by Phoebe Clive | 4 Jun, 2014 | Fabric & Textiles, Out & about in Herefordshire & beyond
Herefords Textile Design BA(hons) course has become outstanding over recent years with a talented and committed group of tutors; the excellent degree show is one of the events I really look forward to. So I was delighted when Tinsmiths was asked to provide a...
by Kathleen Murphy | 29 May, 2014 | Calendar Blogs, Out & about in Herefordshire & beyond
Trying to keep to a format for our Working Lives interviews has been a bit of a struggle. Visiting places of work often means that my mind veers off immediately to ask about a tool or technique, forgetting to stick to the questions I had planned; however I made an...
by Kathleen Murphy | 28 Apr, 2014 | Calendar Blogs, Out & about in Herefordshire & beyond
Sitting at a generous ash dining table she made in her sun-filled home near Ledbury, I asked Gudrun Leitz to tell me how she became a green woodworker. “I always knew that I had worker’s hands, that I would do something with these” she said, offering them,...
by Phoebe Clive | 31 Mar, 2014 | Calendar Blogs, Out & about in Herefordshire & beyond
On being asked why he became a hairdresser, Mervyn Parnell is liable to give one of two answers, either: “I was good at art, I could draw and I knew I was creative. I could have gone to art college but it was full of ‘hippies’ not people like me, so I thought...
by Phoebe Clive | 1 Mar, 2014 | Calendar Blogs, Fabric & Textiles, Out & about in Herefordshire & beyond
Sam Prentice’s workshop is crammed with furniture. It’s always this way when I visit. Sam is self conscious about it, ‘You can’t photograph here, it’s too messy’ he protests. Over the years I’ve come to understand that any upholsterer that isn’t busy isn’t very good....
by Kathleen Murphy | 31 Jan, 2014 | Calendar Blogs, Out & about in Herefordshire & beyond
Sitting in the Velvet Bean’s chocolate kitchen, beside the shop in Church Street, Ledbury, was a deep breathing moment for me. Paddles slowly turning the gently warming chocolate in three “bain mairies” that look like they mean business immediately...
