Great Christmas Shopping Places!!

Jewellery design has been my full time business since February of this year. I knew that in order to make it work I needed to really "get my name out there". Over the months I have spent a long time researching the different galleries throughout the country, trying to find quality outlets for my jewellery. Christmas is rapidly approaching and the galleries that I have found provide the perfect places to buy those Christmas gifts. I really want to support the handmade industry by sharing some of these great places with you.

In this blog I want to share the outlets with you as well as "show off" some of the items that I have available to purchase from these great places. Within each of these fabulous galleries you will find many great Christmas gifts that have all been handmade by talented artists and craftspeople.

The first gallery I found was Created Gallery in Chesterfield. There is such an amazing mix of handmade goodies, all made by craftspeople from the UK. I am very proud to play a small part in this fabulous gallery. Here is just one of my pieces that you will find there:

The next gallery that I was lucky enough to find is only five minutes away from where I live and is a hidden gem! Leabrooks Gallery in Somercotes, Derbyshire has the most amazing collection of paintings that sit nicely with some stunning pottery and other handmade pieces. They have regular artist exhibitions and also provide a framing service. I have a lot of my pieces in this gallery and regularly do jewellery demonstration days there. I am actually there this weekend 30 and 31st October if you would like to come along. Here is just one of my pieces you will find:




My research then led me to Gallery 52 in Brailsford, Derbyshire. This gallery is set on a small retail outlet and is real "treasure trove of goodies". I am sure you will find the perfect Christmas gift for someone special here as there is such an eclectic mix of pieces from ceramics to a wide variety of jewellery. One of the designs that I am most proud of can be found here:

Things were ticking along nicely by this point but I realised that in order to keep the regular sales coming in I needed to broaden my horizons. I registered with Craft&Design.net and was then able to search through a huge list of galleries around the UK to find some more places suitable for my jewellery. There is such a huge choice so I set certain criteria and was able to cut down the list considerably. I emailed several galleries explaining what I did along with my contact details and some images of my designs. The very same day Patricia from Affinity Fine Arts in Castle Cary contacted me as she had been looking to add gemstone beaded jewellery to the galleries range for a while. I sent some samples and so far my jewellery seems to be gaining a lot of interest at the gallery.

My most recent gallery was found only a few weeks ago when I came across their website, The Hayrack Gallery. I immediately fell in love with the place and knew that I wanted my designs there. It's set in a really cute outlet of little boutique style shops. I contacted Robert, the owner, and took some of my work down to show him. Fortunately, he really liked it so I left some pieces there and then. I have not had any sales there yet but have had lots of interest. I really believe that this gallery is one of the most perfect places to find your Christmas gifts. There is so much to choose from including ceramics, prints, handmade clocks, glass work as well as a wide variety of jewellery. I have left this piece at the gallery as I knew that if I didn't I would want to keep it myself!

It would be great if you could visit some of these lovely places during your Christmas shopping outings if you are in the area. We should all support the handmade craft industry as much as possible, I believe, and getting some gifts from these lovely places would be a fantastic way to do just that!!