Hello there. Lady Norfolk here.
It's all gone absolutely bonkers, one minute I'm crying because I'm not selling anything, Lord Rust was down to his last 60p at one point and now we're selling so much we can't keep up!
Please don't read this as me taking an opportunity to brag or show off, more that I'm kind waiting for my big fat happy bubble to burst! I honesty have to keep reminding myself that this is my job, it earns me money. Surely people don't really love their jobs this much? I'm becoming one of those really irritating positive people who smiles a lot, I'm enthusiastic about stuff that use to bore the crap out of me and I'm even being nice to the general public, it's unheard of!
Back in January Lord Rust and I had a rather optimistic conversation which concluded with us deciding it was to be 'our year', seriously do you just decide stuff and it happens?
Of course we have masses of fun and thoroughly enjoy ourselves but the reality is we have worked hard, in rain and gale force winds, had hundreds of pounds worth of stock ruined by the weather, we both get up crazy early, often work 10-14 hour days, have relatively no social life and often injure ourselves. I look like dog meat, I can't remember the last time I had a good blow dry and my hands are permanently dry and cracked. Ewwww! But recently all the effort seems to be paying off and now meeting demand has become a juggling act, there's commissions to keep up with as well as making and sourcing treasure for markets, I've just found another retail outlet for my furniture and last week Lord Rust had a customer buy every single book on his stall! Rewind a year and this was an unimaginable position to be in.
I was upholstering on the floor of the front room of my tiny Victorian house, Lord Rust was painting things in the family garage and we shared an additional garage to store the trailer we use to carry our stock around. Working from home meant I was lonely, easily distracted and completely cramped, now I share a workshop with the Rusty one and a brilliant lamp maker Bulldog Vintage, between the three of us nothing is impossible!
Last week we took our stock to Woodbridge, twenty minutes from home to a market organised by Deben Events which was recently taken over by the brilliant Tim Clover, being use to a large pitch and a footfall of many thousands we were unsure if we'd do very well. We were instantly welcomed by the other stall holders, completely overwhelmed by the cheery customers who chatted and bought in equal measure, having been really rather unsuccessful in our local area before this felt amazing, thank you Woodbridge and a round of applause for Tim for a fabulous first market.
I'm completely loving the buzz in our little community right now, it feels like a very cool time to be a part of this industry and with every possible part of my body crossed I hope this continues, or maybe I should just decide it will......
