Liberty Open Call: 25 April 2009

Liberty in London had their first ever 'Open Call' looking for new British talent and designers on 25 April 09. What an amazing chance to meet the Liberty buying team and get feedback on your products. So I, plus another 800 people, decided it was something we would like to attend.

For more photos of the day, please visit the Liberty Blog here and for a short film on the event, please go here...

What a day!! My alarm went off at 05:15 and by 06:36 I was on the train whizzing on my way to Waterloo (well it was the slow train, so not so much whizzing as stopping). By 08:35 I was in the queue outside Liberty, where there was already about 50 people standing in the drizzle. However, morale was high and everyone was buzzing.

The doors opened at 10:00 and they let the first 100 or so people in; of which I was one. It was really exciting. Once we where in the building, we queued for another hour in a stairwell. Finally I made it into a large balconied room at the top of Liberty where we were sorted into different disciplines, and then it was just a matter of waiting for your name to be called out. About another hour later; it was my turn for my 5 minutes with the Buying Team.

It was a really interesting and exciting experience. They gave me lots of great feedback about my products; it has really inspired me and given me direction for Little Red.

By midday, it was all over… Phew. I went shopping for leather in Soho and by later afternoon a rather tired and grumpy April was back on the train heading South.

Everybody was really friendly and I just want to say a ‘Big Hello’ to all everyone I met in the queue… Silk scarf, furniture, greeting card, knitwear, decorative box and felt designers. You are all an inspiration for and the future of craft and design in the UK.