Moving into the new jewellery studio

Whether to rent a jewellery studio or work from home was an issue that has been at the forefront of my mind this year as followers of the blog will know. I was wanting to further develop my jewellery business and teaching and it was one option to consider. I looked at whether there were studios available locally as I knew it was unlikely I’d want the cost and time of travelling too far. I hadn’t found anything that I thought would work for me. Luckily, serendipity happened to help me out! I was working one evening at the London Jewellery School alongside tutor Penny Akester and it transpired that she was looking for someone to share a studio with at Craft Central! It was great timing and a good opportunity to share the costs as well as to have someone to work alongside.

The studio when we took it over!

I got my keys at the beginning of May and Penny and I spent a day building flat packed furniture to furnish our studio (here we are in action!)

We had a deadline to get up and running because there was an open studios at Craft Central starting on 18th May and we wanted to be ready for this. We were and we opened up our studio to visitors that week.

My current thoughts and hopes for the future

I am pleased to have the opportunity to have a dedicated jewellery workspace. It is also great to have someone to discuss ideas with (and to share the costs!). Penny and I have very different styles and I think that is the best possible scenario as we can learn from each other to feed into our own work.

The bi-annual open studios also is a great opportunity to sell my work and get feedback from customers on my designs.

So far, all the focus this month has been on the Craft Central open studios and then, the following week, the Made in Clerkenwell event. I plan to get into the studios at least once a week during term time and more in the school holidays in order to make the most of this investment.

Do you rent a studio or work from home? I'd love to know your thoughts on this issue. Please share them with me in the comments below

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