the same time. We haven't had difficult times at the same time. But it's wonderful to have that shared interest.

25:04Chrissie Rucker OBE:Yeah, absolutely, totally. Exactly. And it's I don't know about you, but I find it really interesting now that the children are, you know, kind of late 20s to early 30s. And they are and I know your children are really interested in business. But what's so refreshing is that I'm going to them for advice now. Do you do that? Yeah, no, no, totally. I'm like, this is just fantastic because there's a whole new way. Yes. Yes. gosh where do you want to start on that i think my children they give me wonderful advice yeah

25:42Annoushka Ducas MBE:and you know what's so brilliant is they see things so clearly what is it about us getting older and then we perhaps we tie ourselves up in knots and they just go mom it's quite simple you need to do this. Yeah. And it's kind of. Yeah.

26:00Chrissie Rucker OBE:Why would I not spot that?

26:02Annoushka Ducas MBE:I regularly have great advice from all four of my children.

26:07Chrissie Rucker OBE:I think I do too. I really do. I really, really enjoy it. The cross is just such an, it's such an interesting thing because it's what you've just described and Susie's idea of writing it down like that is absolute simplicity. I mean, it's, it kind of break so that I guess everything that the white company is about calmness. It's all about calmness through and through. It's in your DNA, I think. So I'm going to move on to your next charm, which is a tailor's dummy. So I've done this exactly as it should be, but miniature. The body shape, a woman's body shape, reasonably big boobs, waist, and but it turns so actually the I've done the body in rock crystal and it's set on top of a yellow gold base which has actually got your your name engraved and then because I really like kind of movement it's got a tiny little diamond briolette at the end which gives it some movement just tell me it's complete three-dimensional so you literally work it the same way as you would a real tailor's dummy.

27:18Chrissie Rucker OBE:But why have we got a tailor's dummy? And it can turn. It can turn, yeah.

27:23Annoushka Ducas MBE:Amazing.

27:23Chrissie Rucker OBE:Because this is something I absolutely didn't know about you. In all these years I did not know, tell me why you've got this tailor's dummy.

27:30Annoushka Ducas MBE:I left school at 16 and I moved to London and I went to study couture design at this very small college in London. I feel like that was the moment when I began to find myself and I was doing something I wasn't perhaps that naturally good at but it was a moment when I really learned if you apply yourself you can learn and you can actually do anything and there I learned to pattern cut, I learned to draw and I really couldn't draw before then. I learned to design, I studied couture, you learn about fabric, fit, fall, drape and you know I think what it really taught me is that it's all about the detail.

28:26Annoushka Ducas MBE:I mean if you, a beautiful piece of couture clothing, there is so much attention to detail that goes into it. The shape of the collar, the shape of the armhole, the size of the top stitch, the size of the button, you know, and then you piece all those elements together. And the lovely thing about couture, actually, is you're making products, you know, it's not about fashion, it's not about fast, it's about creating beautifully designed pieces, elevated pieces, that will really stand the test of time. And it's, yeah, maybe, you know, it's about quiet luxury. And I think perhaps quiet luxury is very much at the heart of everything that you do today.

29:15Annoushka Ducas MBE:But the tailor's dummy was basically, you know, as we talked about at school, you know, I didn't drive at school and I was become bottom in most things. But I passed that top student and…

29:28Chrissie Rucker OBE:Top student at college, at fashion?

29:30Annoushka Ducas MBE:Yeah, I passed that top student. And it was like such a moment for me and gave me such confidence. And my prize was a Stockman Taylor's dummy.

29:43Chrissie Rucker OBE:Have you got it? And I, yeah, I still have it. You should put it in the office.

29:48Annoushka Ducas MBE:You know, it's, and because when you're making a couture garment, you pin into a Stockman dummy. And I just, I look at that time as a time when I learned so much.

