Sometimes I do make my visions come to life! A gloriously mad dream of adding pop-tastic colourful enamel earrings to Nmarra was achieved in 2024 - a year of hard graft and multiple distractions! I'm super proud of managing to get this new line of enamel work off the ground, but also very aware that 2025 is going to be a year of lots of change and development behind the scenes. Some years can fade into one another or feel like the need is to just keep going. For Nmarra 2024 marks the end of a particular phase and 2025 really feels like a new door opening. And to reflect on this year I appear to be starting a blog of sorts to share things I have more to say about in a longer form which you can come to have a read of here if it’s of interest...from making films to going back to college, exclusive commissions and some hard going times, it all went on in 2024!
2024 included some real excitement and if I'm honest most of it came in the form of big distractions to fit in around this business! If 2024 was characterised by letting the business do it's thing whilst trying to keep on top of the basics, then 2025 is set to be a more focused year of exploring new avenues and I'm honestly excited to be throwing myself into it.
The first half of 2024 was the final push for me to finish the Jewellery Arts and Technology HND course I started in 2022. I totally loved every second of the course, met the best people, and learned so so much. But it did mean I have had to reign in developing Nmarra at the same speed as before, for the past couple of years... apparently you can't do everything when your mortal human time is limited to 7 days in a week... who knew?!Â
It was a great experience for me to go back to education, to get to play in the workshops, be set creative briefs, have a cohort of people to bounce off, share ideas with, and explore methods, techniques, processes and ways of approaching design and making anew. It was a hugely creatively fertile time, exploring in lots of different directions, and although it will inform new things you will see here, and in other projects, getting the right ideas pushed through to completion in a way that works for this business is a whole other challenge in itself, one that has seemed daunting at times, but that I am now very ready to get started on.
In other non-Nmarra life times, a big highlight of 2024 was setting Tummy Monster loose on the world! In March 2024 this bizarre feature film written and directed by my partner Ciaran, which I did the production design for in early 2023, premiered at Glasgow Film Festival to a sold out opening night and two extra screenings! It's been so satisfying to see audiences connect with this crazy thing we made, and a total whirlwind education in navigating the mechanics of the film industry. We had wonderful opportunities to travel with the film to see it screened at festivals in Leiden, Holland and Austin, Texas in October, meeting so many inspiring new people. These trips were also a fun way for me to take some proper time away from the business at a time of year I would never usually consider. While chilling out and exploring new places I gained a lot of perspective and a burst of renewed energy for the festive season.
Back in the land of Nmarra, this summer I squeezed in a load of extra markets and launched a few new things. New hair slides designs and long awaited hoop studs were added to the Nmarra rosta of brassy joy and another batch of the Tenement door numbers were cut due to popular demand! A handful of great new independent stockists came on board this year including V&A Dundee, Starry Skies in Battlefield, Curated & Gifted and the Nancy Smillie Shop. I took on some non-Nmarra marketing work for three months in the summer, and then got back into the groove of full time Nmarra for the busy festive season.
I had the pleasure of returning as a visiting tutor at the Glasgow School of Art from September to December for the Retail Therapy project with 4th year MEng Product Design Engineering students. Now in it’s 10th year, the students really experimented extensively with processes this year and did a brilliant job creating unique limited edition retail-ready products for the launch. It’s a project I have been involved with for all 10 years now and I really enjoy my part in it. It is always super inspiring to assist students along their development process, sharing my design, making, marketing and retail knowledge and skills.
September saw the introduction of new enamel pieces at Nmarra with a special collection developed exclusively for Dovecot’s Tapestry exhibition and a second batch of enamel pieces launched at the Summerhall market and to online audiences in October. I had a very fun time photo-shooting these with the delightful Alice Campbell!
These explore a different finishing process and it’s been really fun to troubleshoot the challenges it brings. In order to enamel, I have to get in the zone - it is a very mindful activity combining shape, colour and fire. A momentary lapse in focus and the whole thing is ruined! The work flow for this is still a work-in-progress for me and more time consuming, so for now these pieces remain very small batch and available exclusively online.
