Darling Collective London  

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Our Story

The Darling Collective is the online boutique for things to do. The site features services from top-end small businesses in the UK, hand-picked and curated by a small and dedicated team devoted to promoting unique, high quality entrepreneurial ventures.

The site features everything from beekeeping courses, perfumery lessons, guided tours of galleries and gin tasting to bookbinding classes, passion coaching, homemade crafting circles and wild food foraging.

A team of curators is growing the portfolio of services daily, under the mantra 'Nothing corporate, nothing standard.' Every booking on the Darling Collective earns you Darling points that you can add to your handbag and redeem for any of the services elsewhere on the site. 

Who?

 
 Charlie Beall
The Darling Collective was founded by husband and wife team Charlie Beall and Andie Devlin Ball. Charlie a former actor and musician, latterly carved out a career in London's media during which time he conceived of a brand that curated the talents of small-scale perfectionists in an online home for the very best in things to do. 

The idea was to provide a home for small businesses that deserve wider recognition and that provided the consumer with quality services in their local area - an online destination where they could go and know that what they found would be good quality, authentic, value for money and most importantly, supportive of local business people. 
 
Andie Devlin Ball
 Andie heads up Darling Events, the events agency that sits alongside the web site. She has a background in set design and styling and extensive experience in the event and design industries. She has worked with some of the top PR agencies and luxury brands in London and globally. 
She specialises in event design, producing mood boards and pitch documents, and also works on the styling of parties, interiors and shoots.

She also has extensive experience of the logistics and organisational side of producing an event, from running the budget, subcontracting suppliers, producing timelines and schedules and overseeing builds/ de-rigs. Projects included launches, shows and parties for fashion brands (including Juicy Couture, Rubbish Magazine and Conde Nast); restaurant and bar concepts; dinners, conferences and events for corporates (including many FTSE100 companies); dinners, launches and expos for PR and event agencies, and a whole range of events for private clients.

Darling Events offer a completely bespoke experience for our clients, including:

∗ Corporate events with a fashion or design-led angle
∗ Venue finding
∗ Interior dressing and styling
∗ Party planning
∗ Unique corporate entertainment ideas
∗ Boutique events to wow clients, customers and staff
∗ Distinctive team building and away days

The idea

"A number of my friends were really skilled in areas such as photography, acting, jewellery making etc. and it struck me that they didn't have a platform where they could market themselves... certainly not one that curated only the best." Yes, there's editorial, yes there's classifieds, yes there are daily deal sites but the Darling Collective tries to do something different. We are a community of businesses that support one another under an umbrella of quality, loyalty and uniqueness. That takes time to build but it's time worth investing."

Where?

The Darling Collective launched in September 2011 in London and has since expanded throughout the UK and added an events arm to its portfolio. 

What?

There are two straplines, by which we live: 'The boutique for things to do' explains what we are, and 'Nothing corporate, nothing standard' explains our philosophy.

All our partners have been handpicked, and we have met or spoken with each and every one of them to ensure that when users book one of their services we can guarantee they will be treated brilliantly and receive a great service. 

Why?

Users come to the Darling Collective if they want to treat, reward or better themselves. Because we curate what's on our site, users can guarantee they will get a much better service than on a listings or classifieds site.

We monitor feedback from our members to ensure only businesses delivering the best service and highest quality remain on the site

We offer Darling points for every purchase made on the site, which can be redeemed for the services of any of our other partners.

Our philosophy

We believe that businesses offering quality and uniqueness deserve to do well, but all too often the effects of today’s marketplace are standardisation, depersonalisation and the maximisation of profit over quality. We believe in a world where a diverse range of small businesses can provide value by focusing on what it is they do best, without selling out, dumbing down or even worse, being swallowed up by the drab and monotonous high-street monoliths.

Because we’re a collective, Darling gives strength in numbers and a seal of approval to smaller suppliers, allowing them to benefit from a wider customer base than they would normally have access to, while not compromising the values and ethos that made them work in the first place.

At the Darling Collective, we also call ourselves ‘the curator of simple pleasures’. We believe that it’s difficult to cut through the constant noise of the media and the swathes of rubbish on the internet – often there is so much out there, it’s difficult to know what’s worth your time and what’s not. That’s where we come in. We go out there and find products, experiences, services and treats that you know are good value, tried-and-tested and sought-after, without having to wade through all the noise.

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