29:59Chrissie Rucker OBE:But what's so interesting to me is you said something just now that you didn't necessarily know you were going to be good at tailoring, couture, etc, etc. That's really interesting because the confidence that you got from coming out first in the year has obviously been a kind of springboard to your success. but I just want to talk a bit about the King's Trust and what you do there because that's all about confidence isn't it that is all about helping young women to get the confidence they

30:41Annoushka Ducas MBE:need yes to go forward I know when I look back on my whole journey it's having those people in your life who at different periods of time you know when you come across a hurdle a conversation with someone who you really trust um makes all the difference in the world and it just you know it picks up the pieces it puts you I always say that you know the power of a good conversation is so life-changing you can go and have a coffee with someone and you can go into that coffee in a complete muddle not knowing what to do which direction to go in and you can leave knowing exactly what to do with the strength to get up and go again and just that that energy and fuel that you need to have another go and the king's trust for me you and i've done this together obviously i mean you've been the most phenomenal supporter of the kings of our group which is called Women Supporting Women and we created Change Girls Life campaign and the Brilliant Breakfast and it is it is all about supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable young who for one reason or another have had a very difficult time growing up or haven't had the support in place and actually the King's Trust is brilliant at helping young people rediscover their confidence

32:18Annoushka Ducas MBE:try something that they would not have originally thought of trying before. It's truly life-changing. It is truly life-changing. And they go on and they leave confident and with a career or going back into training or starting their own business. It's really amazing.

32:36Chrissie Rucker OBE:I think what people don't realize about helping young women specifically is the power that that has. because I read a stat once, which I think is when I did a microfinance project in Ethiopia, I learned this stat. But if you help one woman, it tends, certainly in Ethiopia, it tends to touch between seven and ten people's lives, other people's lives. So that power is utterly extraordinary. And the thing is, I do think that women are so generous in their advice, time, etc. That also helps. But I think I read the report.

33:22Annoushka Ducas MBE:If you change one young woman's life, the effect on their immediate family, their local community, it can be absolutely enormous. But I mean, most importantly, what it does is it just allows them to take control of their own lives and go on and build their own bright

33:45Chrissie Rucker OBE:future I mean it's I mean I have to say thanks to you I got involved and I found it the most rewarding um wonderful way to kind of yeah hands-on help um somebody but I I think that since you started Women Supporting Women and Change of Girls Life how many women have we helped? So we've helped

34:09Annoushka Ducas MBE:12 ,500 to date.

34:12Chrissie Rucker OBE:That is extraordinary.

34:13Annoushka Ducas MBE:Yeah, but I mean it's literally the tip of the iceberg. I mean in this, you know, we live in the, I think it's the fifth biggest economy in the world and it's a very difficult time at the moment in this country and there's a there's a stat that is always very sobering is that I think nine children out of a classroom of 30 are currently growing up in poverty in this country. We have young women with unforgivably low levels of confidence and far too many young right now feeling that they, you know, they don't know how they're going to have a future ahead of them. So, but the King's Trust is doing terrific work and working with the government to sort of trying.

35:13Chrissie Rucker OBE:But I mean, everybody who's listening to this can really help. I mean, the first of all, what you can do if you're listening is you could host a brilliant breakfast to raise money for the King's Trust. It's an incredibly simple thing to do. And, you know, we started it in COVID and it's really powerful. and you literally just ask your friends, colleagues for breakfast, and you ask them to give what they can, but just remembering that every little bit helps. Yes. It really does. And these people are the future of this country, and we need to get behind them.

35:50Annoushka Ducas MBE:If we could persuade every single person who can to commit to changing the lives of at least one young, disadvantaged and vulnerable, person you know think what a difference we can make and so I you know I would say to anyone out there you know if if you have supporting disadvantaged young women on your gender please come and get involved come and get involved with us in some way become a patron become an ambassador get involved with the campaign join the change girls life campaign hold a brilliant

36:28Chrissie Rucker OBE:breakfast yeah absolutely so chris your next charm is a magazine yes so i've i've i've done it as a rolled up magazine because actually a magazine flat as a charm would just be not very nice so i've done it like you kind of rolled it up and taken it and it's i've done it in yellow gold it's got beauty bazaar written on the front and actually it's a locket so it will open and so you can put something little inside but tell me a bit about the magazine because I know

