Before Millie Raphael Designs

‘Raphael’ pops up everywhere in my family. In my businesses over the years. In my cousin’s business. People often ask me where it came from. It was my dad’s surname before my grandad changed it to Hayward…apparently because he loved pickles?! Whether that’s true or just a family rumour, who knows! But the name stayed, and carrying it into what I do now always feels special to me.

Anyway…

Before Millie Raphael Designs, there was Raphael Interiors. My first proper business and the place where I really started figuring out what I actually wanted to do.

I had just stepped out of interior design, but I still felt that urge to keep my creative spark alive. I missed styling spaces, finding those special little pieces, and helping people turn a house into a home. So I began saying yes to small projects for private clients.

And then 2020 happened and, like most people, I had to rethink everything.

Raphael Interiors slowly became an online shop for luxury homeware. Sculptural candles, velvet cushions, marble trays…all the gorgeous touches! Every product on the website was carefully cherry-picked by me from suppliers around the world. All things I would happily have in my own home and, to my profit’s dismay, often did.

Running that business on my own was a lot. Packing orders on my living room floor. Photographing products wherever my house had the best light. Replying to messages while trying to keep everything afloat. It was full-on and often stressful, but somewhere in the middle of all that, something else began to stand out.

I realised I cared just as much about the branding and visuals as I did about the products themselves. Probably more! I loved updating the website. I loved creating the content. I loved the storytelling behind it all.

That’s when things really started to click.

It wasn’t that I stopped loving interiors. I still do. But I loved the branding side of things even more. Little by little, I leaned into that. And earlier this year, I made the hard but right decision to close Raphael Interiors so I could put my full focus into Millie Raphael Designs.

Although Raphael Interiors is no longer, I don’t see it as a failure. It taught me what I’m good at and what I’m not so good at (honesty always). It gave me a lightbulb moment and the nudge I needed to change direction.

Still creative. Still inspired by beautiful things. Just a little more intentional now. And always grateful for where it all began.