Firstly, it's been a fantastic year for commission work so far. Dot One orders have been keeping me very busy indeed and we've been extremely fortunate to have some celebrity endorsement to help us along our way. One of the first pieces we produced was for Romesh Ranganathan back in January and he can be seen in the image below wearing his DNA scarf on It's Not Rocket Science.
Second up, I started the shift of moving out of my studio of 5 years to creating a home work space. The Creative Studio has been a fantastic place to grow Helen Foot Design but it's not always been the most practical space to work in, being freezing cold in the winter and boiling hot in the summer! I moved house back in March in order to accommodate my new home studio and have been slowly but surely getting everything shifted over since. It's meant a bit of downsizing but it's forced this secret hoarder to clear out the clutter and think about streamlining what I need for the business moving forwards. Last week we did the final sweep and handed the keys back in. It's the end of an era but the start of something fresh and new!
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| The Creative Studio looking bare before we handed the keys back over. |
The end of the academic year also saw me say goodbye to my teaching post at Hereford College of Arts. I've spent 4 great years guiding some lovely students through their BA's and it's been wonderful to see their hard work pay off in an abundance of successes over the years. I'm especially proud of my weavers who all seem to be taking great strides with their creative careers, through Masters degrees, Texprint success and starting their own labels. I spent a lot of time working with students to think about their futures and how to achieve their goals and ultimately it got me thinking about my own career priorities. With such a busy year I knew something had to give and I decided it was the right time to concentrate on my own practice again. I hope to carry on teaching as a Visiting Lecturer so that I can work more flexibly around other work commitments.
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| Farewell Hereford College of Arts |
For now my house is still full of boxes to be unpacked as I settle into my new work space. Hopefully the chaos will have calmed by next week and I can crack on with the next wave of weaving. I'll be showing again at MADE London from the 20-23 October, this time on a joint stand with Dot One, so do pop the dates in your diary and come say hello. I'll be offering some special discounts at the show and online in the run up to Christmas, so watch this space.