37:05Annoushka Ducas MBE:you spent a lot of time at magazines yes so my first job when I left fashion college was I I went to work for a wedding dress designer anyway she was absolutely gorgeous and lovely but she said she said why you know she I think she said she realized I probably wasn't going to be me I clearly wasn't doing a good enough job showing on all those buttons on her wedding dresses but she said to me listen why don't you go and work for a magazine um and get some wider experience so I managed to get my first job at Condé Nast I was receptionist right best job in the world because you actually, you got to meet absolutely everybody in the building at Condé Nast.

37:48Annoushka Ducas MBE:And I feel so lucky because, you know, that was sort of 32 years ago now, but it was the most incredible time on magazines. And I basically, I was very nearly fired when I was receptionist. I was fired because Duran Duran used to come off in the lift quite often and I was a real Duran Duran fan. And anyway, when they came up, I used to chat too much and Miss Timms, who was the very frightening HR director, summed me in very quickly. Luckily, I managed to keep my job and I worked my way around magazines and I worked. my first job was on GQ as fashion assistant then I went to Brides and I did fashion and beauty then I had a short stint on the house and garden I worked with the amazing Anna Harvey on Vogue and I did take a detour and I went and worked at Clarins doing PR marketing which actually was incredibly useful experience and then my last job was at Harper's.

38:52Chrissie Rucker OBE:What were you doing?

38:54Annoushka Ducas MBE:So don't tell Tell me a little bit about what you're doing. I look back on that time now as the time when I absolutely learnt the most. I learnt to organise a shoot. I learnt to research an article. I had some incredible opportunities. You're totally thrown in at the deep end as a very young person. And you're organising huge projects. And I learnt a huge amount about brand. So every magazine has its own look and feel, it has its own tone of voice and it has its own visual handwriting. And yet every issue, 12 issues a year, each one has to be new, fresh and exciting. But it gets staying within the natural tone of the brand.

39:48Annoushka Ducas MBE:I loved that piece about being on a shoot and you look through the lens of a camera and that often I think an image gets so much better by taking things out than by adding more things in. So perhaps it taught me a little bit about less is more, simplicity and I worked with some amazing people.

40:12Chrissie Rucker OBE:Was there something there that sparked this idea for the white company?

40:17Annoushka Ducas MBE:Okay, yes. So when I was there, I remember there was a reader offer in Country Living magazine. Actually, this is quite a fun story. And it was the most beautiful white bed linen with hem stitching on it. And I just loved it. And that picture was the starting point for me wanting to... I immediately went home and wanted to buy white bed linen. And funnily enough, later on, when I started the business, I went to find the supplier who supplied that white bed linen. But he sort of said, start a company that's going to sell all white things. And he didn't buy into it at all. And he wouldn't supply us.

41:10Chrissie Rucker OBE:So hold on a minute. So you saw this reader offer, white bed linen. So what I'm thinking, well, presumably you could get white bed linen at this point, but you clearly couldn't. Yes. I mean, I'm like, well, hang on.

41:25Annoushka Ducas MBE:Yes, no, there was just this lovely reader offer, which just appealed to me so much.

41:31Chrissie Rucker OBE:Right.

41:33Annoushka Ducas MBE:And then, of course, you know, how did the white company begin? it began because Nick moved into his first home he had burgundy bed linen green towels yeah chipped mugs from the garage you know lots of hand-me-downs from home he was busy he was starting his business and I went shopping and he said can you can you help me uh just get the basics in place and so I went and had a go and I was working on magazines I was styling shoots I thought it's going to be really easy and um it was really really difficult so for me I found it

42:15Chrissie Rucker OBE:very very overwhelming color pattern none of it felt right as you know and so I thought okay

42:26Annoushka Ducas MBE:think back to that moment of looking through the lens of the camera taking things out not adding too much in keep it simple and I just thought I'm going to buy everything in white white bedlin in white china white towels white bathrobes went back out to do it and there was just such a gap in the market it was either in Harrods or Selfridges designer fantastic quality um very expensive or it was back then it was high street cheap polyester poor quality tape lace and there was there was there was no middle ground and actually the moment I knew I could do it was when I found my first factories and they supplied all the brands that I loved and I realized that I could buy directly from those factories, same quality, but by selling directly to the customer, I could supply the same quality and sort of style for considerably less.

