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Helen Beard | Episode 679
Helen Beard is an English ceramicist and illustrator. Helen trained at Edinburgh College of Art and later apprenticed to Edmund de Waal. She has led her own ceramic studio since 2004. In 2019, Helen launched her pottery range Helen Beard Dailyware which is now made in Stoke-on-Trent. Helen continues to make unique one-off pieces for exhibitions, commissions and collaborations.
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Have you gotten any feedback that it’s really not real art anymore that once you hire someone else to do the work?
I’ve never had that feedback. (laughter) There was a lot of discussion about it when I set up the knew range about how it would impact on my one off pieces and would it have a negative impact on it and would it bring down the exclusivity. There were all these questions to ask but in the end most of the feedback I got was: Go for it. It can only boost what you are doing. By reaching more people you are actually, as long as you do it well…. I can’t think of the words, but it has been a positive thing. And it was a big question but it’s not been criticized and actually I think it has only boosted my work because it has reached so many more people.
Do you look at it then as a rising tide lifts all boats? That by having more of a floating audience that it attracts more for your other work?
I think as long as the other work is for exhibition and interesting collaboration and one off unique projects, I think as long as there’s that difference and they are not that similar the other one is very strictly functional and domestic ware, then I think actually they can sit next to each other quite happily.
Do you look at this other line as “passive income”?
I would call it my bread and butter. I have a family, I have three children. It’s wonderful to have the freedom to do my one off pieces without the pressure of that…well with the knowledge that I have a nice, happy income from the other work. You know there’s nothing worse than everything being based on an exhibition and I need to make a certain amount from this exhibition. It’s never been like that for me because I’ve now got myself this freedom of a steady flow of income from my production range. And it allows me the freedom to play and take risks with the other work.
Did you get someone to actually represent the work then that is out fronting your work and presenting it to other outlets?
I am part of a…she’s not really an agent, but there’s a group called Future Icons and it promotes fantastic craftspeople here in the UK, but that is as much as I’ve had in terms of helping put the work out there.
This person you are working with, did she help you figure out the business side of trying to connect with other outlets?
Yes. (laughter) It’s not very easy having all these skills. As a potter particularly so much of your time is making and designing and all the creative stuff so yes, there has definitely been an element of input from her and when we do exhibitions for trade then she would often help represent me there.
Did she also help you out in terms of figuring out contracts and how payments would be made?
I have talked to her about that. I have talked to a lot of my contemporaries about that. You know it’s a moving thing that continually changes I think. So I am always checking with everyone with what are they doing and how are they doing it. And we have organizations here which support us too, in terms of things like contractual law and copyright and that kind of a thing. There’s a lot of artists organizations here in the UK which will support us so I am always reaching out for advice when I need it.
How often are you re-evaluating your contracts?
Umm. That’s a good question. Probably not enough. I would say we every time you come into working with a new retailer you have to check and see how we are going to work and make sure everybody is happy and that we’ve got every thing crystal clear, to protect ourselves and make sure everyone is under the same understanding. The work is my property until sold, you know?
Is your secondary line considered licensed?
It’s not because it’s my product and it’s my design. Because I am in control of the final product. It’s not being produced by another company in their name, it’s made by me, Helen Beard, daily ware, and I have a wonderful factory here and they are manufacturing it for me, but at the end of the day it’s my product which I am monitoring, quality checking, and providing all the artwork and molds and proto-types. So it’s not some thing that I have licensed out to another company who will make it in their own way. This is something that I have 100 percent control over. And that’s worked really well because the final product is in keeping with my style and my products which I have made by hand and on the wheel.
Is licensing something you would want to do or are interested in?
I wouldn’t really want to license my work to be made by someone else’s ceramics because that is something that I very much enjoy having control over-the final shape. But I have worked in collaboration with larger retailers where I have licensed my illustrations to them in a different form. As long as it is a different material to ceramics I am happy to go there.
Book
Places to Go, People to See by Thomas Hilland
Contact
Instagram: @helenbeardceramics