Interview: Holly of Pannikin
I am 22 and based in Brisbane, Australia. I spend my days making jewellery and collages, drawing, playing with my guinea pigs and collecting vintage treasures – children’s toys made in Japan during the 1960s are my absolute favourite! I also like going on picnics and adventures in the forest with my boyfriend.
I have always loved making things. My fondest memory is of my parents setting me up at a little table in the garden with my pencils and a huge ream of butchers paper. My favourite thing to draw was cats, especially portraits of my own cat, Tigger.
My work is very happy, colourful, childlike and a bit nostalgic for my kindergarten days. One of my latest series was created by taking pictures I had made as a 3 year old and then engraving them onto wood veneer to create brooches and earrings.
All Pannikin jewellery is inspired by my childhood as well as what I am currently thinking about, such as nature, my home, my pets and future adventures.
What mediums do you use to create your works?
At present, my main focus is working with laser cut and engraved wood, which I individually sand, hand paint and seal with varnish.
Do you like to play with any other mediums? Even just for fun. 🙂
All the time, it is very hard not to get distracted! I love playing with ‘grown up’ materials but my favourites are the supplies one would find in the primary school art trolley, such as drinking straws, googly eyes and pom poms. My boyfriend and I regularly have crafternoons where we set ourselves up at a big table, pull out all the supplies, brew some tea and just spend time making nice things.
It goes a bit like this: go for a walk, think, plan, double check and think. Send some emails and wait. When my raw pieces are ready, I peel, paint, varnish, sand, glue, assemble, photograph, test and finally package.
It’s a little smaller than my dream workspace, but I do have nice natural light, a big desk, lots of tidy storage boxes housing my supplies and a little windowsill just above my desk where I keep a revolving display of little treasures and plants in glass bottles and jars.
Do you have any tips for getting yourself out of a creative rut?
Walking in the bush and talking to friends usually helps. It is important to take time out and soak up what s around you.
Do you prefer selling in person or online?
I have done many Brisbane markets, they are always fun and at the end of the day fairly exhausting but it is just so rewarding seeing customer’s reactions to my work.
Work out your display before you jump right in! My displays are always changing as I am discovering and collecting new pieces to use. Height is important and clutter is distracting. People love extra touches such as free sweets or beautiful packaging and they nearly always sign up to the newsletter. None of this would matter though if you didn’t greet each visitor with a smile – nice, honest compliments go a long way, too!
I would have to select my pink and red ‘Tippy’ earrings from the Super-Kinder collection. They are just so much fun to wear and I do receive such lovely compliments when I do.
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to start selling their creations?
Research, research, research. You can never have too much information! Also, if making a living from creating jewellery is what you really want to do, don’t let anyone say you can’t. Work hard and prove them wrong!
I simply love finding amazing artists, designers and creatives through Flickr. I don’t tend to follow blogs, but I do love reading them when I stumble upon a good one!
Last of all if you could have any super power what would you choose?
Probably to freeze time. I’d get so much work done! You think something will only take you 10-20 minutes, but 2 hours later and you are still there! Maybe it has something to do with being a bit of a perfectionist at times.
I just LOVE Holly’s creations! So awesome. 🙂 If you want to find out more about Holly or see more of her works here is where to find her:
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