Filed under: inspiration, research | Tags: Bank's Mill, building, display, open studios, space, work
After the stress of completing the assignment this week it was a real joy to go to the Bank’s Mill Open Studios. Seeing such variety and quality of work on display fed the soul.
It really is a brilliant building with great spaces – it makes me want to move into one! Will definitely bear it in mind for the future as I don’t know how long working from home will continue to be productive. Being in such a place brings more than just the benefit of the space to work in too, I could certainly see myself there: wools stacked, drawings on the wall, laptop and needles.
Filed under: inspiration, reflection | Tags: assignment, business, case studies, mentor, product, struggle
Completed – Professional Practice, Planning & Presentation Assignment 1: Statement of Intent / Draft Plan.
I struggled. Found this really difficult. Why? Well, this isn’t the first time I have tried to write such a document, the same questions were asked when I was trying to build my business ideas in Bristol. Since then I can recognise that I have really worked on getting my product sorted, narrowing down the materials, the process, the objects themselves and the ethos behind it all. I am happy with these – the designs keep coming – hooray.
I find the ‘business’ hard. This I already knew. I find it VERY hard when a part of my qualification depends on it – I get incredibly stressed and feel paralysed by the fear of getting it wrong. We are given many examples, case studies, options about what we can go on to do… but few of them have felt like the right thing for me so in some ways I have to work twice as hard to get to the point where is starts to make sense on the page. It feels like it’s not as easy as saying ‘previous artists have done workshops, I have done workshops, I’ll do more workshops’. I have done nothing in the past that equates to what is needed to make my busines a success and I have no examples of what others have done. The only example is my mentor and I am aware that time with Debbie is limited and precious – I can’t rely on her for all the answers, she is only one person! I need to find more examples out there…
Filed under: inspiration, research | Tags: contemporary, craft, creativity, creatures, design, Donna Wilson, fair, favourites, Lustre, market, price, quality, toys
Lustre lived up to it’s name and reputation. High quality design and craft, all deliciously displayed for me to drool over.
I was pleased to see Donna Wilson’s creatures there, although sad they were in a glass cabinet and I didn’t get to meet her. I got to have a good look at her creature calendar and a Sleepy Pom notebook which I wasn’t aware was in production, they were lovely, creative and well priced. There were very few other ‘toys’ at the show, which I found interesting. Although I have had my fill of flower corsages – aren’t people fed up with these by now?
The quality is certainly very high and the prices reflected this – not your average ‘craft fair’. It gave me hope though, as my products are likely to come in priced at the higher end of the market, especially with the raw material being organic and therefore a bit more expensive than your standard wool. I think they wouldn’t look out of place.
I was surprised that there wasn’t more variety and creativity in the display of the work – some of it tried too hard and lost the products in the process.
Here are some of my favourites (i.e. I’d buy from them if I had the cash):
KEN EARLEY’s ceramics
Lauren Van Helmond’s little collage sculptures
David knight’s glass forms
SUILVEN PLAZALSKA’s contemporary jewellery
LYNSEY WALTER’s fun and fresh felt
Filed under: inspiration, research | Tags: beach, designing, ideas, inspiration, photographs, sea
I took the opportunity to get some new visual inspiration whilst visiting family this weekend. I miss being far from the sea in Derby so working with beach inspired ideas will keep my interest and prompt investigation into new textures, colours and forms. I took 70 photographs of the rocks, pools, shells and seaweed – with every frame I had thoughts and images of how I could work these into another creature, a mitten or tea-cosy. My brain is so full and I can’t wait to start designing!
