THE DREAM

My wonderful mentor, Lyn Dallison, asked me if I had any long term goals in my mind. And I didn't really. I've never been able to see beyond my Uni years, and now that those have passed...I have no idea where to go! So I sat down and had a wee think and this is what I came up with:

THE DREAM:

To own my own property/shop/store with a studio out the back where I can make, show, and sell my own work.

I will sell a few ranges/lines of mass produced pieces (still on a small scale) as well as:

- selling one off pieces, commissioned or just ones that I decide to make

- making work for exhibitions and shows and competitions

I want the focus to be on hand-crafted objects, keeping true to the craftsmanship of making and producing handmade objects.

I will attend courses/workshops/classes to further extend my skills and widen my horizons.

something to consider?????? 

 – share the property/shop/store with another artist/s? Jewellers? Other fields? Is a highly attractive option that I would strongly consider and seek out?

- A place to make, show, and sell our work

- Opportunities for collaboration

- Share the cost of running a workshop/shop/store...electricity, tools, water, insurance, security, rent? (would PREFER to have bought the place...) etc

- Erase the issue of having to sort out pricing with galleries/buyers that we would normally have to deal with

- Would have to generate our own exposure (ie. With a gallery/shop they already have a network and set structure for media and advertising...), we wouldn’t have that

- Would need to hire someone to take care of the money aspect of things so we can focus on work, but need to still be involved so know what’s going on

- Would need to hire and pay own shop staff?? Unless we took shifts to man the shop...ie...three people...two days each in the shop, three/four days making, Sundays closed... will also depend on location.  Would be able to work on things if they are on ‘shop’ duty if it’s quiet!!

- Set up a base rate or percentage of sale of each work that will go towards the running of the store/shop...ie...20%? Not sure?! Then the rest is kept by the artist as pay? Something that would have to be trialled or run by someone for advice!! 

Ambitious huh? But I like it. The more people say ...'oh, thats a bit ambitious.' it makes me even more determined to make it happen!!!

(check out this link to find a pretty interesting project (where I stole the above image from) http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=13238)