Jen Fuller is the founder of Etta Loves baby sensory toys. The brand proudly transforms baby essentials into sensory sensations using the wonder of science, to support babies’ eye and brain development and give parents many priceless moments of calm. Putting science and style at the heart of their brand, designing precise patterns, scales and colours to support babies’ visual and cognitive development to make sensory play easy, versatile, more productive and most of all enjoyable for everyone.
1. Can you give us a brief overview of your career prior to starting Etta Loves?
I’d spent the best part of 17 years working in planning and strategy within various media agencies in London. So I understood what made a good brand and marketing plan, but most of the skills needed to launch a physical product, especially the manufacturing part, were totally alien to me.
Founder Jen & her daughter Etta
2. You’re a firm believer that parents don’t need lots of stuff for babies, just the right stuff. How does Etta Loves provide this with their range?
Being a parent is overwhelming enough, and expensive, so from the beginning, I’ve been driven to make baby products that do more – which is why we put our scientific sensory prints onto things that parents need to buy for their babies anyway – e.g muslin & playmats. This makes them do so much more than their primary function, providing utility and the best possible sensory support for little ones. Every order also comes with hacks of how to get the most out of their products, and we make lots of products reversible in each age range we design for, so that they provide visual support for babies’ first year and beyond.
Etta Loves baby sensory toys
3. Can you share 3 facts about a baby’s vision that new parents may not be already aware of?
The most common myth is that babies see in black and white, whereas in fact they can detect a strong red and green from birth, but the colours appear very muted and unsaturated compared to how we see them as adults. In addition, babies don’t have 3D vision until around 5 months old. This is because the muscles that hold their eyes straight and enable a 3D image to be sent and processed by our brains are immature at birth – which also explains why babies go cross-eyed on occasion. Another fact that drives what we do is that babies prefer to look at patterns over plain surfaces and in fact, pattern input is critical for their visual development.
4. Etta Loves is a brand based on science and research. Can you talk about the current research you are undertaking or explain why this sets you apart in the market?
We work with our consultant Orthoptist, Laura, and have a 3-year scientific partnership with The Baby Lab at The University of Sussex to ensure that we are designing products using the latest research on how babies learn to see and what they like to look at as their vision progresses. The things we consider are the size and scale of the pattern, the spacing, babies’ shape preference and – for our 5+ month range – the colours. Every single mark and colour on our prints is deliberate to make it the best that it can be at delivering the right level of sensory support.
What’s fascinating about working with The Baby Lab is that not only can we test and optimise our current prints, but we can take questions that we don’t have the answer to – like our most recent study regarding infant colour preference – and design research that provides new and previously unknown answers to how babies’ see and what they like to look at. No one else in the baby market is putting the science of infant vision at the heart of their design process, which is why our products are the best they can possibly be for babies’ development. It’s something I’m hugely proud of.
5. What advice can you provide for other women who may be looking to start a brand after having children?
I’d have to say the big one is to make sure you know your point of difference in the market and make this your North star. The journey to build a business and a brand is so much harder if you don’t have a clear difference and purpose, so I’d always say keep coming back to why the world needs your product and how you’re going to do something differently or better. It’s also a lie that having your own business gives you freedom to work around your family as I’ve certainly found that it distracts me, as you can never quite switch off – so be sure that you have the right emotional, physical and financial support before making the leap.
The Etta Loves collection is available from ettaloves.com, Selfridges, JoJo Maman Bebe and John Lewis stores nationwide as well as selfridges.com, johnlewis.com and jojomamanbebe.co.uk.