43:36Chrissie Rucker OBE:Chrissie, it's so funny, you're talking about this white and you're sitting, I am so the reverse to you, as you know, I love colour, celebrate colour in everything, in jewellery, around it. So sitting on this green sofa with all these coloured cushions, is it making you, you know, not calm, run for the hills? Because whenever I come to you, it's so calm and so serene. And actually, it does genuinely make you calm. It makes you feel calmer. I'm really surprised I'm even saying this but I've kind of in preparation to talking to you I was thinking about it and I was thinking well how's she going to manage sitting in here with all this colour?

44:27Chrissie Rucker OBE:Does it stress you out? I shan't be offended because I know how you hate colours.

44:33Annoushka Ducas MBE:It's so you though. I mean when I think about your designing and your love of gemstones you know these colors are so you and you know they're part of who you are but the great thing is is that I know you've got white sheets on your bed and I know you've got white towels in your bathroom so I always say whoever you are whatever yeah whatever your style um there's still a little place for white maybe you don't do the whole white thing but you're still a place no no no

45:04Chrissie Rucker OBE:it's all white company obviously but I've just but when you go not just here but but you must go to lots of people's houses or lot you know clothes and things because you're always very tonally dressed so clearly condominantly a lot but does it stress you out does it make you go oh god I

45:23Annoushka Ducas MBE:need to get out of here I I love looking at people's homes and seeing them as being a reflection of who they are but also you know there are so many degrees of white that you can go to or not go to and what I love about it is that I think it provides a lovely canvas you know whoever we are whatever our style is it gives you a lovely canvas a lovely calm canvas on which to build and then we all have different layers unless it's pink

45:56Chrissie Rucker OBE:I mean you come here and be like no no you can't have those clouds they're pink roses no absolutely not anyway well that's so funny um but you yeah in terms of god what you've done for for people who find it hard to make a decision because actually there is no decision really to make although having said that having recently gone to the white company to buy help one of my children buy things for their house I mean there is actually a lot of choice in terms of the texture or the color or you know but I mean the art

46:35Annoushka Ducas MBE:the art of white is definitely about texture and layering it and we always say there's no and there are many there are many colors of white you've got the the ivories, the creams, the bones, the neutrals.

46:52Chrissie Rucker OBE:Well, you just got to buy one of your lovely books and you'll see how to do it. So, so I had to do the next charm is I've done it as a bed. It was it could have been a pillow, but it actually this is I've done it as a double bed. I've done it as a locket. Clearly it's white gold but the base of the bed is white gold. The top of the bed is actually rock crystal because I'll see the white of the of the white gold through the rock crystal. It's got a bed head, it's got a bed head and it's got white gorgeous white pillows which will be I think it's all going to be very very polished because that's the that's the kind of feeling that god forbid we should have a crumpled white bed but so if you if you imagine um the this white bed with a duvet folded over I mean I there's a whole art to making the bed that I didn't even know until I've had a demonstration from you but it's actually a locket and inside when you when you open the bed up a bit like there'd be storage under the bed it's just written the white company 1994 amazing so but I have got one question because I think we've talked quite a lot about about the white company but my question is how How did you fund it in the beginning?

48:30Annoushka Ducas MBE:So my granny, she left me some oil and gas shares. And actually, my uncle, they both left me some shares in oil and gas companies. And I sold those shares. So I had£6 ,000 to start the business. And I carried on working. I did a huge amount of research to start the business whilst working yeah and I carried on working until the day all my stock arrived and I could leave to shoot the brochure and then it went out very very quickly afterwards and that's that's what I started the business with I sort of, you know, I'd saved up. I was on a journalist salary, so I didn't...

