INSPIRE: The Road Less Travelled...Justine Weyman

In our continuing series of interviews with inspiring people who have chosen to give up their day job and follow their creative dreams, we are delighted to introduce Justine Weyman of Clouded Yellow.

Give a brief description of your career path up until now
I originally trained as a scientist eventually ending up with a PhD in biology after studying hover flies for 3 years! After graduating I worked in the chemical industry from the mid 1990s.

What prompted you to pursue a creative career?
I have always enjoyed being creative and making things. I used to enjoy sewing when I was school age. However, I didn’t really pursue this to any great extent due to my scientific studies at college and University. It wasn’t until I worked in York and stepped into Liberties that my creative passion was rekindled. At the time (in the mid 90s) the Liberties store in York had a fabric and haberdashery section, selling beautiful velvets and silks. It completely inspired me, I bought a sewing machine and I started making bags and accessories. Initially I made these for myself, then for friends and eventually started selling a few bags in a gallery.

Several years later, the company I now worked for relocated my job outside the UK and I decided to accept redundancy. Fortunately, I received an excellent redundancy package which included helping me to pursue alternative careers including creative ones such as handbag and shoe making! I went on courses where I learnt new techniques, how to improve the finish of my products and make new designs. It gave me the confidence to try to make a go out of bag making as a business.

After redundancy I took up part time work for a regulatory consultancy, which I still do. The rest of my time is spent on working on my handbag business, which I decided to call Clouded Yellow after the butterfly. I now regularly sell my bags at fairs and also on-line at Not On The High Street and also on Etsy.

What was the most difficult thing about this decision? And what was the easiest?
I suppose the decision to leave my job was made for me, so that was easy. Although I still work as a scientist it’s on a very part time basis, leaving me time to pursue my business. Reducing my hours significantly from my relatively well paid job was one of the more difficult decisions.

How supportive of your decision were your family, friends and (former) colleagues?
My family, friends and colleagues have always been really supportive. When I need to spend time working on bags in the evenings and at weekends my husband is really supportive and looks after our two boys, which is great. This sometimes happens when I’m working towards a big fair!

How has pursuing a creative career been compared with your previous career? What are the challenges, and what are the highlights?
Running my business is very different to my previous career where I worked for a multinational corporate business. Basically as a one woman business I have to cover everything from sourcing supplies, making goods, marketing, selling to managing my finances. I’ve also put together my own website www.cloudedyellow.co.uk to showcase my bags and provide links to shops where they are for sale.

There are aspects of this that I find difficult and I have to push myself to do. Marketing and promoting my business is still a steep learning curve and is one of my big challenges. Highlights are sourcing beautiful fabrics and producing the finished product. It’s really satisfying making products that people love! I also got a picture of one of my bags in a couple of magazines this year, as a result of doing the White Knights Studio Trail in Reading, which was excellent!

Have you had any regrets about choosing a creative career?
So far I have no regrets about pursuing my handbag business, I just wish I’d started earlier and put more ground work in back in the 90s when I started off. But saying that, opportunities more recently have put me where I am now, so it’s all worked out quite well.

What has been the best thing about your decision to pursue a creative career?
It’s satisfying doing something that really inspires me. Because I work for myself, everything I achieve is down to me and I can see the results of my hard work. One of my selling points is attention to detail and uniqueness. I spend a lot of time ensuring the finish of my bags is of a very high quality. This means that customers have bags that are finished to a high standard and are one-offs. I get a lot of satisfaction creating beautiful bags and purses and getting positive feedback from happy customers.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering taking up a creative career, what would that be?
It’s tempting to just concentrate on making the product, after all that’s what you’re good at and probably enjoy the most. But it’s really important to concentrate on all aspects of your business. For example, if you don’t promote your business, few people will know you exist. You can make the most exquisite things but have no customers.

What are your plans for the future?
As I design my bags, I really enjoy coming up with new bag styles and choosing colours and fabrics. I’ll be spending a lot of time working on new designs and looking at fabrics and colours for the year ahead. I’ll also be working on marketing and promotion of my business and looking for new outlets.

You can see more of Justine's gorgeous work at the following sites:
Website -www.cloudedyellow.co.uk
Etsy
Not On The High Street

If you're interested in sharing your story about how you took the road less travelled, send an email with brief details to kirsten@ukhandmade.co.uk.