Sunday, July 29, 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018
What is it like to be part of a pop-up shop?
This time last year I was part of a group running a pop-up shop in sunny Penge, south London. I’ve put together my thoughts on involvement in the project, firstly as a reminder of the experience to myself and secondly, in case it might help anyone thinking of taking part in a similar venture.
Saturday 17th March, the Pengetout pop-up shop opened to literally
crowds of shoppers in Penge, south London. A group of nine local artists,
craftspeople and entrepreneurs had joined with Sally Williams from Retail
Revival, supported by Bromley Council, to open this year-long venture. I was
part of the team and had signed a six month licence to sell framed prints and
cards in the shop for a small monthly rent, plus a day each week working on the
shop floor. In return I had a designated section of wall space, and later table
space, to sell my work in the shop.
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| Opening day line-up at the official opening by the Mayor |
The starting line up of traders were:
Mary Gordon Smith, selling paintings, prints cards and pottery
Yolanta from 'Hatome Studio' selling prints, cards and cushions
Lois from 'Jewellery by Lois' selling handmade jewellery and scarves
Claire from 'Taylor and Abel' selling haberdashery and sewing
classes
Tracey from 'All my Style', selling clothes, accessories and
jewellery
Lucy from 'Retrolution', selling mid-century furniture
Carina, from 'Alice & Bert' selling a variety of handmade bags
Rachael from 'Fox and Willow', selling individually upholstered
chairs and stools
Plus ‘shop’ items from Sally at 'Retail Revival'
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| I was able to demonstrate how I worked in watercolour whilst working in the shop |
Early days
There were quite a lot of meetings in the first few weeks as the
traders got to know each other and develop a format of how the shop was going
to work in practice. Sally was at the helm, but it was soon obvious that each
of the traders were going to have to put in a lot of work to make the shop a
success. We had a huge amount of goodwill from the local community which was
fantastic but we also need to build on that and let people from a wider area
know about the shop. In addition, we were able to access a series of business
related workshops held at the shop.
It had been a while since I had worked in a retail environment,
and even longer since I had worked as part of a team, so working in the shop
was a great challenge. As well as selling handmade products, some of the
traders wanted to demonstrate their skills whilst in the shop and I decided I’d
like to draw and paint each time I was there. I hoped that by seeing me at work
it would be a talking point for customers and practically it would give me a
chance to work on current projects.
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| Some of the traders at the Business Design Centre |
Visiting a trade show as a ‘Buyer’
In the middle of May, the traders from the shop visited the
“Pulse’ trade show at Olympia with Sally. I’d visited these events before just
to get an idea of trends in the stationery and gift field but visiting as a
buyer was a new experience. Each of the traders in the shop had a strict list
of products that they could sell within their licence so each of us focussed on
different products.
I soon realised that in order to make the project financially
viable for myself, I’d need to extend my own product range and/or buy in stock
from other suppliers. I knew there were quite a lot of artists locally
producing excellent prints and cards so started to place some orders. I’d also
seen lovely products at ‘Pulse’ which I thought would sell in the shop. My
buying strategy was to buy things with local interest or products that were not
available in other shops in Penge. Here’s a list of people I bought from and
their relevant links, all of whom I’d recommend if you are looking for great paper-based
products!
Final sale
My licence ended on 22nd September and I decided to leave the shop
at this point. It had been a really positive experience and
I’d learnt lots. Working within a team, learning what our customers were
looking for and how much they were willing to spend, was valuable information.
3 important areas if you are
planning to be involved in a pop-up shop:
1. Communication
In general, I think we all got on pretty well considering most of
us didn’t know each other before the start of the project. Early on we had lots
of meetings and although we didn't all agree, views and suggestions were openly
given and discussed. As time went on, it got increasingly difficult to find
times that were convenient for everyone and we let that side of things slip. We
did have a ‘What's App’ group to help with customer inquiries and staffing, but
I feel it would have been useful to sit round the table at least once a week
and catch up with new products and services we were offering and reflect on any
events from the previous week. The limited amount of conflict that occurred
centred around two areas. Firstly, the crossover of products that each of us
could sell and secondly working out a fair rota.
2. Publicity and marketing
Sally set up a website for the shop along with a social media
presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Individually we all used our own
social media to let our customers know that we were trading in a bricks and
mortar shop on the high street. We also were featured in the local SE20
magazine. However, there always seemed to be people discovering the shop for
the first time so we obviously didn’t reach all of our target audience.
3. Have a good range of products
Having been used to displaying work in gallery situations where a
selection of work can hang for a month or more, it soon became obvious that I’d
need to ring the changes with the prints that I had in the shop. Customers who
came in each week would be looking for ranges to be refreshed so I needed to
develop and expand the range of pictures and prints that I was selling. As the
involvement with the shop had happened so quickly, I hadn’t any plans for new
work so this is an area where I struggled. I had hoped to develop products too,
outside the paper area, maybe using fabric or ceramics but didn't manage to
progress quickly enough in this area. Retail is quite fast moving and if I had
the chance to be involved in something like this again, it would be an area I
would focus on. Also enjoyed demonstrating watercolour in the shop and could have developed this into offering workshops.
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| Decorating carrier bags to spread the word about the shop |
What I realised…
- I enjoyed being part of the team
- I don’t want to be a shop keeper but would like to sell in bricks and mortar retail shops
- Pricing for retail is different to pricing for galleries
- There is a limit to the amount people spend in shop as opposed to gallery
- People like buying cards
- I need to have a range of collections
And one more thing...
It's so difficult for small retail businesses to make their numbers add up and survive on the high street. Do support them whenever you get the chance!
