I am going to credit my wee studio van, Willow, for discovering this new creative direction. Lynn and I have worked together before on an exhibition collection and we have been friends for longer than that. We met for coffee to share van stories as we both have one and then she came to meet Willow and climbed in the back. From nowhere, an idea was born and that idea quickly grew wings until we have arrived at today. Today we launch our Quiet Bloom Studio.
A tiny bit about us
We are both textile artists who have, more recently, fallen down a paper rabbit hole. We are both ex teachers and we both live in the same village on the island. We are both very good with deadlines. We both worked as florists in our previous lives. We are both over 60.
What is the Quiet Bloom Studio
It is a place that lives somewhere between both our studios and allows us to pop up anywhere on the island. It is deliberately mobile. It even has a small corner of my beloved studio van. There are some strong intentions behind this new creative partnership that include -
Intentional, artistic work with floral shapes and meanings
Mindful, gentle and quiet creativity
A place to inspire others with a sense of friendship
A celebration of ‘handmade’ in peaceful, unhurried moments
Story driven creativity
Sustainable practice
So, quietly and mindfully, we have been slowly working away on a range of products in order to launch this new partnership. I didn’t imagine I would ever have this type of partnership and more than that consider sharing my Etsy store that I am incredibly proud of. But then an idea popped into the universe and it is a super idea and Lynn is a super person so why not? I am also mindful of the fact that we are both in our 60s so sharing the load will be a good thing for both of us. We don’t, however, that lofty plans for the Quiet Bloom Studio. We have a secret rule that I am happy to share. We only do what we want to do and no more. If you can’t apply that rule in your 60s when can you apply it? Do we have a business plan, no. Do we want one, no. We are going to let this creative project bloom one petal at a time……
The launch
Launching the Quiet Bloom Studio here on Substack is the perfect place. Substack has become an integral part of my working practice as it helps me share and, at the same time, make sense of my creative world. When I am working quietly on my designs I am often mindful of how I might unpack the process to share on Substack for anyone who might be interested.
A word about flowers
I would be lost without flowers. They are one of the dearest things to me in my personal universe. Just this morning I took a detour on my morning walk to see if the crocuses were through in a front garden I have long admired. Flowers make me smile deep within me and not many others things touch me like that. I used to run a flower farm in Derbyshire where I grew flowers and herbs for weddings and the brides used to come to visit their flowers! Now living on a Scottish island traditional floristry is too problematic so I now grow to dry and use these in my products. So we had a starting point
This launch collection is all about our experiments so far using fabric, paper and real flowers to share our passion and there is much more to come as it has quickly become our favourite creative occupation. A few examples if I may -
Together we have created a small collection of floral gift boxes based around beautiful paper blooms created by Lynn. We contemplated what we would love to recieve and this is the result. A beautiful hand scupltured bloom accompanied by a range of smaller floral inspired gifts making each box beautifully personal. These boxes can never be repeated as each scuplture is unique. We hope these might make special gifts for much loved folk.
We have created a range of floral brooches using different fabrics and fibres as small, but beautifully formed, gifts.
We have had one eye on ‘bespoke,’ as an antidote to mass produced, all the way through our working practices so we have included lots of things that can never be repeated. A sewing box, a handmade book with hand painted cover and a hand stitched pendant are just three examples.
We have also been mindful of offering a range of price points so that there is less barriers for folk who would like to purchase something from the Quiet Bloom Collection. We have created small hair pins and painted rabbits, hearts and flowers that make excellent small gifts. If you would like to be more invested in the collection you might like our first Quiet Bloom mini zine that I have produced to take its place in the launch. We have even created a journaling box so that you can spin off our creative starting points. We will be taking it in turn to produce these mini zines. It is a fairly big rabbit hole.
Lastly though, I want to share our signature product made with recycled sari fabric. We have created these simple floral brooches and presented them on a card that reads ‘A gift of friendship - may our friendship continue to bloom’. This very much lies at the heart of what we are trying to offer. It is friendship that makes the world turn and so we wanted it to take a central place. We sit in the evenings gently sewing these hoping they will find their forever homes. Once again, no two are the same.
There is much more to see over on our Etsy store and we hope that you like what we are offering but, more than that, we hope you like the intentions behind this creative space. We will now continue to share the Quiet Bloom studio as it continues to grow new wings and take flight. We have a special day coming up on the island in the summer that we are most excited about so expect to read more on that here.
If I could finish by thanking Lynn for wandering along with me and thanking all of you for the support you continue to show to my little creative space. It continues to be a real honour to wander along with folk where no translation is required. Sending grateful thanks.
Fiona and Lynn. xx
About the author
I am a mixed media artist living on the Isle of Arran in Scotland. Here on Substack I write free content weekly focusing on seasonal creativity. I also run a paid subscription for folk interested in creating seasonal book arts projects. You are most welcome to wander through the seasons with me.
Beautiful and gorgeous
Just love it!