MEET: Paul of Free Range Designs

UK Handmade is pleased to introduce Paul Bullen of family run furniture business Free Range Designs. Paul uses recycled, reclaimed and ecologically sound materials to create gorgeous unique pieces of furniture. We caught up with Paul to find out more about him and the family business.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started?
I am a South African born artist who found his way to furniture making by accident. At school I studied art instead of woodwork and have never had any formal woodworking training. After school I took Multi-Media studies in Cape Town, but was disappointed with the narrow remit of the course (no drawing, sculpting or dancing!) and ended up becoming a graphic designer by default.

I first started making rustic furniture with my older brother Nick over 12 years ago, when we were living together in Wilderness, South Africa and continued working with him, and my younger brother Tim, when we came over to the UK 9 years ago. I think my lack of formal training has helped me to view furniture making as an art form, and not as a learned craft only open to the professionally-trained and has encouraged me to experiment and take a novel approach to designing and making.

Driftwood Bed Frame

Driftwood Four Poster Bed

What is the ethos behind your work and why did you choose the name "free range designs"?
I take my inspiration from the natural world around me and believe in using only low impact, locally-sourced and sustainable materials. I strive to show the beauty of these materials through my furniture, allowing designs to be guided by the natural shape and form of the woods I use, and hope to encourage a respect for nature and engage people with environmentally friendly products. The name Free Range Designs symbolises my way of working, which is born of a desire to create without constraints and take a fresh approach to design and construction.

Slate Coffee Table

What kind of formal education, training or experience do you have that applies to what you do?
I have a degree in Multi-Mediai Studies from South Africa and have worked alongside design professionals in the UK, but my woodworking skills have been largely self- and family-taught, with a prevailing can-do attitude.

What inspired you to start making handmade furniture?
By brother Nick...he was the first furniture maker in the family: he inspired me and my younger brother Tim, and even my dad gets involved sometimes these days.

You have done an amazing commission for the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales, how did that come about?
CAT had a big revamp of its visitor display circuit about 5 years ago and I begged the Displays Designer to give me the chaise longue commission. The concept was a 'retail therapy couch' which was to question the idea that spending money makes you happy. It was part of a new Waste and Recycling display at CAT, challenging people to reduce their consumption and questioning the role shopping plays in terms of our well-being. The chaise longue was the first woodworking commission I did alone, without my brothers, and it took six months to complete, working part time. It is made from 100% recycled wood from skips.

Funky Chaise Longue

What do you love most about what you do and what do you find the most frustrating?
What I love most is finishing construction of a new design that has been in my head for ages, stepping back and thinking, "wow, that works and looks good". The most frustrating part is the time it takes to get to that point.

What is your favourite piece you have ever made and why?
The chaise longue is my favourite piece - it's not often that you get the opportunity to make such an exciting commission. It did take me a long time to make, but it's definitely the most stunning piece I've made so far.

Is handmade a lifestyle choice for you and if so why?
I live on a beautiful isolated farm, halfway up a mountain, completely off-grid and run entirely on renewable energy. Handmade is a natural part of how I choose to live my life.

Baby Highchair

Can you tell us a bit about where your collections are made, can we take a sneaky peak at your workshop?
The farm where I live has a large old barn, which I have been steadily converting to a workshop with my other farm mates, two of whom are also carpenters. It is in a very inspiriting location, surrounded by forests and with beautiful views of the lush countryside. Renewable-energy powered furniture!

How do you balance your work and home life, what do you do to wind down?
Living and working so close together is great for spending time with my wife and baby, but it also means that I can find it hard to switch off. To wind down I enjoy working in the vegetable garden at the farm, but what I really love is the ocean and being on the water. I've made a couple of canoes and love paddling and fishing along our local coasts.

Do you ever experience periods of creative slump and if so what helps you through?
Having a variety of different projects on the go helps me to not get bored: if I'm feeling physically tired one day then I might stay home and do some graphic design; or if it's sunny I'll go down to the beach and collect driftwood. Mixing and matching keeps life interesting.

Love Chairs

If you could give an aspiring maker one piece of advice what would it be?
Do it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, then try it again differently, until it works.

Who or what inspires you most in your work?
My wife - she constantly wants new things! Just kidding, our bed is actually made of old pallets. I don't know what inspires me I would say I'm more driven, but by what I don't know, "the need to create".