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
My illustration process - Creating an illustrated map
Rough stage
I’ve put a series of images below showing how I worked through the process with the Park Hill Friends group who commissioned the piece. First stage was to create a black and white line rough based on the brief. I went round the park with them and took photographs of particular places that they wanted to be included.
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| B&W Rough |
Creating the artwork
Once the rough had been approved, I moved on to the artwork stage. I painted each of the elements separately so that I didn't have to worry about the sizes being too fiddly to draw. I then scanned the images and put them together on Photoshop, placing each image on a separate layer so that I could move them around and make changes.
Additions and corrections
This is the first artwork I sent. You can see there are a few differences from the final one at the top. The newly instated cycle path had to be added, an addition road name plus more information relating to social media contact information.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Berlin - Sightseeing
Berlin-Hohenshönhausen Memorial
A former Stasi prison now open as a memorial. I bought a ticket for a 90 minute guided tour in English for €6. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It is a little way from the centre but easy to reach by tram. A really chilling insight into the darker side of life in the former East Germany. Many of the guides are people that were held there, so the stories are very personal and really resonate.
DDR Museum
The museum is by the river opposite the Berlin Cathedral. Lots of memorabilia from East German family life which on one level seemed to be very like life in Britain in the 1970s! Quite a compact collection and very interactive, including a chance to ‘drive’ a Trabant. Information in German and English.
Alexanderplatz
For me forever linked with the ‘Bourne’ movies. Shops, a main travel interchange and of course, the TV Tower looming over it.
The Jüdisches Museum
The architecture of the building, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is stunning here. It’s like being inside a piece of art. Not to be confused with the Holocaust Memorial and Museum.
The Holocaust Memorial and Museum
The Museum is tucked away under the Memorial which was designed by Peter Eisenmann. Entrance is free but I bought an audio guide in English for €3, which I recommend. A very moving and emotional experience.
East Side Gallery
An outside gallery on the longest surviving piece of the Berlin Wall.
Potsdamer Platz
Big buildings. I think I missed the good bits! Nearby, the Mall of Berlin, a big shopping centre, open until 9pm, Monday to Friday with a food court on the top floor. I found it a handy place to stop off when it rained and to use the loos!
Brandenburger Tor, ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ and the Reichtag
The Brandenburg Gate is impressive both during the day and at night. Checkpoint Charlie less so. The Reichtag is a huge monumental building. Unfortunately I didn’t realise that you had to book well in advance to go inside, so just seen from the outside.
KaDeWe
A big department store with a very swanky food court on the top floor with great views across the city. I drew the Gedächtniskirche from the window of one of the coffee shops.
The Käthe Kollwitz Museum
I’ve always loved Käthe Kollwitz’s work after seeing it quite a few years ago in an exhibition of German Expressionist prints. Her bold work is in black and white, mainly drawings and prints, and focuses on the themes of war and hunger. The collection is shown over several floors and also features photographs and information about her life, friends and family, in English as well as German. There are several sculptural pieces too including a life size sculpture of her head. It stands on a plinth so could stand right in front of it and look straight at her.
The museum is in a stylish old house next to the equally lovely Literaturhaus café, where I had lunch of beautifully presented veggie cannelloni in their ornate dining room. Do go!
Bebelplatz
The sun was setting and the shadows were long by the time I reached here. The only place to sit was a bench placed directly opposite the Hunboldt University building so I tried to capture a little of the scene. Figures in the centre are the people who sporadically stopped to look at a small memorial in the centre of the square, reminding us that this was the site of the infamous Nazi book burning in 1933.
U-Bahn
The underground system was pretty easy to navigate. I had a Berlin Welcome card which once I’d validated it, I could travel anywhere within the city. Unlike London, there are no barriers at stations which seemed to make travelling quite simple. Lots of the U-Bahn routes are overground so great views of the city too.
Kaffee und Küchen
Lots of this! Chocolate shops too.
Pipes
The pink pipes that I first thought were an art instillation but were in fact a way of the utility companies dealing with building work in the city. Each utility has a different colour so I saw blue and grey ones too. For some reason, I found them fascinating!
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Berlin - Drawing Museum Island
Whenever I visit a new place, I’m filled with two opposing thoughts. Firstly I want to pack in as much sightseeing as possible, secondly I want to do as much sketching as possible. As sketching requires a certain amount of stillness, striking a balance can be a difficult decision. On a trip to Berlin last month, the hotel where I was staying was in the Spittelmarkt part of the city, quite close to the intriguingly titled ‘Museum Island’ and I had the luxury of a whole day to explore it in my sketchbook.
I walked on further to the Bode Museum, which nestles on the end of the island. Handily placed stone seats opposite provided a good view of the imposing building.
It was a lovely hot, sunny day so I stopped for a drink at one of the riverside cafes, where all the music being played seemed to be the soundtrack of my life! In fact, during the whole time I was there, I only heard one German language track and that was a rap song coming from someone’s speaker in the park.
Trying to find some shade where I could sit and draw the cathedral, ‘Berliner Dom’, I perched on a concrete slab in a grassed area to the side of the building. The discovery that the local ants also favoured this spot led to the sketch being curtailed and the swift closure of my sketchbook resulted in the pages sticking together and a slightly torn image.
The last drawing was the old National Gallery, ‘Alte Nationalgalerie’. While I was drawing, a wedding party were taking photographs amongst the grandeur. It was such beautiful weather that I must admit I didn’t venture inside any of the museums that day!
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Website spring clean!
I've spring-cleaned my website and it is now at liswatkins.com
It was designed on the Squarespace platform and should work well on desk tops, tablets and phones.
It is a mix of watercolour illustrations, hand drawn maps and reportage drawings.
A special thank you to Tom Dunkley who took the photographs that are on the website.
Would love you to have a look and I always welcome feedback and comments!
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