Kingston graduate’s company makes the top 100

A former Kingston student’s company has been named as one of the top 100 UK businesses.

Alex Sunier

A former Kingston student’s company has been named as one of the top 100 UK businesses.

Soula Zavacopoulos’s company, The London Studio, has been named one of the top 100 small businesses of 2012 by the business advisor network Smarta.

Miss Zavacopoulos, who graduated from Kingston University in 2009 with a BA honours degree in graphic design, said: “It feels amazing to have [Smarta] recognise my design studio as one of the top 100 businesses in the UK.”

Entrepreneurship

Miss Zavacopoulos created The London Studio with £2,000 of her own savings in 2009, straight after graduating. The company initially started out designing greeting cards, and now supplies over 500 retail businesses including Harrods, Selfridges and Bentalls.

Miss Zavacopoulos added: “It’s been really hard launching new products in the current climate but I’m really grateful to all the companies who use The London Studio for their graphic design projects, and all the retail shops that have supported me and bought my products. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Deborah Meaden, Dragons’ Den star and Smarta board member, said: “They [The London Studio] branched out from traditional graphic design services for corporate clients, to self-publishing Soula’s personal and quirky designs onto greetings cards. Soula’s designs can be seen across giftware, books, stationary and homeware.”

International distribution

Miss Zavacopoulos’s now distributes her designs around the world to far-flung places including Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, France, Canada, USA and Australia.