Studio is almost done!

Well it has been a few full weekends of work to get everything ready but I am delighted to say that Mike will be heading in to the new studio in the morning to do actual work!!

We need to tidy it up a bit more before I post the finished photos, but for now here is my favourite part of it so far (magnetic wall strips)!

New Studio - During

So Mike got the walls looking great during the week. I managed to organise my first weekend off in many months and we spent the weekend laying a new floor. It is just a simple laminate floor, but the difference it has made already is huge.

One of the great features of the studio is that it gets wonderful natural light all day long. This great light is made even better with the fresh walls and new floor.

I was a lot of physical work to get the floor in but it was absolutely worth it. I still need to get the skirting board finished but other than that we only need to get out the rubbish and then we can start to move in.

I hope to be all set-up and ready to go by the end of the month! We'll have some more photos when we are in and settled. Here is the evidence of our weekend of hard work!

New Studio - Before

So we have only been doing this since September but, amazingly, we are already able to think about moving into a proper studio. We are in desperate need of some space and having a place where clients can come to us. As it is I am spending a large chunk of my week driving all over the place to meet people.

I had been keeping my eye on what was available for a few months and just as I was getting discouraged by the lack of things out there we can across a great space. The location is perfect, the space is a great size and it will hopefully lead to even more opportunities.

The studio was looking a little rough around the edges when we got the keys but I knew that a lick of paint and a bit of work on the floor would work wonders.

Here are a few before photos.

Mug Shot

I seem to be getting more and more requests for a head shot these days.

For some reason, finding a photo of me where i am 1) looking at the camera 2)not wearing a hat and 3)looking somewhat normal, is extremely difficult.

So I decided enough was enough and asked Mike to take some photos of me looking respectable and businesslike.

Needless to say, it was a bit of a disaster. But we did manage to get one photo out of it. Here is a quick taste of the rest.

 

The Design Corner - Spring edition

So after a very successful run at Christmas we are back in The Design Corner in Dun Laoghaire. This time our product selection is quite different from Christmas (snowflakes and nativity cards aren't in high demand this time of year). This is a fantastic opportunity for us to test out our new range that I have been developing over the last few months. The shop is looking great and if any of you are in the area you should drop in and have a look not only and my work but also at the work of 14 other very talented local designers and craftspeople. It is open everyday until May 7th. I'm very happy with how the products are looking in the shop, here are a few little teaser shots.

Bunting and flowers

So not only are we taking part in The Design Corner in Dun Laoghaire at the moment, we have also had a hand in help to decorate it. They wanted a selection of bunting and simple paper flowers to give the shop a fresh, fun and spring-like feel. This was a simple little project and we can't claim any credit for the hard work involved with making the shop look as good as it does. It is great to see such simple shapes being used to such good effect.

Hundreds and Thousands

So we are currently working on our biggest order to date. 2500 wooden badges for a summer camp. To say that I hadn't quite understood how large a number this was is an understatement! Although it is wonderful to give large-scale manufacturing a trial run and think about ways we can do orders of this quantity in an efficient and interesting way. Here are 500 of them, i.e. only 20%

Happy Easter

Things have been exceptionally busy for us this week but I have still had time to prepare a little easter treat for my family. Mike and I are taking a long-overdue holiday this weekend but we are leaving behind an assortment of our new lights (with a flower pattern) and some birdhouses to help them decorate their Easter table on Sunday.

second secret revealed!

So, that 3D star I posted a few weeks ago was a trophy. 3FE asked me to make something, anything, that could be given as a trophy to the newly crowned Irish Cup Tasting Champion. The Championship was going to be held during Tamper Tantrum, their weekend-long coffee event. Being asked to make it was fantastic. So often in the course of designing thing I come up with fantastic shapes, objects and ideas but these things have no clear meaning or purpose, they are just great objects. So as soon as I was told the trophy could be "anything, something you have always wanted to make" I jumped on the opportunity to revisit some small paper triangles I had been messing around with in January. A few days later, the 3D Star was born. I really like it as an object and now want to stop working on anything meaningful and just make dozens of them in various sizes.... one day... Below are a couple of shots stolen from Twitter of the star at the event, the black and white one is of Cup Tasting Champion Al Higgins with his newly-won trophy.