Story telling Chair

If you had the time to learn a new skill what would it be?
Probably metal work. I think that both metal work and woodwork go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other.

For more information on Free Range Designs check out the blog: http://www.freerangedesigns.co.uk/blog/

the reason Im here...

see this beautiful little girl? she has changed my life!! in so many very important and sentimental ways. But the reason your here is to see the stuff ive created inspired by that face! Before Hannah was here I would search ETSY, online stores, & shops around town to find the perfect headband, paci clip, burp cloth or monogrammed onesie. I finally realized how bad I wanted to make those! Before Hannah I would have told you that you would never see me in front of a sewing machine- well...something happened and I absolutely LOVE doing this stuff! So I hope you see something you like and feel free to ask me if I can do anything- specific colors, thread, or even an item I dont have out here. I absolutely LOVE doing this! thank you for taking time to check us out!

MEET: April of Pure Inspirations

April Collinge is the creative talent behind, award-winning, bespoke cake-making, handmade chocolate and flower arranging business Pure Inspirations. April specialises in making sumptuous cakes and chocolates for all occasions: Weddings, Anniversaries, Birthdays, Christenings & Communions and Christmas. April's mother is the talent behind Pure Inspiration's floristry work - a true family affair! UK Handmade caught up with April to find out more about her gorgeous creations and how she got into cake making

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started?

I have always loved being involved with creative projects and experimented with all sorts of media from glass painting, printing, sewing, batik to jewellery making. Once my mum finished her sugar-craft courses at Brooklands College, she took on more and more commissioned cakes and my first experience of helping her was a large wedding cake, about 7 years ago, which we had agreed to deliver to an obscure address in Wales! It was definitely an adventure.

Since then, I have also completed Wired Sugar Flower, Royal Icing and Cake Decoration courses at Brooklands and have followed in my mum's footsteps with my own cake-decorating business, Pure Inspirations. My courses proved invaluable both in teaching health and safety aspects of the job (crucial if you are selling to the public or even friends), networking with other people who have the same love of decorating and picking up inside tips.

Tell us about the awards you have won?

Salon Culinaire NEC 2007: Brooklands College like to encourage their students to take part in competitions so I entered a couple of competitions at NEC Birmingham & received a ‘class winner’ silver award for my cake entry into the sugar-paste ‘Decorated Celebration Cake’ category and a bronze for my orchid flowers which for my first competition was very exciting! I'd like to enter more if I could only find the time somewhere!

What do you love most about making cakes?

What I love about this job is playing detective, being able to tap into personal information about my client and evolving it into something elegant, simple and, depending on the requirements, fun; something to put a wide grin on my client's face or make them gasp with admiration! My task is proved more challenging when I am asked to make a cake without any personal feedback from the client. Bespoke cakes work best when there is at least a hint of the recipient's personality. For corporate requirement's it's easy to incorporate logos in a creative way (I have recently made a mortar board cake which incorporates the American School logo).

 

What do you find the most frustrating part of your job?

To be a cake decorator you do have to love your job as there is only a small part of the market who can charge enough for their cakes to make it majorly profitable. Anyone who makes cakes to a professional standard will know the basic edible and inedible item costs for quality products and they are not reflected when the public look at supermarket factory-made cakes. People can't help to compare a bit despite the fact that they really don't compare.

Is handmade a lifestyle choice for you and if so why?

My business is very much a home-based business and I enjoy having total control of each commission from inception to finish. Each job is as important as the next. I am a glutton for 'giving things a go' in general so the handmade touch is definitely a way of living I aspire to. I do all my own decorating and have even painted my house myself! I like to be able to stand back and say "I did that!" As I get older I'm not afraid to be openly proud!

How do you balance your work and home life, what do you do to wind down?

I like my life to be as varied as my cakes! I'm usually busy with my daytime teaching assistant job, making cakes and studying towards my psychology degree so I play hockey or spend time with my family to wind down.

What are your plans for 2011?
I'm looking forward to my next challenge in 2011: teaching wired sugar flower techniques at workshops for the public.

MEET: Karen Redmayne of Redcurrant Glass

Rainbow Pendants

This week, we meet a talented glass artist, Karen Redmayne of Redcurrant Glass, who is based in Lancashire.

