The Wonderful World of Webbing

A couple of weeks have now passed and my samples are well under way, maybe not all quite as under way as they should be, but all the scary decisions have been made and I have been staring at almost finished products today! I can be indecisive when it comes to certain things and spend a long time thinking....take webbing for instance! Who knew how many types of webbing there was out there! I usually have a good idea of what I want, but I like to see all the various options, maybe just so I know that the one I want is the right one? Then sometimes it's like a game of treasure hunt trying to track down the webbing that I saw somewhere ages ago that I know would be perfect! And then trying to describe it...

the wonderful webbing samples

This is why it has been invaluable working with a manufacturer who has years of experience in this field. What this guy doesn't know about webbing tapes or where to source them, well let's just say I am eternally grateful to him and his team.

So now there's only about six weeks until Pulse and I need to think about other stuff besides the products. I have to get my press images sorted this week and that other important thing...my stand. Travelling from Glasgow to London for the show puts a little extra pressure on coming up with a simple, yet effective stand design that wont require three vans and a trailer.....I only have 2m x 1m to fill, so I am probably exaggerating a little, but it does require some thought. That is why when I've been exhibiting at Top Drawer I have tried to grab some time to see what other people are doing as there's some great inspiration out there. For me, I think less will be more but like I said, I can be indecisive at times and I'm sure my stand design will change radically over the next six weeks...

Here I Am

It's been a good but busy week so it's taken until this Friday evening for me to realise it's been a whole seven days since I decided to start a blog and all I've managed is one post....oh dear. I have been thinking about it at various points over the week and, rather than me providing random thoughts when they occur to me, I decided that it would be good to have a bit of focus with it.

So I think a good direction would be to share with you the lead up to my third trade fair for my business - Pulse Launchpad. This one feels quite different though as I won't be under the supportive umbrella of "Spotted" or "Spotted Plus" by Charlotte Abrahams at Top Drawer where there was just twelve of us embracing the world of trade fairs for the first time! However I've heard everyone in the Launchpad area has a similar camaraderie, so I'm sure it will be fun too!

Anyway, I thought I would begin the life of my blog by telling you a bit more about Laura Spring and how I am where I am...

Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, I travelled to Glasgow to study Visual Communication at The Glasgow School of Art back in 1999 and upon graduating in 2002, I decided to stay and Glasgow became my home. I've often left for various periods of time from three days to three months to do other things, but it's a great city and despite the rain (which obviously inspires my work, so it's not all bad!) I do love it here.

After graduating, I went down the route of working in the theatre mainly doing costume jobs and was lucky enough to work with some amazing people and do some wonderful things. A wonderful lady taught me most of what I know about sewing and I'll never forget the fun days and laughs I had at the world of Scottish Opera.

However, I missed making my own work and I'd always loved screen printing so a friend and I from art school set up our textile printing studio here in Glasgow that we worked collaboratively out of for three years. Now we work on separate things from the same studio and it was at the start of last year that I began dabbling with making luggage. A good friend knew I loved vintage patterns and gave me a great pattern for an old 1970s style suitcase made from fabric. I had already begun thinking about the patterns we see and if there was ever a relationship between them and their function, so with this in mind, I began creating patterns for luggage that would relate to the destinations of where we might travel to. During this time, I was very lucky to be awarded the Scottish Craft Residency 2011 at Cove Park where I got to develop these ideas further in the most amazing setting. I can't speak highly enough of this experience....six weeks to just make work in a beautiful studio with lots of incredible people around me was one of my highlights to date.

Anyway, from there I was invited by Charlotte Abrahams to exhibit my luggage at Top Drawer as part of her "Spotted" stand (although at the time of being invited all I had was one suitcase so it was a busy summer!) and things went from there....

So here I am. Eleven weeks from Pulse Launchpad. I'm branching out from luggage, so wish me luck....