Contest winners fly to U.K. in bid to boost business

The six entrepreneurs who won British Airways’ Face-2-Face contest fly to the U.K. this week to make contacts and boost their businesses. The airline partnered with the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation and the Economic Empowerment Zones Agency to offer round-trip tickets to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week. The contest aimed to encourage face-to-face business meetings rather than long-distance conference calls. Contestants had to write an essay of up to 500 words explaining how a face-to-face meeting in the U.K. would help their business. Of more than 40 entries, six were chosen as winners. They were Tom Wadson of Wadson’s Farm; menswear store owner Anthony Easton; filmmaker Lucinda Spurling; broadcaster Lamone Woods; fashion store owner Terry Smith and jewellery designer Alexandra Mosher. Here is Ms Mosher’s winning essay, we will publish the rest in the coming weeks.

I create hand-fabricated art jewellery with organic motifs, designed and handcrafted in my Bermuda studio in silver, gold, pink Bermuda sand, gemstones and pearls.

I am drawn to abstract sculptural interpretations of flora, fauna, the ocean, architecture, history and culture.

My work teeters on the line between art, fashion and sentimental gift.

Airhorn

Currently I am producing a high quality yet affordable jewellery line inspired by Bermuda’s coral reefs and actually containing tiny tide pools of Bermuda sand set in hand carved silver.

I also create pieces that have a new interpretation of Bermudiana, such as the Bermuda cultural icon, the Airhorn, and an array of Bermujan Vurds.

Meanwhile, I’m delving into conceptual art themes which will offer a more challenging experience for the wearer and viewer.

For example, in 2011 I intend to create a painterly collection that reinterprets 2-D brushstrokes into 3-D sculptural wearable works.

I believe these collections will offer an interesting product to both local and foreign clients.

Over the past six years I’ve had wonderful support from individual collectors, Bermuda galleries and art foundations and local retailers. I’ve now grown to the stage where I am able to produce in larger quantities by hiring a production team in New York City to handle some of the more laborious and dangerous production processes, such as casting and polishing.

Bespoke

The next step is to grow my business internationally. This past summer I showed my sand work to representatives from the Jewellers of America Association at the JA Trade show in New York and it was very well­received.

However, I firmly believe the U.K. has a higher regard for bespoke products than the American market and, much like the underground music scene, the U.K. is the right launching pad for the kind of work I create.

To that end, I’ll need a partner in London.

Having representation from a niche jewellery agent and retailer such as Astley Clarke would allow me to have both a physical presence in a showroom in London and, equally importantly, a well-revered U.K. web presence and distribution centre.

Astley Clarke is very selective in choosing their jewellery artists and is frequently the exclusive representative for foreign designers.

Over the past three years I have been following them closely and they have even had competitions scouring the globe for emerging jewellery designers, giving individual designers a marketplace and a huge PR and marketing engine behind them in the U.K. glossy magazines and blogs.

I also believe there is a niche market for uniquely Bermudian artisan corporate gifts where the parent company is located in Bermuda.

My work has recently been sought out by local divisions of global companies such as Ernst & Young, who are giving my Bermuda Reef Collection pink coral sand cuff links and pendants to all of their newest recruits.

For my emerging jewellery design business, a partner in London such as Astley Clarke is the perfect conduit to take a uniquely Bermudian product out into the world.