A GIFT business born during lockdown has brought home an industry award and is planning new prototypes to satisfy continuing demand.
Made Happy creates 3D-printed Lego-compatible cake-toppers, key chains and other ornaments.
The brainchild of Isabelle Davidge and her husband, the business has come a long way since spring 2020, when Isabelle, a nurse, was pregnant and not allowed to work face-to-face in pandemic conditions, while her pilot husband potentially faced redundancy. At that point, the family decided to invest in a 3D printer – and now they manage 150 of them.
The printers create three-dimensional objects in food-safe eco-friendly plastic derived from sugar cane.
Having outgrown the family’s garden shed, the company’s biggest markets outside the UK are the US, Australia and Germany, which it now serves from dedicated premises in Goudhurst, with four staff.
Pride-themed objects such as necklaces, earrings and badges have joined the company’s product line, with Made Happy sponsoring Tonbridge Pride this August.
The company’s Lego-compatible letters have also been named Contemporary Gift of the Year 2023 at
The Giftware Association’s Gift of the Year awards.
“We were really quite flabbergasted to be shortlisted, and even more so to have won,” said Isabelle.
Made Happy is still looking to its future. Having been approved for a LoCASE (Low Carbon Across the South East) scheme grant, more equipment is on its way to Goudhurst, Isabelle told the Times.
“We were just approved for a grant before it closed. This will go toward new printers, which can print in multiple colours and are more energy efficient.”
