While I catch up with my new, fully freelance life, here’s a snippet from my ‘professional’ blog. More personal blog notes coming soon here…
Interview with Lucy Adlington, The Parlor Boutique Dec 2nd, 2010
Having just taken the leap into full time self-employment myself, it was wonderful to chat with Lucy Adlington about the trials and pleasures of her work as a designer-maker.
I profiled Lucy’s gorgeous gems a while back for a local magazine and have always been impressed with her DIY attitude, high aesthetic standards and super multi-tasking ability – as well as being a mite envious of the woman’s ability to look flawless whatever the situation! Here, we talk about her motivations, challenges and inspirations…
How long has the Parlor been running and what made you set the business up?
The Parlor opened in June 2007 officially, online, but I’ve been making and selling jewellery since 2002. The store took over a year to put together as I did everything entirely myself! It was a huge learning process along the way and I made sure I took my time as, ultimately, it felt more satisfying that way. The jump from hobby to business came from a desire to create something more tangible that I could work at part time whilst the rest of my life was in hiatus when I was diagnosed with M.E.
Talk us through the inspiration behind your latest pieces.
The site is updated constantly with new pieces, as I tend to come up with designs sporadically and sometimes work a collection through that theme. My main inspiration for pieces like c’est la vie rose was to create a huge statement piece that was both heavy and full of grandeur harking back to the silent film era. It’s my favourite piece as it always gets noticed. I have a couple of collections coming up next year around one of my ultimate inspirations but that will remain top secret until its finished!
Why vintage?
I’m a huge collector of 20th Century pieces of costume clothing and jewellery: the fact that these pieces are incredibly intricately made and have lasted the test of time is why I look to the past to bring back the ‘built to last’ ethos. I have a few costume jewellery pieces from the likes of stores like Woolworths that were made using brass and beautiful faceted glass stones, and they’re still in mint condition today. I aim for the same quality with my own pieces.
A lot of the charms and cameos I use have an incredibly story, the origins of which started in West Germany – before the Second World War the jewellery store owner re-located to the U.S.A and brought his stock with him. For whatever reason it was left sitting in a barn and, after a fire, his wife decided to auction off the remaining pieces and, as such, a fantastic array of pieces became available (all in near mint condition) to the market. I then re-create them into simplistic, quality jewellery that’s either created in very small numbers or a true one off. I love to be able to sell my customers unique pieces with a story to tell.
What is the biggest challenge you have had to face in being a self-employed creative?
To keep going. We’re living in a recession and also an independent creative age thanks to the internet, so there’s a lot of competition out there and the high street can be ruthless in latching onto designs and reproducing them for considerably less. Also, working solo means there’s no one backstage to take the reigns when it comes to time off or holidays. And you have to be incredibly self disciplined as well as driven, particularly if you’re having those moments of self doubt!
Read more: http://www.beckyhunter.co.uk/#ixzz17Lbch8se
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