Something fantastic..

Isn't it funny the way the world turns?  A few months back I was at a point in my creative life where I wasn't really sure how to progress, or whether to at all.  Doubt in my abilities to market my work, indecision on what direction to take - local, national, international?  Feeling 'out on my own' with no local creative contacts to ask questions of and bounce ideas off.

The strangest thing - I was driving back from home to work one lunchtime, stopped at an intersection which faces straight onto a portion of the Pacifc Ocean coastline, looked at the rather impressive, stormy waves and had one single thought ...  "I'm going to be part of something fantastic".  Hmmm.. odd thought.. what's that about?!   I hadn't been consciously thinking about my jewellery design business - rather, I was having an "oh !@#%, I'm going to be late back" panic immediately before!

Fast forward around 5 months later and I'm sitting in a cafe surrounded by fabulously talented fellow members of local Hawkes Bay creative group 'Made It Here', drinking great coffee and discussing an idea for promoting quality New Zealand Handmade businesses both locally and to the world and creating a wonderful network of like-minded people with diverse creative businesses.

Reel it on another 3 months and that idea has snowballed into the fantastic 'New Zealand Handmade' group.  Run by a core team of 9 (you can see who we are here), we launched our site mid-June, a Facebook page followed soon after, and recently we have opened our doors to 'Friends of New Zealand Handmade'.   Our network is growing steadily bigger and we have a lovely community of artisans, designers, crafters, and creators from all around the country. 

Ah-ha... there it is "I AM part of something fantastic!"  ... and fun, and informative, and social, and, and...

A huge heads up to Katherine, Joy, Carol, Marie, Kya, Kim, Ingrid, and Jo for making it all happen :)

If you're interested in becoming a Friend of New Zealand Handmade and want to know more about it - click here to read more.  Applications are welcome - we'd love to meet you :)

Mel