Rainbow Surfs and Supporting the NHS
We could easily have called this blog post 'Happy Accidents', because that's certainly a good description of what happened back in 2020:
Happy accident: A mistake or unplanned event that results in a beneficial outcome or pleasant surprise.
We found the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic just as surreal as everyone else, and used the time stuck at home to reflect on our Single Fin journey so far. At the start of the year, we had barely any time to take on new design work, with some big life changes and two house moves taking priority.
The COVID-19 situation made things even harder as we were incredibly busy in our day jobs and trying to support family elsewhere in the country. Somewhere in amongst all the craziness, we were also thinking about what we might be able to contribute, even in the smallest way.
We settled on designing an image to include the 'Rainbows for the NHS' movement that was so iconic during the pandemic. We planned to share the image on our social media channels, and simply hope that people enjoyed it.
Initially we thought about doing a really basic take on one of our most popular sunset surf prints, but there was something about the design which just didn't work for us:
Instead, we went back to the digital drawing board and started working on another old favourite. We went through a couple of different iterations, but before long our Rainbow Surf print was born.
We posted the image on Instagram on a Saturday morning and then went out for a bit of daily exercise and to post some existing print orders. When we got home, our notifications were red hot with questions about where people could buy the print. Our answer? You can't...yet!
From that initial reaction we knew that this design was something which had to go to print rather than just sit on Instagram, only to be buried by videos of dancing babies and dogs wearing sunglasses. But we also knew that it wouldn't be right for us to make money from any sales of the design, so we immediately set about researching who might benefit from a donation, and how!
With Cornwall being home, we decided to support the local NHS Trust, namely the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. The Trust was running a fundraising campaign with the goal of being able to support and improve the welfare of their teams and patients during the COVID-19 crisis.
Once the print was live on our website we shared it on social media and the orders came thick and fast, to the point where we were worried about how we'd keep up with packaging and posting them all. On the first day we sold 31 prints, on the second day we sold 41 more, and so on for the next couple of weeks. The sales continued to astound us, we really hadn't expected more than a few likes on social media. At the end of May 2020 we were able to donate £2097 direct to the Royal Cornwall Hospital's COVID fundraiser. It helped refit a new staff rest room, designed to give tired staff a space to relax and re-charge.
If you bought one of these prints at the time or even just shared the image online, thank you for your support! This was an amazing experience for us at a very challenging time, we can't thank you enough.
Chez & Sam x
