Shop Local: Graduate’s Christmas decoration craft sets
Kirill Nikitin has started Little City Lights, which sells Christmas decoration craft sets. Picture; Kirill Nikitin - Credit: Kirill Nikitin
Inspired by his childhood memories of making Christmas decorations with his grandparents, a Golders Green graduate has launched a business selling craft sets.
Shop Local - Credit: Archant
Kirill Nikitin’s Little City Lights paper decorations come in a signature retro-style vinyl sleeve and are assembled at home - a distraction for the household during the UK’s month-long lockdown.
The designs are of small, grotto-style houses, which can be lit up from within with an LED light.
They come in both paper and fire-retardant materials - the latter being suitable for display on a traditional Christmas tree. Each house is made of watercolour style paper, and takes around ten minutes to make.
The 22-year-old, studied linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in May of this year, started the business after his offers for graduate work fell through at the onset of the pandemic.
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He said: “I decided it would be a really good idea to bring this to the market, a commercial project of some sort. I just saw a niche and kind of went for it.
“It’s a really, really cosy kind of memory [with my grandparents] and I’m quite firm believer that, although we are a commercial project, Christmas is becoming very commercialised.
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“Everyone has the same sort of decorations, they’re all made out of the same sort of material and they all come from the same place.”
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Setting up a business in the pandemic, according to Kirill, has been a “whirlwind” - filled with ups and downs as sales have fluctuated. Kirill, however, describes himself as an optimist, and doesn’t believe Covid-19 will be around forever.
Kirill has one message for those thinking ahead for their Christmas decorations this year: “If you see a project or a product that looks a bit different and a bit quirky, then don’t be afraid to give it a try.
“You might really like it and your money is going much, much further into making someone’s day, and [you’re] funding a local business to make it grow, improving your community, and improving your local economy.”
Visit https://www.littlecitylights.com/ or call 07838 399000
