On Saturday myself, kieran & Megan O represented Leeds College of Art illustration and hosted a stall selling work from people over all three years. I was lucky enough to sell a print and a bag tag and have my name taken by a few studios and other designers.
CONTACTS MADE:
DING DING THINGS:
Ding Ding studio is an independent handmade, screen printed stationery and home wares brand featuring graphic and geometric patterns in a mid-century colour palette. She purchased one of my wooden painted tags and later followed and chatted to me over my instagram account.
SET THE CONTROLS:
Set the controls, is a not for profit contemporary art gallery that supports emerging artists through its public programme and private studios. For the last 2 years set the controls has been developing a series of limited edition contemporary artists prints that are sold to raise money for the organisation and allow the general public to collect contemporary art at an affordable price. Set the controls purchased one of my prints and took down my information and explained a bit about opening a second gallery space in hull and wanted to feature work that was fun and exciting with focus on young practitioners starting out. They explained they were interested in my work and would be in contact.
THE ARCHIPELAGO/ THE PLANT ROOM:
The Archipelago are a design studio based in Leeds. Alongside client work they have established two studio projects, The Plant Room and The Archipelago Press in both cases working collaboratively with other creatives on exhibitions, products, publications and events. I was recognised by one of their representatives at their stall and said that they already were following my work on instagram and liked it, which was extremely humbling as I love their work. We discussed their recent collaborations and explained that they are looking for more young creatives to work with and suggested that I drop them an email or come and visit their studio for a chat.
NEXT STEPS:
This experience has been so valuable to my practice. It's opened me up to lots of opportunities and has also offered a great confidence boost in that my work is being well received. Print and craft fairs are something I need to keep doing. I'd really like to possibly create enough work to host my own stall and really promote myself as a professional. I'm going to follow up on the discussion with The Plant Room over summer when I have lots of time to dedicate to a possible project if they don't get in contact with me before hand.
