Wednesday 15 December 2010

New Artist - Katrine Boyten

In my last blog I set myself the task of recruiting one artist each week to my website: www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk. Last week Katrine Boyten joined our illustrious group. She is a textile artist living in Brighton and mostly works in wall art but also enjoys making smaller pieces. To this end she has created a beautiful range of individually made cards. They really are works of art in their own right and could be framed. Each card has been lovingly made: calico has been painted and stencilled, then motifs have been stitched on and then further machine embroidery has been added. Finally the pieces have been hand stretched and fitted into the apeture of each card. An absolute bargain at £3each. The first set of five got sold immediately and she is now busy working on another set to meet the demand.

Helen Martino, a ceramics artist on the website, has increased her range of quirky pieces. The kiss pots are great for holding flowers as their diameter is narrow.

I have several artists waiting in the wings to come onto the website but as Christmas is looming I and they will be taking a bit of a break - although the website will be fully functioning of course - so watch this space next year where you will see much more talent appear.

Hope you have a great Christmas and New Year.

Monday 29 November 2010

Setting up my online showcase for designer led handmade products by professional artists.

It has been an exciting year, setting up my online showcase for designer led handcrafted goods. For many years I have been visiting Brighton to go to the Artist Open Houses where exclusive, quirky handmade gifts were on show with the chance to chat to the artists who made them.  When I moved to Brighton from North London  I decided to give up my teaching career and instead indulge my passion for these unique products by setting up a website www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk to promote professional craftworkers. To get the website exactly how I wanted took a while but I'm pleased with it and hope you like it too. I have so far recruited a dozen artists to join me. A number of them are local to the area; they come from Brighton, Hove, Patcham, Worthing, Ditchling and others are from further afield in Devon, Hampshire, and Cambridge.I am so lucky to live here with the plethora of talented artists on my doorstep but I also make a point of attending craft fairs all over the country forever on the lookout for special pieces of work and cherry picking the best.


I have set myself a target of finding at least one specially talented artist a week and posting their photos and work on my website along wtih the biography so my customers  can see their achievements to date. Keep following my blog to see if I can achieve this.