Each week we will be inviting an Artisan to answer a set of questions about themselves and their craft. This week as the blog has only just begun I asked my partner in life and in business to answer the questions.
1.Hello Jon, Could you please introduce us to who you are and what you do?
Hello, my name is Jon and I work for and co-own Hyperloop Hoops. We craft high quality, handmade Hula Hoops and fire toy wick covers. I originate from London but now live in the beautiful countryside that is South Wales, between the mountains and the sea, with my Partner Lynne. My main roll in Hyperloop Hoops is to keep the web site running smoothly and the production of the basic hoops, which Lynne then decorates. I also take most of the photos for the web site.
2.What led you to take up your craft?
My partner and I love hula hooping and wiggling, and so we decided to help spread the love of the wiggle by making hula hoops for other people to wiggle with. I started out as a juggler, poi & staff spinner, but got introduced to hula hooping somewhere along the way.
3.Which part of your work do you most enjoy?
The look we get at the post office when we send out the hoops. The first time we went in with them they just looked a bit puzzled, but the post mistress and her husband have got used to us and our hoops now and they are always asking us how business is. They can’t do enough for us now.
4.Which part do you find hardest?
The times when business is slow are hardest because Lynne being the eternal worrier that she is panics that it will never pick up again, but it always does, thank goodness.
5.Where do you hope to be in 1 year’s time?
I want to be on a beautiful tropical island with all my friends, spinning poi and staff and wiggling hoops in the sunshine, or laying in a hammock sipping a cold beer. If you mean where I would like the business to be in 1 year, I guess I’d say in the black and expanding rapidly.
6.What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Never, ever, under any circumstances, play leapfrog with a unicorn.
7.Name other artisans sites/shops would you recommend are worth a visit?
They are no longer a small one man band, but that exactly how Home of Poi started out, one man, Malcolm Crawshay, working towards a goal that I’d say he has more than got to. He has without doubt built from nothing, the best fire toys supply business and community on the face of the planet. It took a lot of hard work and sweat for him to get where he has today. He’s my inspiration and I'm lucky enough to be able to call him my friend too.
8.What is your favourite sandwich filling?
That would have to be bacon and egg… although Nutella comes a very close second.
Thank you Jon for being the first victim *cough* I mean for being our first Artisan of the week! So dear readers you see what it's all about.
No comments:
Post a Comment