NCM Participant Profile Jan 15: Sara Gunn
Sara Gunn is a London-based designer. She creates bold and distinctive fashion jewellery in leather and metals. Rich textures adorn elegant, curvaceous leather cuffs and angular rings alike. Her belief that that jewellery should be as individual as the wearer has led her to explore organic processes such as acid etching, which ensure a high degree of variation.
Sources of inspiration range from the urban landscape and gritty London streets to microscopic details within the body and each piece of jewellery is hand made by Sara in her London workshop in limited production runs, many pieces are one-off. Sara Gunn joined the New Creative Markets Programme with Cockpit Arts.
What impact has New Creative Markets had on you?
The New Creative Market workshops have been a great opportunity to focus on and improve various aspects of my business. So far I have taken part in sessions on PR & marketing, selling, tax, visual merchandising, production planning, photography and branding. As an independent designer it's often necessary to take on aspects of running the business that are outside your area of experience so it's brilliant to have access to experts in such a broad range of fields through New Creative Markets.
What aspect of the programme do you see yourself implementing?
Every session has given me something useful to take away and I've already started to implement some of the things I've learned. As a jewellery designer relatively new to the game the sessions on production planning, marketing and visual merchandising have been particularly helpful. There have been many practical tips which I've been able to use straight away, along with much to consider when planning ahead.
What is the most useful thing you have learnt on the programme?
Learning how to plan production and keep on top of wholesale orders and commissions has been the most useful session so far. Having a clear, logical process explained, along with the worksheets to put this into place immediately has been incredibly helpful. Although I produce on a small scale at present I can already feel the benefit of this and see how it will help me to work efficiently as my business grows.
Many thanks to Sara for participating in this interview.
