Gisela Graham

From small beginnings Gisela Graham has built up one of Europe's leading giftware design companies. Having made her name crafting beautiful decorations for Christmas and Easter, she turned her creative flair to designing useful, pretty things for the home and garden. Gisela is in personal charge of a talented in-house team of designers at the converted stable-yard that serves as her London office. She's involved in the design and selection of every one of the 4500 products in her range. The company's products are sold in about 5000 shops. In the UK its customers include virtually all the retailers of note here, but its trademark silver label can be found in good shops all around the world, especially in Germany. About a fifth of its sales are made overseas, as far away as Australia.

Born in Germany and educated at Goettingen and Berlin Universities. While her father wanted her to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer, her ambition from earliest years was to own a shop.