Beautiful Paris...my home town
Hi, I am Michelle L Berkley (hence the name EMELBY - based on my initials MLB ). I am from Manchester in the UK, I’m 54 and have been living in Paris for 17 years.
Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I would end up living in Paris but I only got here at the age of 37.
It all started just before covid, I had started an insta blog (about Parisian lifestyle, over 50 styling, just a bit of fun really) - and during the first lockdown it started to take off and get a little bit of attention. I had already met with a farmer from Provence who inspired me with her jams, and we decided to work together to prepare an artisanal gourmet range of jams which I am branding under my name EMELBY GOURMET.
I have a marketing and design background, and I decided to try and do a modern take on a traditional rustic product. I came up with the idea of the pink and blue paper design - I have done all the design myself (logo, packaging, and all marketing material) - I visualised the jam being kind of "wrapped up" in paper and stayed on my path, eventhough many didn't like the colours at the beginning!
In parallel to working on the brand, my instagram became the perfect platform to tell my "story" and I shared my journey from the very beginning, so that my followers could see the story unfold in real time. I loved that I could share the unknown future with my followers, not knowing how things would turn out - I grew my following organically and I hoped that kind people would bear with me if I failed here and there and had to pick myself up and keep going.
All I knew about the jams at this stage was that they were delicious, I had never tasted anything like it before. I grew up in the North of England and I can honestly say I did not have a refined palette, but after living in Paris for 17 years, I have grown to appreciate very good quality produce and can really tell the difference between average and outstanding.
The first jam was my “first love” - the raspberry and geranium, I was so stunned by just how delicious it was, I had never tasted anything like it before - it just woke up my taste buds with a bang! I asked some other people to taste it too, and every single time I saw their eyes open wide and go "wow". I felt that this would definitely be my signature product, and thus based all my marketing initially around this one jam.
I then spent some time with the farmers down in Provence and started working on other "concoctions", such as courgette (zucchini) & lemon, which before tasting it, I thought it wasn’t going to work at all!....and then I tasted it and again I was convinced that French gourment products were going to be my passion, the thing that got me out of bed in the morning.
The third one was more of a classic one - the orange and grenadine. I think I had already 2 very intriguing jams, so I wanted to have something a bit less "intimidating" lol, for those people who just want to "dip their toe" into the jam water.
I had initially thought of just having 3 jams, but the the farmer suggested the blackcurrant/mint - I personally am not a mint person, but my husband is, and he desperately wanted to try it... one taste, and he was hooked, and after getting several other people to taste it, I realised that it had the potential to be hugely popular.
I am just a small business owner, I am 54 - I just started this year to develop this brand, but I have 30 years of marketing behind me and I’ve been, seen and done, so it’s been 54 years in the making, I just didn’t know it.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope I am able to transmit in these words all the blood, sweat and tears I have put into this project. I have really given it everything I have. I want to be proud of what I have achieved, and have tried to take care of every small detail. I hope the jam lives up to your expectations, I hope you’ll find a sprinkle of joy and magic in my little pink-covered jam jars. My goal is to bring people a little bit of sparkle into their life, I know it’s ‘just’ a jam, but if it brings a twinkle to your eye, I have acheived my goal.
Photography and imagery is everything when it comes to your brand, it’s pointless having a beautiful and delicious jam if you don’t show it off to its full potential. From day 1 in Paris I started collecting bits and pieces in markets and deco stores as I dreamed of finally having the brand and photographing it in my own tiny corner of the world. My tiny apartment soon filled up with lots of “clutter” that I really didn’t have the space for - but I knew I would use every single thing I had bought. I have a very strong eye for detail and I wanted it be as beautiful as it could be.