november - the month of market preparation! 3 christmas fairs lined up. 3 stands to plan for. and lots of stock to package.
i have 3 very different style shows to cater for - first up (and which is currently on) is Made In Clerkenwell, a 4 day fair at Craft Central's open studios. second i have a shared exhibition space to fill at East London Design Show. and lastly an outside night market with StockMKT at Spitalfields. it's always tricky to know what products or designs to take to which market as you never know what will grab someones attention. all i know is that there will be sparkly fairy lights at them all!
i signed up to Print & Pattern's 'designers for hire' directory. i really want to get more licensing and commissioned work next year, so hope this directory will open up some opportunities for me. you can get so caught up doing your own projects and the designs that YOU want to see...so it's great when you get set a brief by someone else, especially when it has an enforced deadline...keeps up the challenge!
and on the topic of licensing deals...i finalised another 3 designs for Muckboots this month. these will form part of the 2016 range. as always these will be top secret until their release, but i have also produced designs for the kids range, Puddletons. mini wellies for mini people! i'm hoping to share the earlier designs with you soon as they are due for release next year.
i had my first 1-2-1 with Patricia van den Akker of the Design Trust. this was through the New Creative Markets mentoring scheme which i was lucky enough to be welcomed onto. we discussed my plans for next year and where i want to take my business. lots discussed and my homework has been set! i'll be checked up on in January at our next session so best get cracking!
