long over due

So I am not going to begin to explain why this blog update has taken so long and I am not going to bore with you excuses either. What I am going to do is detail what I have been up to, what I am doing now and what I hope to achieve this year.

So the last update detailed that I was going to try and do some smaller projects while the commissions slowed down and try to promote my work and also see if I can get it displayed in more local shops. This as always is an ongoing/slow process. Currently my work is taking up a lot of space in my workshop and I am still searching out shops and galleries that potentially could show my work, but I feel that it will take time to get noticed. So all I can do is continue working away doing small designs from my mountain of sketchbooks that I have and see what comes of them.

  So currently I am making a variation of my popular multifunctional coat hook that is detailed in previous posts on this blog. It involves using my trusted material wood and a new material to me, metal. This means I needed to track down a local blacksmith. Luckily I found one only a few minutes down the road from where I live! so while I am on holiday from my day job this week, it gives me a perfect opportunity to get this latest project moving and involve a local blacksmith to make a piece of the design that I currently cannot. When the design is finished I will show it on this very blog. I am very excited about it and hope it continues my ethos so to speak of unique functional designs that play on how people live and interact with their surroundings in this fast paced world.

 Also I am going to make a few new mirror designs too. My previous mirror designs –Scape for example- proved popular and I have so many ideas for new designs. Not only that, I have a local supplier of mirror glass and so much wood to use! (I seem to buy wood like women buy clothes at the moment!) So I thought I would do something I have experience in and know I can make well, so look out for these in the summer months. Summer months I hear you say! I know we haven’t had the best weather this year so far but I’m hopeful.

 As I mentioned above I am still hunting out commissions and have had a few interested people requiring quite unique items to be made but its not as easy as a few phone calls and a quick sketch. But I am learning all the time how to approach people’s requirements when it comes to making something and I know they will come thick and fast soon. Until then I continue to promote myself on here and twitter to name but a few social platforms that have proved fruitful in gaining recognition and interest in my work.

 Also in my last post I mentioned I had setup a flickr account which I have been slowly filling with photos and more will appear on there soon. So keep on eye out. Also I have acquired an instagram account too, so all I need to do is get a phone that can run the instagram app!!!! And then fill it with daily inspiration, images of my journeys and design projects. Its annoying and frustrating that I haven’t sorted this out yet but I will and I am looking forward to sharing my design journey in a different way as I know it will benefit me long term.

 But the main thing I am going to do more of is keep this blog regularly updated. I know I have said it before but I will make a bigger effort to keep this going now as I have a jam packed summer ahead of me (fingers crossed). So as always keep an eye on my twitter feed which will link to this blog as new posts arrive. But the most pressing big thing I have to do this week is be a best man at my brothers wedding!! Wish me luck! A post will appear on here when my best man duties have been fulfilled!