49:27Chrissie Rucker OBE:Not that much. I didn't earn very much.

49:28Annoushka Ducas MBE:You know, I earned, yeah, not really, not very much.

49:31Chrissie Rucker OBE:I can imagine what it was.

49:33Annoushka Ducas MBE:So, but I was very good at living off not very much. Yes.

49:38Chrissie Rucker OBE:I've never had outside investment in the business. That's amazing that you've never had that.

49:43Annoushka Ducas MBE:So I think having that discipline of you've got a certain amount of money. I mean, I did run out of money. But then, thankfully, I won a Young Business Award. And I got a little, the prize was£5 ,000 from Midland Bank. So that actually sort of saved me. But I really like that discipline of you've got a certain amount of money. So you've got to spend absolutely every penny wisely. and throughout the whole journey it's always been about strong and safe and because we've never

50:24Chrissie Rucker OBE:taken outside investment we've never had a huge chunk of cash yeah to go and open 20 stores in

50:33Annoushka Ducas MBE:one go or something like that which I've seen it is such a discipline yeah what's been the biggest challenge that you faced in the business gosh I've been I mean so I know many yes along the way if I had to pick one thing that's very fresh in mind is actually we moved warehouse two years ago that it was an absolute disaster and um oh you know I I I sort of um I mean gosh I look back on it now and I wish I trusted my gut a bit more my gut instinct as we went through the process my gut instinct kept saying oh are we sure I'll be sure I'll be sure and I didn't I didn't follow that through enough.

51:29Annoushka Ducas MBE:Anyway, the long and short of it is we had this disastrous warehouse move and it's been very, very, very hard for the team and they've been completely amazing how everybody has pulled together to get through it.

51:48Chrissie Rucker OBE:Because what that meant, because obviously I know what it is, but what that meant is that you couldn't get the orders out.

51:56Annoushka Ducas MBE:We couldn't get the orders out. We couldn't get to the stock. We couldn't get the stock to be in the right place at the right time. It was so bad. I mean, and obviously, customer service is literally at the heart of the business. So we actually had to slow the business. We turned our marketing off and we had to slow the business right down because and we still gave some terrible customer service and to anyone who was affected by it or has been affected by it I can't apologize enough because it has honestly been the worst thing it was so bad that we had to move again so we've actually done two warehouse moves in two years

52:45Chrissie Rucker OBE:I don't know what people don't realize is how many thousands of orders you're sending out a day so actually to have that happen it's not like a jewelry business where you're not sending I wish we were but we're not it's a very different world but I mean that is quite a I think the um the learning from that I really do believe this actually as women is trust your

53:10Annoushka Ducas MBE:instinct yes yes but you know I I think I mean happily we are absolutely through the worst of it now and now I'm you know feeling very positive about what we what we can what we're going to go on and do next year and we've got some really fantastic exciting new people working in the business and amazing talent.

53:34Chrissie Rucker OBE:Do you enjoy which bit do you enjoy? Home? Fashion? Lovely smellies? Which which bit does gives you the most pleasure?

53:46Annoushka Ducas MBE:Well I love all of them. I mean I obviously it all began in home so my heartland is home for sure and and then you know it's been wonderful the whole journey has been very connected to life to how our life changed to my children who are just so amazing coming along and our needs as a family and and I'm so inspired by life actually our our campaign this year was life is um a beautiful thing so i think um i love i love this idea of trying to slow life down a little bit to take more time to enjoy you know simple the simple pleasures in life but time with family and friends and you know unplugging god i mean

54:52Chrissie Rucker OBE:live in the real world and be present and that is the biggest challenge. Now look, your last charm, I really want you to tell me this story, is a baked bean. So I've done this, I've actually done this, I haven't done a single baked bean, I've done a can of baked beans because I think, well a I'd really like to make a can because it'll have all the ridges and it'll I mean it will have the Heinz beans exactly as the as the logo is so I've done it in in yellow gold the the label is going to be in white gold and it says on the label my favourite baked bean. The lid looks like the top of the can so it's got the pull on it but actually it's hinged and it opens and inside I've got two beans made out of jasper so they're carved beans exactly the same shape as a baked bean.

