A new Chapter
So last year, we all know how hard the pandemic has been for everyone including businesses. I don’t think anyone thought when they started their business ‘…and if there is a worldwide pandemic and the government forces me or my customers to stop trading for lengthy periods of time, how will I survive?’ it certainly wasn’t something I thought about.
With the majority of our customers visitor attractions, our industry has been hit particularly hard and with the unknown about how quickly it will bounce back we decided to take a bit of time since Christmas to think about where we would like to take the business next and there was one clear winner.
Rays of sunshine
Whilst the pandemic has been horrible, it wouldn’t be in my nature not to recognise a few little rays of sunshine following this horrible time.
A renewed sense of community, a new desire to learn new hands-on skills and a renewed appreciation of family time, I for one have moved in my with boyfriend and all the time we have had together at home that we wouldn’t have had if we had been super busy living our normal lives has actually been lovely.
The world I created
In my work life I am so very lucky that in my world I am always being asked to make the most weird and wonderful things, it’s a bit of ongoing joke in our house,
‘What did you do today dear?’ ‘Oh you know, I painted a guinea pig driving a tractor, I installed 30 scarecrows in a pumpkin patch, I helped Professor Picklepants in his inventors workshop, I spent the day in the dark painting a tomb in UV, I put on a panto… you know… the norm!’
He just shakes his head now, laughs and says ‘of course you did’
I’m not going to lie and say some jobs aren’t hard work, some days i’m completely knackered, my knees hurt and it unusual to still be awake on the sofa at 9.30pm, but id say a good 99% of the time, I am having the time of my life and the best part is… I’m actually at work!!
Whenever I tell anyone about my job they always say ‘oh that sounds so fun’ and ‘wow, id love to have a go at that’ so when thinking about where we were going to take the business next we thought… why don’t we combine those new found desires for people to learn new skills and invite them in to the studio, learn some new skills, make some great little projects, get creative and have some fun.
The New Studio
Having recently moved to Cranleigh I was looking into moving the workshop closer and came across Smithbrook Kilns. If you haven’t been it is a thriving community of businesses some office based, some open to the public with many of them creative, plus a café and plenty of free parking in a beautiful rural location.
I was shown an available studio and the first thing I thought was… this is double the size of my current workshop and with a little organisation this would be perfect to clear the decks every so often and invite people in for workshops.
Going for it
After a post on the local community facebook page came back with an overwhelming response to the idea we decided to go for it, the new element of Artifex Designs, The Artifex Studio is now well under way and will be opening hopefully soon when government guidelines allow.
Workshops
We are currently devising a schedule of workshops that will include:
- Acrylic painting sessions
- Creating a Mural in your child’s bedroom
- Creating a family tree in your home
- Baby feet canvas art
- Seasonal hand painted yard art
- Evening Painting and Prosecco workshops
As well as artwork, we will also be running a whole host of crafty projects including:
- Cute flower pot people
- Tutu Making
- Chocolate trees
- Nappy cakes
- Beautiful door wreaths
- Sock Monkeys
- Home décor projects
- Flower crowns
And it wouldn’t be Artifex Designs if we didn’t throw in a few projects from my favourite seasons Halloween and Christmas, with workshops such as:
- Family Scarecrow making
- Spooky fun garden decorations
- Giant spider making
- Rustic Christmas porch décor
- Giant baubles
- Christmas Gifts, bow making and gift wrapping
We are very excited to get started, and are bevering away in the background getting ready to make it all happen so please seek us out and follow us on Facebook Page, sign up to the Workshops newsletter and get in touch if there are things you would really love to learn.
The schedule of workshops will be changing throughout the year so we hope there will always be something that interests you.