Magherafelt firm marks ten years in business with special event

Established in 2009, it has grown from its humble beginnings in Draperstown to become one of the UK’s leading designers and manufacturers of innovative blinds and skylight systems.

Founder and managing director Cormac Diamond first started making blinds with a handful of staff in his father-in-law’s shed in 2006.

As an outsider to the window blinds industry, he quickly identified there was a need for high quality, stylish blinds on the market and set about starting up his own company which would become Bloc Blinds.

Bloc Blind’s 10th birthday party brought the community together with a special celebration event, which also saw local school children compete in a ‘design a blind’ competition, with the winners receiving their design printed on a roller blind.

The birthday celebrations mark what has already been a busy 2019 for Bloc Blinds. In January the business showcased its new all-in-one smart home device ‘Bloc iQ’ at CES 2019 - the tech world’s biggest event - in Las Vegas, and the company has also recently invested over £100k in the installation of bespoke fabric printing facilities at its manufacturing headquarters.

Bloc Blinds has seen a 40% rise in turnover over the last three years, while sales of the company’s award winning patented ‘BlocOut’ blackout blinds have risen by almost 50% YOY. Furthermore, the business announced a significant manufacturing milestone last year, with the company producing its one millionth blind.

Mr Diamond said: “Our growth is testament to the dedicated and hard-working team at Bloc Blinds. As we reflect on 10 years operating in Northern Ireland and look towards the next 10 years, our aim is to build on the momentum we have gained to date in our key markets and further expanding our customer base to achieving success in export markets.

“Innovation is at the heart of our growth strategy - and we’ve seen this approach pay dividends due to product development and new technology. Bloc Blinds now sell globally to a range of sectors through various channels - online, retail and B2B - and one of our key retail accounts is John Lewis, with our products stocked both in John Lewis stores and sold online as well.”

Mr Diamond added that they weer determined to remain at the forefront of the industry by providing high quality products for years to come.