House of Frisson at London Made Me 2022

Hello!

I’m glad you’re here.

Today I’m going to talk a bit about the experience that made me go professional.

What does that mean?

Before taking part in the London Made Me project, I didn’t have a business, I had a hobby. I was already trading my artwork at online platforms, but I had no idea on how to price it, as well as many other aspects on the business side. It was only after taking part in the London Made Me intense one-week training and then trading onsite in Regent Street that I realised I had a business in hand that could take me somewhere.

London Made Me is a project created by the Mayor of London’s Creative Enterprise Zone Programme (CEZ), in partnership with Alice Mayor, Hypha Studios and The Crown State. Aiming to support, empower and inspire London’s creatives to transform the high street. The project was launched in October 2022, with a pop-up shop opening in early November, for four weeks.

Taking part in my local creative network event in summer 2022 inspired me to apply for London Made Me, after receiving an email about the pilot project by the organisers of the Harringay event. I didn’t have many expectations considering that I didn’t have a structured business, but I was lucky enough to be selected, together with 13 other artists/makers from across various London’s enterprise zones.

So, the journey began.

We had a 5-day training course at the British Library, with experts from the industry, to learn some aspects of the business, such as marketing, planning, customer experience, storytelling, promotion, events, administration, and logistics

After the training week, the 14 creatives were then invited to the empty shop on Regent Street to help designing or tweaking the stands according to individual needs. Following with painting the units, painting the walls, and then dressing the space/units to better accommodate the brand’s image.

With everything in place and looking beautiful, we were ready to open the shop. The launch day was a closed event with guests from the industry as well as all the people involved in the project. The following day the pop-up shop in the heart of London’s Regent Street was open for business.

During those four weeks trading at the Regent Street, I learned a lot about my brand and the business in general. And of course, I had so much fun with my fellow colleagues and chatted to many lovely people who came to the shop.

We also had some fun activities happening in store to engage with the community, such as workshops, live demonstrations, live music, art performances and evening parties.

Selling my artwork and having positive feedback by so many people who I had never met before felt great and it definitely made me realise that what I do is relevant, and I should keep up the good work.

Ah, not to mention that I had the privilege to talk about my work to the Mayor of London's Sadiq Khan.

It was indeed a brilliant experience!

Thanks for coming.

Love and frisson,

Luciano R.