Puppet maker gets an added string to her bow

Kim McDermottroe is the owner of Greener Lavelle and is a costume and puppet designer and maker, illustrator and community artist from Billingham.

She has been named among the 100 small businesses in the UK to be celebrated by Small Business Saturday, the campaign that culminates in the UK’s dedicated day for small firms on December 3.

It means Kim’s firm will be one of 100 to be featured in by the Small Business Saturday campaign, with one per day for the 100 days leading up to Small Business Saturday itself.

Her firm creates bespoke educational costumes for museums throughout the UK, and large-scale puppets for street theatres and carnivals.

She said: “After graduation I was accepted on a teacher training course, but I thought I couldn’t teach much if all I had known was education myself.

“Having produced some costumes for a local museum, word spread quickly and, together with my friend Charlotte, we began making costumes for North East museums. I got involved in local carnival parades.”

Small Business Saturday is already the UK’s most successful small business campaign.

This is its fourth year. Last year saw £623m spent with small businesses across the UK on Small Business Saturday, which was an increase of £119m or 24 per cent on the previous year.

For more information, visit www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com.