56:05Chrissie Rucker OBE:And I've actually put... What's jasper? Jasper's a red, kind of reddy stone. So it's kind of emulate. For me, that was the closest thing I could get to the colour of a baked bean. And I like the idea of it being a carved stone. But I put four smaller gold beans inside because I just think they could represent the children and they could be in there. And I like the idea of the sound when you have this little... But for goodness sake, Tamar, what this baked bean is. The baked bean...

56:40Annoushka Ducas MBE:Well, actually, it's funny, actually, because, you know, I kind of lived off baked beans. Jacket potato and baked beans went a long way, didn't it? And I think it was also that association with the story I'm about to tell that was sort of linked to studenthood as well. But the baked bean, I don't know if Nick's going to kill me for sharing this story, but basically when we met... Age? How old were you? Oh gosh, so I think I was 24. Right. Anyway, he was always absolutely determined he wasn't going to get married before he was 30. And anyway, we've been together for about four years. and we used to go and stay with his parents in Shropshire and we went for a walk one day and we sat down on a big hay bale and then suddenly he was kind of calling it a day and...

57:41Annoushka Ducas MBE:Sorry, you're sitting on the hay bale? We're sitting on the hay bale and he's... I can't quite remember how the conversation went but anyway, he chucked me. Right. and I remember he said he's there was this phrase well it's a little bit like baked beans you love them when you're little and as you're growing up and then one day you grow out of them it was literally the worst moment in my life I can imagine Anyway, there is a happy ending to this story. We split up for two weeks. For two weeks? We split up for two weeks. Okay. And two weeks later, he came and he said, pack your bags. We're going somewhere.

58:41Annoushka Ducas MBE:And he proposed. And we got married three months later because I was going to seize the moment. I mean, there was no way I was letting him go. and um but he did say in his speech um on the day we got married is that no one else will understand this but you will forever be my most favorite baby that is the most adorable i can't

59:03Chrissie Rucker OBE:believe i've never heard that and that's that seems like a very um good place to end i love that um i've got so many things i'd like to ask you but i think we're out of time and i know you've got lots to do um but Chrissy thank you so much for doing this I had a bit of persuasion it wasn't that bad was it as you know I'm not I couldn't wish to do it with someone more special

59:33Annoushka Ducas MBE:than you and um and as you know you know I have forever loved your charms and I have lots of them and I actually have one here which says my little baked bean on it.

59:48Chrissie Rucker OBE:I didn't know that's what it said. You made that. I know but I didn't know, I can't remember they said that.

59:54Annoushka Ducas MBE:And some of these, yeah, and I love to wear my chants around my neck.

1:00:00Chrissie Rucker OBE:And I'm so thrilled that you are now wearing, I feel this is an actual personal triumph, you're wearing yellow and white gold. Yes. And they look great together. Yes, you have persuaded me. You have persuaded me. So, Chrissie, as a thank you so much for doing this, I'm going to make you one of those charms. Oh, yeah. I'd like you to decide which one it's going to be.

1:00:27Annoushka Ducas MBE:They're so brilliant and they're so beautifully and so thoughtfully designed with so many layers of gorgeous details.

1:00:40Annoushka Ducas MBE:and they all mean so much but I suppose all I choose would be the one about my mum.

1:00:47Chrissie Rucker OBE:Oh the cross. Yeah. Oh that's so, well that's really lovely. It's such a lovely thing to do.

1:00:58Annoushka Ducas MBE:I really looked for this because I knew your mummy and that became really so special for her.

1:01:03Chrissie Rucker OBE:I love that.

1:01:04Annoushka Ducas MBE:Yeah.