ABOUT US

BLISS - CONTEMPORARY PRODUCTS SINCE 1978

BLISS is a British company that supplies contemporary designer housewares for the modern home, principally for kitchens and bathrooms. The company’s main business premises are near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. It also has offices in the United States and Hong Kong.

The company’s directors are husband and wife Mike and Gabrielle Bliss. Mike is a Fine Art graduate and set up the original business in 1978, which was known as Woody Enterprises. The company produced attention-grabbing gifts made of wood such as flexible ties, lip shaped clocks, Maggie Thatcher toilet roll holders and, to celebrate the 1981 Royal wedding, waving Charles and Diana cutouts for the car. Mike’s first sale was made to a shop in Stratford-upon-Avon before breaking through into the London market.

In January 1984 the company was renamed BLISS. Products produced throughout the1980s included large floor lamps shaped as tulips and daffodils, made of metal; clocks made from real toast, resin coated; and Art Deco inspired aluminium and glass radios and televisions. Bliss became increasingly well known for their innovative and imaginative products.

Bliss continued to expand their list of retail outlets and increased sales steadily throughout the 1980s. At this time, Mike and Gabrielle began to source products from overseas and took on a range of chrome kitchen and bathroom items that were a huge success. They also designed and manufactured their own Bliss range of bathroom accessories. In 1994 their first buying trip to the Far East took place. The Bliss’s now regularly visit trade fairs around the world in search of inspiring products.

In the late 1990s Mike and Gabrielle were introduced to product designer Sebastian Conran, and they commissioned a modern collection of household items, designed by Sebastian and developed and manufactured by Bliss, under the Equilibrium brand name. The range was launched in 1999, the first products being the Equilibrium Kitchen Scales and Pebble Weights. These high quality kitchen items won several prestigious design awards and were commercially very successful.

Working with Sebastian Conran led Bliss to an introduction to Nigella Lawson, food writer and television cook, who wished to design a range of kitchen tools inspired by her own requirements in the kitchen. The collection was to be glamorous and covetable as well as practical and functional. Nigella and Sebastian worked on the designs, Bliss coordinated the design process, manufacture and distribution of the range. The first wave of Nigella Lawson’s Living Kitchen was launched in November 2002 and garnered huge media attention as well as phenomenal sales. Nigella and Sebastian continue to design for the expanding range which is a massive success worldwide.

In 2004 Bliss took over distribution and sales of silversmith Oliver Hemming’s innovative range of tea and coffee makers. In 2006 they joined forces with Britain’s bestselling homes interiors magazine Livingetc to produce an exclusive selection of fashionable homewares.

Bliss now has available to customers over 300 product lines, featuring the best designs from Britain and around the world.