Philosophi

Late last year, I scored my dream client as a web designer - an artist-run gallery in Sydney, Australia, with a primary focus on contemporary jewellery. I re-designed their website, which you can see here.

This is their mission statement:

"Gaffa is located in the heart of Sydney's CBD next to Town Hall Station. Thanks to the recent re-location to this beautiful heritage listed building, over 3 floors, we will be expanding our gallery, studios & workshop, and nurturing a new Gaffa initiative The Arcade Project, which is geared towards providing a platform for innovative and intelligent design by emerging and established independent designers and makers.

The gallery level, dedicated to the contemporary visual arts, now consists of 3 separate spaces - Gallery 1, Gallery 2 and Gallery 3 - with a 4th space Keeper Gallery dedicated to emerging guest curator tenures.

The studio and workshop expansion on the 3rd level has meant that we are now able to house additional resident studio artists from the contemporary jewellery and object making field. To date, it is the largest of its kind in Australia.

Gaffa remains committed to nurturing cross-platform collaboration, collectivity and cohesion within the contemporary arts community. We endeavor to provide creative space to both established and emerging artists and designers to create and exhibit their work in the inner-city."

I've been so tired this week, working long hours to finish my website designs work (latest one - haydenfowler.net), whilst gazing at my new, sad and untouched jewelry bench (post coming soon).

But what good news to cheer me up tonight! Naomi, a talented experimental artist and blogger has featured my vintage rings on the wonderful Italian jewelry blog Iris Jewlry.

I love Italy and often check this blog, even though I can't read Italian!

I've been fortunate that my Etsy shop has on front page a few times so early on.

It is with frustration that I've been so busy this past year since I discovered Etsy, that I haven't had much time to make jewellery let alone send some love to my shop and all the marketing and networking bits and pieces that goes with it.

So I thank these wonderful artists who have featured me in Treasuries which have made it to the Etsy front page - I am honored.

• www.etsy.com/shop/masaoms
• www.etsy.com/shop/huismus
• www.etsy.com/shop/majito
• www.etsy.com/shop/naventin

Here are the front page collections replicated from www.craftcult.com/vault:

Around $300 later, we took 3 meters of 50mm-thick Tasmanian Oak, and some meters of pine wood back to my partner's grandfather's work shed - also known as his garage, which also housed his family once upon a time when they first arrived to Australia from Malta, as they built their home on the suburban property.

It was special to watch grandfather and grandson work together. I felt guilty not to be of much help, but I figured that by taking photos I was preserving this family memory.

When the bench was truly on its way, we left with a plate full of nanna's homemade food, and planned to come back in a few days to see the progress and hopefully take home my bench!

Each time I've made jewellery, my coffee table in the living room gets swamped in tools, materials, and god-knows what chemicals. Hammering is limited, safety is comprimised, not to mention my poor back! People who don't have a dedicated work space knows how annoying it is to continually set up and then pack up, it's impossible to nurture creativity.

So it's been a dream of mine to have my own jewellery bench in my own space. With my move, I finally have that dedicated little room, and now it's time to get a bench! The only thing is - they're soooo expensive in Australia. I don't know how much they cost overseas, but my suspicions tell me they don't start at AUS$1000 (US$900) as they do here. The jewellery market is far too small, and the few suppliers that do exist have to import them from the US or Europe.

Luckily I have a wonderful and supportive crafty partner, who has a wonderful grandfather who was a carpenter and is still able to build. In fact, it keeps him going. My partner and I researched benches and drew up a design to suit my needs and our small space. Basically I wanted something that looked beautiful as a piece of furniture, has a simple pull-out bin and a hidden soldering station (my soldering block is known to get quite skanky).

It took great pains not to use recycled wood, but my needs were specific and what we could scavange weren't hard or thick enough. Plus this is my chance to get it perfect to last forever.

So off to the timber yard we went, in search of some thick Tasmanian Oak and pine. What a place! Even though it resembled a graveyard of trees, it smelt like a forest, and I adored looking at and feeling the different grains and surfaces of each kind of timber. I admit I didn't know much about wood, even though I knew alot about trees - go figure.

I was pleased at how much more affordable it cost than if I had bought it at the hardware store. Hardware stores buy timber from timber yards - so if you can, do go directly to the supplier - it will save you heaps.

Here are some photos I took there: