Noreen Drein holding one of her pillow covers.
BY CRONAN SCANLON
A LOCAL business has accidentally gone international, thanks to a homesick Donegal man living in Wicklow. Elegant Functions in Letterkenny has been supplying wedding decor and merchandise for almost ten years.
However the proprietor, Noreen Drein, got an idea for a new line of products after a chance conversation with a cousin who now lives in the Garden County.
“I have a lot of relatives living overseas, but Kieran Kenny in Wickow told me he was missing Donegal and dreaming of Football Special and Emerald sweets,” she explained. “So I decided to print some uniquely Donegal and Irish products, Football Special, Emeralds and Tayto crisps, on a pillow case cover under the words ‘missing Donegal, dreaming of…’.”
Noreen posted the picture of the pillow case on Kieran’s Facebook page and was astounded by the response. “The picture went up on Sunday night. It was ‘shared and ‘liked’ and, by Wednesday, I had received 53 orders from all over the world. I had people contacting me from the usual places like Canada, America and Austrlia.
“However, there has also been a lot of orders from Denmark, Germany, Belgium, the UK and County Mayo. I have just discovered that Doherty’s Sausages and Mighty Munch crisps are big in Mayo as I had orders for those products to be printed on pillow cases.”
Not one to sit around, enterprising Noreen set-up Funny Peach to print, market and distribute unique Donegal and Irish merchandise. Souvenir ‘Letterkenny’ mugs are also in the pipeline. “The orders are just flooding in for the €15 pillow cases through the Funny Peach Facebook page, but I hope to have www.funnypeach.com fully operational in a few weeks time.
“I have also noticed an increase in orders for the ‘Dreaming’ pillow cases in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day, so I will need to be ready soon for that. My core business is weddings, but I have found an opening for something quirkey and different which I plan to do online.”
For further information, log on to the Funny Peach Facebook page, www.funnypeach.com or contact Noreen on 087 2816195.
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