Two best friends on a Ferry to Belfast for a week of intense courses and sightseeing, to the unknown that that week would change their lives forever.
After meeting several talented artists, meeting Nuala from Titanic FX, completing Adrian Rigby's Bald Cap course and Andrew Whiteoaks Wig making course, they soon realised on their travels back to Glasgow that something very big was missing in the heart of our Scottish filming sector. A shop....
Why? Why isnt there a shop in Glasgow.....in Scotland rather? Why isnt there a community hub for all Artists to unite together to learn, to teach, to grow, to chat, to laugh and to cry about their general day to day life in Screen and Stage?
It was then we decided to put our heads together and bring to life a Hub and Shop that would not only supply products or become a teaching facility to our creatives, but be a place, a safe space more so, that anyone of all ages, backgrounds and artistic skill level could attend and feel a place and purpose to want to grow and become a better artist within themselves.
We know full well how hard it is to leave College and be out in the open world of Film and Theatre and not have a clue where to begin, it was then we decided that there would be no more secrecy to our realm.
It wasnt an easy road, infact the road was too hard that we thought most days, "should we just give up now?,what is the point!" So many banks declined, so many business meetings with various Government bodies, so many "Men in suits" saying no to our "Arts n craft - cutesy" shop. But, with the help of family and close friends, we finally found our premises in Hillington.
However, Hillington was a gorgeous shell of a shop, it needed our added flare and switcheroo to make it the place we knew we wanted. Gemma's home became a warehouse for many many months, it was a place where many pancakes were had in the garden whilst balancing a laptop and a notebook in hand going through endless catalogues figuring out where on earth to start. What products to buy first....what will sell? What if nothing sells? What if we dont get the support? Are we doing the right thing?
Anxiety hits hard but its too late, leases are signed, shop is under construction, website has just went live and now its time to just take the reins and direct our journey to the path it needs to be on.
You'd think in the middle of a pandemic we'd pause, but no, this is when we utilised our endless free time to really put together a hub that was what everyone in our community was searching for.
3 months after finding our Shop the keys are given in hand, shop is an empty shell and a works van is on the way to our front door, packed to the roof with boxes upon boxes of products and furniture. We did it! The shop is finally coming together.
After measuring out placement of the shelving units, moving around our enormous and heavy reception desk 4 times.....sorry Dad, the shop was finally becoming the vision we created. With the help of many many friends who, barcoded, labelled, stocked our shelves, paint our walls, hoovered our carpets and prepared our Hub for its official opening night party, WE CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH!
Launch night was a complete shock and hit! The amount of people, not only friends and family but actual public artists and creatives who just heard about a shop opening up, who came to see us and our store. The dream was a reality and many many tears were had inside that shop by not just us, but from friends and family who believed our journey from the start.
3 years later.....yes we're stepping into our 3rd year and we still cant believe it, we made it through a Pandemic, a rise in housing costs, a filming strike, a concrete roof-demic closing down theatres, it's honestly felt like the universe tried to test our strength and abilities and close us down, but yet, here we are.....STILL OPEN.
The amount of friends, creatives, lecturers, productions, theatre groups, touring shows and film sets we've either worked with or worked on its been an incredible journey and not one we would have envisaged, but even better.
Having rebranded for now a third time, now entering our 3rd Business birthday (they say everything comes in 3s) we've finally found our destiny and all our alignments in life have fell into place organically. We wanted to make our first Blog post on our new website a story about us, our journey, one that many of you have been on with us and a story many may not know at all.
It felt right to share to the world our story of where it all began, a story where two little female artists from Glasgow created something out of nothing, that may not mean a lot to most out there...they may think its just a shop....or its just a school, but we know that for others, its so much more than that!