Elin Thomas: 2012

Thursday 27 December 2012

The Back Building

This year I had a big Christmas present.

My family owns a launderette in the centre of town where I live, my Dad has managed it for twenty years so I've grown up with it, lived in it, lived by it and I work there too. In 1893 Rhys Jones, an enterprising local trader, opened a small shop called Ford Mills this is now the launderette. Rhys concentrated on drapery items, supplying goods by horse and cart, and quickly developed a thriving business. He spotted an opportunity to manufacture and purchased a number of second hand Griswald hand operated circular knitting machines to produce thigh high woollen socks for local colliers. This business has grown and is now known as Corgi Hosiery. In 1989 they were awarded a Royal Warrant by the Prince of Wales.

http://blog.corgihosiery.co.uk/

But there are also two other buildings hidden behind the launderette a large shed and this brick building.

As a child i loved going upstairs it was filthy and worn out but it gave me a sense of adventure, danger even. I always found objects that intrigued me, pointless things but i thought of them as something more. But anyway I know this building has had plenty of life in it and i don't want it to turn into nothing.So here it comes.....

For Christmas I am going to refurbish the place, it will then be a place for me to work, like a studio, as i am always making a mess in the house. I will finally have some room to get maddy arty.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Recently I won a "Dragons Den" Project, where a team of students are given the chance to start a business through a product or service. We wanted to make something practical, high quality and beneficial to the environment. We came up with the Poly Bag, a shopping bag made out of old plastic bags, the bags are woven and heat pressed to make a durable bag.

The judges said : “We had to look at all the entries to see which business plan we thought we would get our money back from. As business people we have to think like that.”

“The reason we chose Eco Chic as a winner was, the product – great, thinking about a lot of environmental issues. There is potential for working with big supermarkets or local supermarkets. It is practical stuff with a lot of possibilities. It is a shopping bag and sports bag suitable for swimming etc.”

This product above is a new experiment that might turn into an addition to our line, I used an old Jack Wills bag heated it together and cut it to shape, i then sewed it together. Tell me what you think xxx