Hello Etsy!

I went to Eindhoven in the Netherlands to attend Hello Etsy 2012. An inspiring mix of conference for handmade sellers plus inspirational speakers on design, business and community. Above is Satish Kumar giving a rousing speech on the ’4 legs’ of small business.
Leg 1 is nature/soil ‘we are nature’
Leg 2 is spirit / moral purpose
Leg 3 Community ‘I do not exist without you’ ‘You are therefore I am’
Leg 4 society / social justice

From my notes:
‘We are not consumers we are makers’
‘The greatest art is the art of living’

Janine Vangool of Uppercase magazine gave a fantastic presentation about her journey to creating Uppercase. We all got copies of the magazine in our goodie bag.

The second youngest conference attendee!

I loved the location of the conference in a factory formerly used by Phillips and now owned by Piet Hein Eek Dutch furniture designer. The room had checked tiled floors, mismatched furniture in his signature style and was miles away from that horrible corporate conference room style.

Trans Europe Express

All being well I should be in Eindhoven at the Hello Etsy 12 conference. I’m hoping to come back refreshed. Do sign up for my newsletter see right. All new subscribers get real mail from me (part of my project to send 100 pieces of mail this year).

Picture of cafe in Glasgow.

pressed into national service

Poster from Clerk St on Monday. Made me think of our own ‘internal national service’ pressed into action.

Panda Fur Coat needed

Panda 1: How are you liking Scotland?
Panda 2: Fine, but have have you seen the prices of gas and electricity? We’re lucky we have big fur coats to keep us warm.

For foreign visitors ‘panadamonium’ descended on the city last year when two arrived at Edinburgh Zoo and someone has used this to make a politcal point. Picture from Clerk St.

Glasgow details – stone camel

I am always struck by the beautiful Victorian detailing on Glaswegian buildings. Most taken by the carved camel.

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I love my creative life more than I love cooperating with my own oppression” Clarissa Pinkola Estes

create what you want to hear

On Saturday I went to the premiere of the Triple Concerto by Lyell Cresswell one of New Zealand’s leading composers. I went to the talk beforehand and was struck by him saying (and I’m paraphrasing here) ‘I compose the music I would like to hear’. I’d like to make the photographs I’d like to see. Not something I always achieve and interestingly enough I sometimes find things in the act of creation that I didn’t know was there.

(Images from Glasgow trip from the top floor of The Lighthouse)

Away to Glasgow for the Afternoon

This extraordinary ceramic greets you as you enter the ladies loos at Queen St Station Glasgow. It is sort of uber1970′s – almost 1970′s parody but it is the genuine article.

I went to Glasgow for the afternoon. It was originally on the hunt for a top I saw in Regent St London. I failed to turn up another in the city famed for shopping. But I had a wander around the Trongate area instead.

Stunned to find the place dryish. I was convinced as I left Edinburgh at 2pm with the darkening skies it would be a west coast deludge.

It turned into an ‘Artist Date’. I used to teach creativity workshops – until I got tired of listening to my own voice and tired of patiently reiterating the rules of being a creative person – it just boils down to Do It (Repeat). I stopped and in that slow way realisation steals up on you – I realised that what I wanted was to DO IT and not talk to others about Doing It.

Anyway for free – the Artist Date is the best kind of compost for the creative person. Its a section of time weekly set aside for the artist to do something fun and interesting to them. The best kind IMHO are the ones which are not overly perscriptive and have a looseness about them a spaciousness for serendipity and synchronicity.

After my fashion failure I ambled, I popped into a gallery, wandered a few streets (photos to follow in later posts) and I bought a magazine on ‘Hidden Creativity’. I bought a cheap squared jotter. I sat in an overpriced restaurant and sketched out a few creative ideas. In all despite feeling a bit foot sore my creative side has been given a bit of a fillip.

Through Dublin

Galway City Window

Ard Bia – oh to be having coffee there!

Appaulingly dreich day here – rain chucking it down. Sodden washing now on my radiators. I’d love to be siting in Ard Bia - with a cup of coffee and a brownie – flicking my way through a magazine and writing postcards home.