Becky Crow
by Brenda Ross
A figure struggling with an inside-out brolly, two children hand-in-hand, a man reading the paper, a girl playing with her dog, a lady in posh shoes, commuters strap-hanging ? just some of the delightful figures that Becky Crow of Brighton produces in her silver jewellery range.
She started making figures during her degree course, in which she specialised in metal and ceramics. 'I saw the figures then as 3D illustrations, to put on the wall,' she says, 'although they had a pin on the back. I did not set out to make jewellery, but at my degree show in 1999 people liked my work and wanted to wear it, although I had it mounted on the wall.'
Among people interested were the organisers of Dazzle, a selling exhibition of contemporary jewellery, metalsmithing and other small objects, held four times a year around England and Scotland. They invited Becky to take part in the London event the following Christmas. 'They said they would want 30-50 pieces; I had only ever made twelve!'
Immediately after the degree show her work was exhibited in New Designers, a graduate design show held in London each summer, and this produced more interest. 'Because my work sold I had to make more,' she says, 'so I had to find a workshop.' Fortunately she had met a craftsperson from the Rose Hill Workshops, where she has worked happily ever since. 'There is a good making community in Brighton,' she says. 'There were eleven other craftspeople here who had been in business for a while, so it was a supportive community. That helped particularly with the business side, which you don't learn at college, such as how to generate work, do mail-outs, and keep the accounts.'
Rose Hill Workshops, hidden behind other buildings in a quiet side street in Brighton, is a co-operative started ten years ago, with space for twelve craftspeople, currently seven jewellers - all producing different types of work - two ceramicists, one carpenter and one 3D designer. Some have been there from the start so there is a range of experience from which newcomers benefit. It is also useful for sharing costs, such as when some of them clubbed together to buy a computer.
It is an environment that suits Becky. 'I much prefer working with other people around. More of the co-operative members have become part-time as the number of children has increased, and when there is no one else around I find it more difficult to work. There are times when everyone is really busy, such as before Christmas when we are all trying to meet deadlines, and stress levels get quite high, but you have to be gracious to one another. We all get on very well. Besides working together we go to craft events together as exhibitors, and socialise and holiday together.'
Back at the beginning, having found her workshop Becky was able to produce work for Dazzle and a couple of other exhibitions that first Christmas, and took part in further Dazzle events the next year, although for the first few years she worked part-time three days a week as a care worker, to help pay the rent. 'When I look back at the first things I made they seem awful,' she says. 'I had a lot to learn; for example, when someone first asked for earrings I had never made any.
'But when I look back to the early years I don't feel I had to work that hard at selling my work. Orders from the degree show and New Designers kept me going for a while. In the first year I was learning how to make things efficiently. At New Designers in the second year I could speak to people differently because I knew how long it would take to make things and could give them a definite delivery date, and I knew how much things cost. I got quicker at making; what will now take me a day would have taken two days then. The Brighton Festival in the May after I left college also produced orders.'
Making the pieces is intricate work, involving drawing the design, making a template of each component from tracing paper, taping these to a sheet of silver for cutting out, filing edges, soldering the pieces together, sometimes bending the piece a little for shape, and using oxidising concentrate to get different shades (it turns the silver black which is then 'taken back' using wire wool or pumice to make grey). Most pieces are left matt, finished with fine wire wool or polished a little. Some are tumble polished, which hardens the ear wires of earrings.
Texture is created by using a rolling mill with paper or fabric shapes placed on the silver, and/or by hammering. The shapes for bag earrings are stamped out, but other shapes Becky cuts out by hand. 'If someone wants ten pairs of earrings, it can get boring because all the shapes are the same,' says Becky, 'but I prefer them to be hand cut and it does mean they never quite come out identical. If I had the shapes photo-etched it would mean a large sheet of them, and I am not sure I would want that many. Also, if they were cut out I would just be putting the pieces together.'
In order to broaden her range she tried a few animals and pieces featuring butterflies, but has now returned to developing work from the figures. 'In the last couple of years I have become better at designing proper jewellery,' she says. 'I have developed a better balance between large, one-off pieces that appeal to a small niche audience, and smaller items that sell fast. I created figures from the start and it has taken quite a while to get to my latest work. I knew my work needed to move on but I was not sure how, as it had to appeal to the same audience.'
Her latest range explores connections and relationships: 'Where do we fit into the world? Who are our family? Our friends? How do we connect to them? Who are we journeying with?' The range includes three brooches: 'journey', with embossed figures along a pierced trail; 'stand out', with one gold figure among other pierced figures; and 'connected', with pierced figures at points of an interconnecting pierced trail. Popular at Christmas were the 'family tree' designs, showing figures in one, two or three-generational linked layers. Also created last spring and developed through the year are square and rectangular brooches featuring a gold figure beneath silver trees. Becky also makes a range of landscape brooches, showing simple mountain scenes. 'I produced these when I needed more small items that would sell fast. I had been walking in the Lake District and I made them with a particular gallery in mind in that area. It worked well. Some people say, "What about your artistic integrity?" but my answer is that you have to make this kind of product that sells fast to enable you to spend the time making more artistic pieces. You have to make enough money to live on.'
Most of Becky's sales are to the trade. She exhibited at the British Craft Trade Fair in her third business year and took a stand near others from the Rose Hill Workshops, so she could benefit from their help and support. She has since built up outlets around the country. From 2001, for three years, she was accepted for the Chelsea Craft Fair in London, where she did well with both trade and public sales. She settled into a routine of the British Craft Trade Fair each spring, the Brighton Festival in May (an arts festival that includes 'open houses' where craftspeople sell their work, featured in last month's Craftsman), the Chelsea Craft Fair in the autumn and Dazzle at Christmas. 'But you can never count on things,' says Becky. 'In 2004 I wasn't accepted for Chelsea, and that had made up a major part of my income.'
Much of her trade with galleries is now on the basis of an exhibition or showcase of her work for a certain period. 'They have the work on sale or return,' she says, 'but if they want to keep some of it in stock afterwards I think it is fair to expect them to buy it on firm sale. When galleries order small pieces on firm sale I will offer them larger pieces on sale or return. I know these might not sell but it is in my interest to have them there as a focus puller.
'Communicating with trade buyers is important; it is much better to work together and help each other out. If they want to try work in their gallery for the first time, it is fair enough for them to have it on sale or return. Sometimes if they order on firm sale and the pieces don't sell they ask if they can swop, and within reason I will agree as it can be in my interest to do so: if the work is not selling they will not order more, and if they swop bigger items for smaller ones that do sell, it is my gain.'
Becky feels that her business has now settled down: 'In the last couple of years I have settled into a pattern, a rhythm of making my work. I am making a living now, just, and that is all I wanted. You decide you want to work for yourself, do what you've been trained to do and have the freedom that the lifestyle gives.
'New designs for my figures range tend to be commissions now. I want to move my work on in the future. I need to draw more, to generate some excitement. Last year I had the idea for my latest range when I was working at something else; something suddenly sparked a line of thought. I began sketching, and one drawing led to another. But I couldn't make the pieces straight away because I had orders to fulfil, so there was the tension of having to deal with the business and make items for the orders, but wanting to make new things.
'You have to set aside time to indulge yourself, to draw up ideas, and you have to find other outlets for your work. The beginning of the year is quieter on the sales front so I can set aside time for thinking, designing, and developing new work.'
Becky Crow
Rosehill Workshop
13A Rose Hill
Brighton BN2 3FA
T: 01273 674511
