Brazen Studios
Description
Jewellery designer Sarah Raffel is giving young talent the chance to establish careers in the jewellery design industry. She has established a successful retail space and studio – Brazen Studios – where designers can hire workbench space and share expensive equipment to which they might not otherwise have access.
Why we funded
Many jewellery design graduates abandon their chosen careers because they can't find funding, equipped workshop facilities or galleries prepared to show their work. Smothered by mass-produced competition, promising designers often leave their craft entirely or head to London in search of limited opportunities.
With Brazen Studios, Sarah is attempting to stop the brain-drain from her profession, and from Scotland in particular.
Promoting quality craftsmanship to today's consumer, Brazen puts the spotlight on studio jewellery design - creating a rare opportunity for a craft usually seen as the Cinderella of a design industry focused on fashion.
Impact
Sarah herself launched her debut Brazen Collection, called Magpie, to critical acclaim at London Fashion Week 2006 - and has since seen a 400 percent increase in the number of designers hiring her facilities.
One of those is Shona Guthrie, now Artist in Residence at Brazen, having first rented a workbench when she graduated in 2005. Already busy with many private commissions, Shona is now carving out a sustainable career and says: "It's great to be in a creative, stimulating environment, part of a team, and getting media exposure."
Written: December 2006
Company:
Brazen Studios
Programme:
Creative Pioneers
Discipline:
Jewellery design
Location:
Glasgow
Funding:
£35,000
Other funders:
Deutsche Bank
Women in Enterprise
Year funded:
2005
Website:
www.brazenstudios.co.uk