New Year Resolutions - A cautious plan for learning

A dream is not a plan, but every plan starts with a dream.

My New Year starts with a resolution.

I am going out of my comfort zone.

First step— making this a regular blog.

It is a look into what I do and how I do it. And just like that I talk about my dreams. 

My dream -(plan) to share my studio experience so I get to show you the wonderful people I meet and the ins and outs of my studio life. I am a bit apprehensive - too many too often turn blogging into unexamined reality where crazy meets stupid. So my every sentence would be attempt to stay away from alternative facts, examine my opinions and share success and failure with gumption and honest account of my shortcomings. 

This is a place to grow.

And I honestly believe that growth is possible only when we are honest.

This month is a good one for that- with Showcase looming in the third week of January it is always a scary way to open up my year. Showcase is an annual event at the RDS Dublin where creative industries showcase new and successful creations to community that supports and develops our practices – buyers, media and press, influencers, creative communities. It is also a great way to meet your mentors, folks that you love and a place to examine whether what you do is still relevant and meaningful. Because there are always a few new kids on the block.

Showcase, if you do it as you should, needs to come from a place of meticulous planning and coaxing of folk and institutions as far as an year in advance. So once you are there your success comes as a surprise to others but as a total relief to you. Full disclosure, I do not have the best habits for Showcase set up - I let my creativity take the better of me.  I fire a few invites the week before, print complex brochures the day on the show and build complicated set ups which leaves myself and my husband on none speaking terms with at least one of us is bleeding from clumsy DIY endeavors. To top all this my special needs girl is usually either in A&E or in hospital at the time. 

My best Showcase to date was the one I did not do it. I did not book a stand, I did not print new brochures, I did not create complex packaging solutions or displays. I just fired up an e-mail to my most precious buyers: '' could I meet them somewhere if they are coming''. Thankfully, they said yes. So the year I did not do it I met my buyers in the buyers lounge, had free coffee, courtesy of the unaware organisers and made twice the amount you pay to participate. 

And yet. I am there every year bar one. I won't lie to you- it is the event that scares me most. One year I thought I would not be able to pick myself up from the bottom of the stairs where I end up the day after it finishes. But I go with various success I overcome my fear of failure and go. The strength to do it comes from my hope that people would see my work for what it is- honest, uncompromising and always developing.  So I go and do it.  And the event that has given me most. I met British Museum at it. I met my best international buyer at it. I have made some of the most meaningful friendships at it. 

This year I am doing it. I am going for a minimalist display and bringing just four collections- two of the evergreen classics and my personal best achievement- the first Irish felt. Made from the fibres that create Irish tweed and inspired by Irish landscape this collection is personal to me. So with great fear and huge plans to change my practice I am getting ready for it. Keeping fingers crossed while I put finishing touches onto product and press pieces. I would put focus on spring cleaning my website as it needs to communicate my passion and effort in a more inviting manner. So check it out at

www.nikicollier.com

Hope it is a good show- I have invested so much in my creative work - I hope that people see that what I lack in planning I make up in hard work and imagination.

Here is to hope. And as we say: ''May we have a great show!''