New Beginnings - taking shape

For the last few days, I have been working on my ideas for a range of jewellery and accessories called 'New Beginnings'. This is a little project to satisfy my creative desire to make some tasteful souvenirs for tourists to our country, and to get back into the market/craft fair scene, which I have missed. My long term plan is to use images of my original dot mosaics, but until I have actually made them, I will focus on using one design, based on the Koru.

New Beginnings – hand painted jewellery and accessories by Claire Fairweather

The ‘Koru’ symbol, widely used in Maori art, carving and tattoos, has also come to represent New Zealand (Aotearoa). Derived from an unfurling silver fern frond, it represents new beginnings, growth and harmony. New beginnings both literally, in terms of new life and growth, and also a new start or new phase of life involving personal growth. To be in harmony with life is to understand, grow and change.

The circular balanced shape of the Koru design is attractive to the eye and is a very positive symbol, to be worn with pride. It makes a wonderful gift, especially for a new parent or child, newlyweds, for a new home or anyone starting on a new phase of their life.

New Beginnings seems a very appropriate name for this project, as it has meanings on many levels. Apart from the symbolic meaning of the Koru, this will be my first serious attempt at turning my creativity into a small business, it will also be my first project in my new studio, in my new home. I am hoping that this will be a new phase in my own life, the beginning of a successful venture into a new creative career.

My Etsy Shop opened today

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ClaireFairweather

The above link will take you to ClaireFairweather's Shop on Etsy.com.

The HANGA at Coatesville

The HANGA made its first appearance at Coatesville Market today, and again was very successful. My stock is now quite low so I will have to get busy making more for the forecoming events I have planned before Christmas.

Successful debut event

The debut of the HANGA brooch/pendant at Mission Bay, yesterday, was a very successful event. The weather was perfect for an outdoor event, attracting lots of people to visit and the whole place had a positive buzz. The only downside at the end of the day, was having the car towed home by the AA and wondering how much the repair bill would be - but at least it did not break down on the way!

The HANGA display attracted alot of interest and, in addition to sales, some very positive and useful feedback was gained. A number of people commented on the excellent display I had constructed, showing how the HANGA could be worn, and several others said I should register the name/idea to stop anyone else copying it. This is something that I had thought about previously and did quite a lot of research on. I had already completed an on-line application to register the name 'HANGA' as a Trade Mark but had not submitted it. For the last week or two I had been dithering as to whether or not I should but thought I would wait to see how the debut event went.

On the strength of the interest and sales from yesterday's event, I have now submitted the application to the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ), to register the name 'HANGA' as a Trade Mark.

HANGA table display

This is the display set-up I have made to go on the end of my table at tomorrows event.

Getting ready for Mission Bay

I have been working all weekend in preparation for the launch of the HANGA at the Mission Bay Art and Craft Market on Labour Day (Monday 25 October). Not only have I been busy making the HANGAs, I have also been working on a new set up for their display. All is going well but I am very pushed for time to get everything finished as I would like. I can see that I will be working every night this week, after I get home my from my day job - still, I only have two more weeks in this job, once I have left I will have much more time available.

Invitation - to the HANGA debut at Mission Bay



The HANGA makes a debut

I have issued the following PRESS RELEASE, to several newspapers:

Be the first to see the HANGA brooch/pendant - a stylish and practical fashion accessory, designed to hang your reading glasses, sun glasses or identity badges on. With the versatile two-way fixing pin you can chose to wear it as a brooch or a pendant, to best suit your outfit. This unique design by Claire Fairweather is hand-crafted from polymer clay, here in New Zealand – no two are identical.

Claire has been designing contemporary art-brooches as a hobby, since settling in Auckland from the UK, in March 2009. The idea for the HANGA arose from talking to visitors at craft markets and her desire to make her art and craftwork functional. She says: “As a wearer of reading glasses myself, this is a useful and decorative accessory that I genuinely use, and with its multi-functions the HANGA makes a novel gift, when you are stuck for ideas for something to buy”.

A limited number from the first HANGA collection will be making a debut at the Mission Bay Art and Craft Market on Labour Day, Monday 25 October from 10.00am – 4.00pm. You will find Claire’s stand on Row 1. Thereafter, she will be at Coatesville Market on the first Sunday of each month.

www.hanga.co.nz

Today I have bought the domain name www.hanga.co.nz, so I can set up a seperate website for promoting the HANGA.