Today’s featured Etsy shop is SimoneWalsh, a shop featuring primarily handmade jewelry, in addition to some non-wearable objects.
“I’m a metalsmith and … I primarily work with sterling silver, but I also create with copper, gemstones, some vintage glass beads, silk – and anything else which takes my fancy!”
Do you have any formal training?
Yes. Initially I studied Visual Arts at a technical college with a major in Jewellery. After then disappearing to live in London for a few years, I returned to Australia to complete a Degree in Visual Arts, majoring in Jewellery & Object Design. This means I tend to come at my work from more of a visual arts perspective – particularly when making one off pieces for exhibitions. I’m hoping that perhaps in 2008 I can return for another year at University, again with a Jewellery focus.
What inspires you in your work?
I seem to have lots of things inspire me! However, I’ve always been particularly inspired by the way that jewelry in particular can create a strong sentimental attachment, which is something I’ve explored in my work for a long time and plan to focus more on again in future.
In recent years I’ve developed a fascination with the links and contrasts between nature and culture, especially in the way that the Japanese in particular view nature within their culture and how that differs to the way that Western cultures generally do. Perhaps as a result of this I’ve also developed a bit of an obsession with pattern and ornamentation, which has most recently led me to doing a lot of very detailed saw-piercing work in order to reproduce some of these patterns.
What advice would you give someone thinking of starting a craft
business?
I think the best advice is that you need to treat it as a serious business if you want to succeed and go about it in a business-like manner. It’s a good idea to constantly educate yourself about not just your field, but also marketing, running a small business, tax issues, web developments, the economy, photography, copywriting, etc.. You need to try to be a master of many things – especially if you plan to sell you work online.
The other major piece of advice I can offer is that you need to be prepared to work extremely hard to make a success of your business and to learn from the periods when you are less successful.
Simone Walsh’s work is available for sale in her Etsy shop http://simonewalsh.etsy.com, and a gallery of her work can be found on her web site http://www.simonewalsh.com, where she plans to start selling a higher-end jewelry line later this year.
micheledodge
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Great interview and really interesting, unusual, beautiful work…
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