NESTA FiNanCe...YOu WHaT?

The NESTA workshops are still blowing my mind! The last workshop was on the dreaded subject of finance. We got shown slides on finance modelling, direct costs and indirect costs, cash flow and goodness knows what else. However when all this was making me never want to set up a business, I did find this quote from Johanna Basford quite interesting and inspiring.“It’s taken me a while to get over my belief that you have to be on the breadline to be running a successful creative business. Now I realise it is about making money… we sell designs, we make money, then we can be more creative and take on more new projects!" I think most people, myself included, have accepted their fate that as an artist or designer they'll make very little money. Johanna is a big inspiration, having made it as an independent and very successful designer. Her saying that you can do it and make money, gives me hope and a belief that it needn't be a life on the breadline.

Another interesting section of the workshop was on the website Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/
 This is an American website that helps small business and business ventures get funding by getting people to pledge a percentage of the needed money in return for a product or experience. This particular website is only for US residents but its a really good way of raising a little or a lot of funds whilst keeping 100% ownership. We did an exercise that involved creating a mock up of a Kickstarter profile. This really helped me to refine my business idea and come up with a catchy Bio and Mission Statement. Our tutor suggested using creative and quirky language to create a memorable  statement that completely sums up the company. This made me think of the Mary Portas' new brand 'Kinky Knickers'. She has got her branding just right with her vintage pin ups box and cheeky yet quintessentially British slogans. 'Top knickers for the finest of bottoms'. These define the totally UK made product.

This I can just about get my head around. The rest of the financial gargin  is going to take some time, as at the moment its going in one ear and straight out of the other!

PRintIng FRom My BOUdoIR!

As of late its been getting a bit crowded in the print room at Duncan Of Jordanstone, so running behind schedule fro the 'Society of Dyers and Colourists' competition I decided to set up Amy Buchanan print studios. So laughably sandwiched between my wardrobe and window I turned my desk into a make shift print table. Using a window cleaning squeegee as a print squeegee and my shower as a screen washer I got to work and with the radio blasting I was in my element!
Here is a pretty pattern the printing inks made in the bath. Pattern in everything and all that!

A biT OF NesTA

A few weeks ago when NESTA was mentioned I didn't really know what people were talking about! Now I am beginning to understand what they're all about and how they can benefit me. In our current design in the market module, we are working through the NESTA toolkit a creating a hypothetical creative business idea. Eventually we will write a business plan for our idea, culminating all of our new found business knowledge. In the first few sessions already we have thought of an idea, written a mission statement, done work sheets on our values to help us define our goals, thought about our branding, what our business will enhance and replace and imagined our future and fake evidence. 

Initially when thinking and talking about 'what we wanted to be when we grow up', I found it a bit daunting and didn't want to commit. When asked what I wanted to do, I replied 'get a job doing something textile related' but I think I was missing the point. For this project we have to think BIG, imaging an ideal scenario and  then work on how to get there. I decided in an ideal world I would like to have a textile range that spanned fashion and interiors, perhaps have several shops or concessions and make myself a brand. My big inspiration is Cath Kidston, she has done exactly this and become extremely successful in the process. 

Working through the NESTA books has given me some food for thought about setting up a business or even creating a product. A couple of points that i found interesting are

• You're not the centre of your idea, your customers are.
• You don't need to do everything yourself. Build partnerships and alliances.
• Customers have to want what your offering
• You have to continuously innovate to compete and survive.

At the moment I still feel a little overwhelmed by the prospect of setting up my own business. The worksheets, although informative and thought provoking are still  quite confusing and I am realising the amount of work and planning involved. I believe strongly that after a few more work sheets it'll just click and I'll be well on my way.

Watch this space for more NESTA updates!

PreSENTINg OUr PrEsEntatION

So we got our presentation grades back and to our surprise our visuals for Judy R Clark earned us a very exciting A1. We decided to play to our strengths and instead of making a fancy power point we created an almost pin board style piece on a big wall in our studio. We then took  photos of the different sections to correspond with our speech. Comments we received were that it was 'very textiley', that there was loads to look at and it was visually impressive on the big screen. I think creating the presentation was my favourite part of the project as I've always loved scrap booking and this was like a giant scrap book. I think our approach totally complimented Judy's eclectic and fun design style!