Please tell us who you are and what you do.
My name is Karen Redmayne and I've been creating since an early age. I've always loved drawing and can remember when I was about 8 or 9 years old drawing my favourite characters such as Snugglebums and My Little Ponys!

Pendle Hill

Now, I'm a glass artist producing handmade landscapes, mirrors, frames, tiles, jewellery and more. Each piece is unique and handmade by me in my Lancashire-based studio in the heart of Pendle. I use a technique known as kiln-formed glass or fused glass, which dates back as far as 3000BC. I cut and layer pieces of glass together, fire it in a kiln at about 800 degrees, then let it slowly cool and finish. The nature of glass means that every piece is unique.I love working with glass as it comes in so many vibrant colours and the outcomes are always unpredictable.

I graduated from Bretton Hall College in 1998 but couldn't get a job. So I decided to start my own business instead, with the support of the Prince's Trust.

Glass tokens

Describe your work setting.
I work in a small unit/studio which is situated within Higherford Mill, which has been converted into a centre for the creative industries. It is a fantastic studio location as it benefits from a northern light roof so I work in natural light. I have a small work area, a display area where I sell to visitors and an area were I run workshops. I have three small kilns, several workbenches and lots and lots of glass.

What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?
As I make a wide range of products, my work is never boring. I also get asked to do a lot of commissions which helps to make my job more challenging and rewarding. I always seem to come up with new ideas, some of which work and some don't, so work is never dull. Luckily I always seem to have orders.

I find my job really rewarding creating unique pieces of glass which give others pleasure and may one day be the collectables of the future. A bonus is that I make money from it too! My husband says it's not really work as I'm getting paid to do something I enjoy!

Glass bangles

How do you get word out about your work?
I do a couple of trade shows a year, and I also sell directly at craft fairs and events. I also have a website (www.redcurrantglass.co.uk) where I have an on-line shop.

What are your long term goals?
Long term I'd like my own gallery or shop because, at the moment, I sell all over the country in various shops and galleries and pay out quite a lot in commission for the privilege. Having my own gallery where I could sell my work and other locally handmade products would be great.

Mini landscape hangers

What advice would you give someone trying to start their own creative business?
Starting your own creative business is probably one of the most challenging areas of business to work in. You are competing with mass-produced imported items which people can sell very cheaply. Raw material costs in the UK are high.You have to be determined, know your product, and you also have to be your own marketer, book-keeper and time-keeper. At the end of the day, people will always pay for quality and handmade; I also like to think that people prefer to support local makers. I try to source local materials and always support other local businesses where possible.

Medium bowl

For more information, visit Karen's website at www.redcurrantglass.co.uk or email her at redcurrant@ntlworld.com. Karen has a few places left in some of her glass-making courses which start at the end of September. The courses still available are: fused glass tile-making, fused glass jewellery, lampwork bead-making, and silver clay jewellery. All courses are suitable for beginners.

MEET: Lissa Cook of Peak Princess

This week UK Handmade catch up with bespoke children's clothing designer/maker Lissa Cook of Peak Princess.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started?
We lived in London for 8 years. I was a BBC radio producer working on Radio 4's political programmes "The World at One" and "PM". My husband was managing the top personal training studio in London so we were both doing very stressful shift work - up very early and home late. He went freelance as a writer and we moved up to the Peak District 3 years ago. I got a job in Manchester making BBC radio documentaries for an independent production company and then took a career break. That was 2 summers ago. I was sitting in the park picnicking with my god-daughter Tilly and it struck me that there was a gap in the market for handmade quality childrenswear.

My Mum was a couture designer and my grand-mother a milliner so this wasn't as left-field as it seemed. Mum had taught me how to sew. I made up 3 sample dresses and showed them to friends and family. My sister-in-law's the Design Director at Jellycat Toys - she put me in touch with Liberty of London who loved the designs and agreed to supply me. I launched my first collection for little girls last spring. I've since been featured in Sunday Times Style who called them 'achingly cool', as well as Country Living magazine and Guardian Life & Style. I was asked to make boys' clothes so designed the Peak Prince range and am about to launch bridesmaid dresses at the end of this month.