The festive season is always an intense time of go, go, go, make, make, make, sell, sell, sell with not much room to maneuver, however it's always a joy to hit the markets and connect with people face to face, catch up with other makers and spread Nmarra brassy joy as Christmas gifts. Hats off as always to market organisers for cultivating customers for independent design items and pulling off these great opportunities for Scottish makers!Â
This year was a bumper effort for markets, with Nmarra popping up at Edinburgh National Galleries, The Burrell Collection and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum with Tea Green Events in summer and winter, plus The Night Market Glasgow at Cottiers, The Alchemy Experiment festive markets, How Bizarre Rugs stall at the Barras, Summerhall Edinburgh, Park Lane SWG3, and even Crafty Fox market at Kings Cross in London. Phewf that's more than I thought...no wonder I'm tired.
A huge thanks to all the longstanding repeat customers who come down to markets or shop online and the new faces who connect with Nmarra pieces through events and stockists and choose to support Scottish made design and goods. It's a delight to see you all! I love to see repeat customers pop up in online orders and it always warms my heart when people get in touch for lost earring replacements or choose them to wear for their special events! As well as all your festive orders, I managed to squeeze in a last minute second batch of Pala bird brooches to end the year following the success of these in 2023. We raised £250 from 10 brooches which was donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians, thanks to all who purchased one.
A reflection on this year also has to include the ongoing global events. As the worst of humanity is put in front of us on a daily basis and it is all to easy to feel despondent, for me, taking action that feels real and even in a small way productive is the thing I feel I can do. So I will keep boycotting, raising funds when I can, and let those around us struggling with the apparent hatred and loss of humanity that is evident in these events know that they are not alone.
In truth, such terrifying developments can make the running of a small business seem trivial and pointless in the face of such blatant evil, and I have definitely found my creative energy wane in the face of despair.Â
However, this is what I do to exist, to pay my bills, to scratch my creative itch and put something into the world that I care about in a way that I think is not damaging. And so for 2025 I will be earnestly re-engaging with my creative energy, getting organised and investing in this enterprise so that I can still be creating in one form or another in 7 further years time. Sometimes what I am choosing by running my own business is not to do things I feel are harmful, feed into systems that are badly conceived or compromise my values, and to me and my enjoyment of life that can be worth a lot.Â
And so I suppose that does bring me on to the tough bits. In a nutshell 2024 has been a financially challenging year for maker run business for sure. There's less money circulating in the economy, these are not boom times, when the essential things like food cost more yet people aren't getting paid more and so are spending less, so understandably, hard times have a knock on effect to small creative businesses. We're having to work harder than ever to make the same income and it has been sad to see so many independent retailers and makers struggle and shut up shop. It is something I have considered, and there is always the possibility of walking away from this and doing something else if that’s the right thing to do at the right time. Circumstances have really shifted since the glory days of easy-peasy insta selling and also just the feeling of excitement of running your own gig changes and shifts over time too. The balance of creative development, human interaction, making an income, feeling enough satisfaction and having the perfect non-leaking, clean and tidy studio set up all still elude me, not aided, I'm sure by too many side quests!
In all the busy-ness and plate spinning I have neglected a few things along the way...from a place of connection and inspiration to a bit of a chore with diminishing returns - my efforts with Instagram have definitely waned! However, 2025 is time to re-engage because it has been a very useful tool for making my work visible and connecting to customers in the past. So for 2025 I will find new ways to approach it to make it fun for me, so it's fun for you, and actually worth doing again!
There's been a couple of surprise press mentions in The Scotsman and The Skinny in 2024 thanks to my lovely stockists. A spotlight on Nmarra in Issue 157 of Homes and Interiors Scotland and a sighting of Nmarra earrings on BBC Alba's Hogmany coverage!
For the first part of 2025 I have an exciting new project lined up with Fruitmarket Gallery and I was lucky to also receive some funding for experimental enamel work, and will be giving some talks and doing some mentoring which I'm really looking forward to getting started on. All nice outcomes of work done in 2024 behind the scenes to make this year a good one!Â
In 2025 I expect a load of change at Nmarra but I don't know what it will look like exactly yet… For now take advantage of my optimistic feeling that the year is going to be great and treat yourself to something brassy with 25% off using code HAPPY2025! A heads up also that I will be restructuring pricing in early 2025 so get it at 2024 prices plus 25% off while you can :)
Over and out!Â