I love asking people, especially fellow artist how they got into their career and why they do what they do, so it was a privilege to be featured in the Autumn edition of Mosaic and Glass Magazine. Read the Mosaic and Glass Magazine Interview, with me Jo Munford. This is a subscribed magazine so I thought I would share the interview with you.
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How did you find stained glass?
My journey into stained glass or technically, lead light came about by accident during a dinner party at my parents house. One of their friends, who has been making stained glass for over 30 years, was there, we got talking and I was enjoying the conversation so much that I leapt at her offer to visit her studio. I remember walking in and seeing the stacks of beautiful glass against the walls, interesting looking equipment, the huge well used workbench, long rulers and interesting smells all cramped up in the eaves. It was a mix of artists space and some sort workshop, I was intrigued, the questions we pouring out of me and Shelagh advised I look for a course and learn. Before that point I had never considered working with stained glass let alone learning the art, but as I did, I realised that so many of the roads I had taken in my life had bought me to this point. I actually studied textile design at Derby University, graduating with a first class honours degree in woven textiles. You might not make the link but my work was inspired by William Morris, Tiffany and the Arts and Craft movement. I was fascinated by repeat patterns and the stylised graphic forms. I even made my own interpretation of Tiffany’s Peacock window on fabric, which is still not finished and rolled up somewhere in my attic!! Anyway, as a result of these influences my style became graphic in discipline too. A style I used for ease with a weaving software I was using at the time. When I look back now, this has parallels with the simple outline ‘cartoons’ or cut lines you draw for stained glass. Back then I enjoyed the challenge of creating a repeat pattern and now I enjoy the challenge of designing within the bounds of the lead and the glass.
When did you decide to turn your hobby into a business?
Once I had started stained glass I knew I wanted to transition into it full time. Throughout my life I had always been in creative roles, in yacht interior design to be specific, specifying fabrics and furnishings for anything from smaller production sailing and motor yachts to 100m plus mega yachts and for the last 4 years I had got stuck in a rut in a role that had no creative output. Problem solving yes, but no creativity and it was slowly killing my soul. Something I'm sure all ‘creatives’ can resonate with. So when covid came around I found myself on furlough for most of 2020, busying myself with a huge list of DIY jobs before turning my attention to my stained glass. My hand was forced when I lost my job that October…not quite the transition I had hoped but it was at that point I knew I wanted to take charge of my life and threw everything at making a business of my stained glass. I have always wanted to work for myself but never knew what I wanted to do so this was it - a chance. Like so many resourceful souls during covid, perhaps survival, perhaps a dream come true or both.
Were there skills and experience from your previous career that proved useful to your move into professional art?
Yes I would say so. I am quite an exacting person which probably comes from years in the super yacht industry, so i’m quite fastidious about the details and quality of my work. Also having worked in design offices and a shipyard, understanding design a build comes quite naturally to me, so I can think around the construction of things. My 3D work such as the bird dioramas on wood are always presenting new conundrums of how to fix things securely in place and I like to push the boundaries of what is possible. I have been fortunate to work with a good friend who is a metal fabricator and between us we are always coming up with solutions on how to build pieces and connect the lead work to the steel in efficient and sophisticated ways. With my yacht model pieces, I actually use sail plans and like to work to scale and when I can and set the sails as accurately as possible. Most certainly a hang up from my career in the marine industry.
What business lessons have you learned along the way that might be useful for other artists?
Probably the biggest lesson I have learned is you have the love the journey. If you do not enjoy trying to get from A to B and you just expect that you can achieve your dream overnight then you will not succeed. As people who have set up on they own know, its hard work and takes up a lot of your personal time, you never switch off so you have to absolutely love what you do. You have to be determined and positive and absolutely believe in what you are doing. Sometimes it’s actually best not to have very fixed ideas as new directions can present themselves to you along the way. So be flexible and keep looking for opportunities. Network and look for your target audience. Who are your people and what makes your work appeal to them? Im certainly not a ‘B’ yet and actually I'm not sure what B looks like just yet but I am very much enjoying the journey so far. My last bit of advice for anyone starting up is to create your own little network of artists/ artisans that you can bounce ideas off or learn from/ get support from. Along the way I have made some fabulous friends in completely different creative disciplines…in fact I don’t really follow other glass artists as I don't want to be influenced by them.
What areas of glass do you specialise in and enjoy most?
Well, when people think of stained glass the obvious is windows. I do make windows and when I get commissions I love them as they are, to me less complicated than the 3D model work I do. The other areas are garden sculptures, an area I would like to do more of, Yacht models and art in the form of bird dioramas. The Yacht models really come about from my love of the marine industry. I really enjoy the challenge of replicating a yacht with just glass, wire, solder and wood. The bird dioramas I fell into by accident really. I wanted to make my mum a 70th birthday gift and had this amazing bit of wood that looked like a small tree and had a vision of bluetits and ivy on it. When I tried explaining it no one could understand what I saw in my minds eye. Once I had made it they saw my vision. That bit of work was posted on a social media group and got a huge number of likes and compliments and enquiries and I realised I had an audience for this sort of work. subsequently its now an area I specialise in. A few months back I was thinking about my bird dioramas and was trying to work out, aside from the 70th birthday gift, where my ideas came from and what had influenced it and it dawned on me that when I was a kid and we travelled down to Cornwall for our holiday, we used to stop at the Jamaica Inn to look at the curiosities museum. The museum was filled with weird Victorian taxidermy curios in glass boxes. Many of them were bird dioramas depicting things like ‘who killed cock robin’. I was fascinated by them. Its funny how far back influences can affect you! Of these 4 areas, what do I enjoy the most?…honestly, all of them. I love the variation. I think if I kept doing the same thing, I would get bored! I’m brimming with so many ideas.
Where can people find your work? What marketing tools work best for you?
You can find me on my website www.seaview-studio.co.uk and social sites, facebook and instagram. Most of my work is commission work. I only really do a few Christmas markets to sell my ‘heirloom Christmas decorations’. But I love doing the markets at that time of year and meeting people. The Christmas decorations are great little marketing tools themselves, as they get given as gifts which pushes them out further than my network reach. Each one has a business card in it so people look me up and with a bit of luck enquire about other works. I can’t say I have mastered Instagram yet and I don’t get commissions through it, but Facebook is a useful marketing tool. I look for groups that I think my audience is in. I am not pushy about how I present my work in those groups, certainly no hard sales. One of the most rewarding things has to be returning customers and recommendations.
What are your plans for the future - both short and long term?
The million dollar question! For a year and a half I have been going through a house renovation that went wrong so my short term is to get the other side of that and be able to concentrate on putting all my energy back into Seaview Studio, however, I plan to teach courses for lead lights and copper foil. I have designed these courses but not released them yet. I also have a kiln that I need to get up and running so I will be experimenting with incorporating fused glass into my specialist areas to see where that takes me. I like the idea of mixing creative disciplines so the future of Seaview Studio might not just be glass work…
Jo Munford featured in MOSAIC & GLASS MAGAZINE INTERVIEW.
Jo works from her Netley studio in Hampshire, UK and can be contacted for commissions on 07930 144774. jo@seaview-studio.co.uk. www.seaview-studio.co.uk
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