What is the ethos behind your work?
My tagline is "...with love sewn in". I love every dress or little boy's shirt that I make. Each and every garment is designed, cut and sewn by me in my customers' choice of my Liberty prints. I deal individually with every customer so they know exactly where their children's clothes have been made and by whom with the added advantage of knowing they're made in the highest quality fabrics supplied by Liberty. I realise how fortunate I am to live in the Peak District and to work from home and I hope that enjoyment shows through.

What kind of formal education, training or experience do you have that applies to what you do?
I have a BA in Politics and French and an MA in European Political Administration! Really, I should be working in Brussels. My Mum's never forgiven me for chucking in a fabulous job working on EU affairs in Paris! I have absolutely no formal training whatsoever in dress-making. That said, Mum is a genius. She was a couture designer in the 60s who designed for companies like Susan Small and Charles Creed of London. She did a formal apprenticeship but has the most inspiring and liberating philosophy and says over and over again "Dress-making is simple - it's not magic". She taught me and gave me the confidence to design myself. She's been an invaluable source of advice and support.

What inspired you to start making childrenswear?
My god-daughter Tilly was the spark for the eureka moment. But my ideas come from my own childhood. I was what you'd call a 'bonny' baby. But I always remember how I loved the dresses Mum made for me and my sister. She made my wedding dress. There's nothing like wearing that special dress that you know no-one else has. I'm also intensely practical so want my clothes to be washable and wearable. I love big, bold buttons. And finally I do think children should be children and my designs are deliberately quite modestly cut.

What do you love most about what you do and what do you find the most frustrating?
I love working from home for myself. I'm a bit of a control freak so I probably work longer hours than I ever have (and that's saying something given I used to make news programmes!) but it's much more satisfying. The absolute icing on the cake is the design process. There's nothing like having completed the first sample of a new design and seeing it hung up in my sewing room. The most frustrating is that I do miss the boisterous exchange of ideas that you get in a newsroom or the to-and-fro of script editing with a presenter.

Is handmade a lifestyle choice for you and if so why?
Every time me and my sister went shopping with Mum and asked for a dress she'd say "I can make that for £5". We still laugh about it. So I guess I'm steeped in the 'make-do-and-mend' tradition and I love the stories behind handmade goods. But, I'm not a zealot. It might be controversial but I think there's a place for Primark. The reality is that handmade things are lovely but generally more expensive.

Can you tell us a bit about where your collections are made, can we take a sneaky peak?
My collections are made in my sewing room at the top of our house. It's a total mess at the moment as I'm in the middle of designing for autumn/winter and I've just taken a huge delivery of new Liberty prints. It's a spare bedroom with a sofa bed and a second hand fold-down table that doubles as a cutting table. My rolls of fabric are stacked under the eaves and I have a John Lewis sewing machine and an overlocker. Oh, and Great Aunt Tomasina's bull-nosed rocking chair (which is my sister's but don't remind her!). It all has to be packed away when the god-children and in-laws come to stay.

How do you balance your work and home life, what do you do to wind down?
I don't. Work totally dominates my life. I'm quite obsessive. But I have a lovely husband who does nearly all the cooking and we've given in to temptation and got a cleaner. We're both very bad at switching off and, as we both work for ourselves, we can't take long breaks so ever so often we snatch a few days away. We have a wonderful bolt-hole hotel a couple of hours away and friends have a cottage in the Lakes. There's no mobile or wifi so we have enforced rest. Day-to-day the only thing that works is fell-running. We can run straight out the back door with our dogs up into the peaks which puts everything into perspective. And I have a friend who's an amazing masseuse.

Do you ever experience periods of creative slump and if so what helps you through?
I don't have a problem with creative slump - it's more that there aren't enough hours in the day to turn all my ideas into reality. So it's more that I tend to get exhausted which is when we go away for a break or I go for a run with the dogs to recharge my batteries. I've just spent a few days with Mum in London - we went to the Grace Kelly and Horrockses' exhibitions which are both wonderful and a great source of ideas.

Who or what inspires you most in your work?
Definitely my Mum.

If you could give an aspiring maker one piece of advice what would it be?
Just get started. I think too many people spend too much time worrying and not enough time doing. Until you've made something and tried to sell it you've really got no idea if people will really like it and want to buy it.

If you had the time to learn a new skill what would it be?
The list is endless. I'd love to learn car mechanics. Plumbing and electrics would also be fab.

To find out more about Lissa and her work check out her blog: http://peakprincess.blogspot.com/