Julie Tanner, Artist

Julia Tanner joined the Essex Craft Guild approximately 10 years ago and has become an incredibly successful artist. We asked her what place the Guild had played on her journey. 

 

“This is how the Guild has been good for us. 

 

First of all just being accepted into the Guild was rather like getting a rubber stamp of approval. I knew that you have high standards and the fact of being accepted made me feel that what I was doing was up to the right standard, it was also lovely to be able to display the Guild badge at shows. Our customers were also impressed as a lot of them had heard of the guild. 

 

As well as that, the standards adopted by the guild meant that we always did things as well as we possibly could. We often see shoddy stands at shows and say “the Guild wouldn’t accept that would they!” Just simple things like floor length, non-see-through cloths that are plain and not competing with your goods; eating on the stand; trailing light cables; displaying your product in the best way you can; not being too cluttered. We learnt all these things from being guild members and we continue to improve and strive to be the best we can now. 

 

The Guild Shows themselves were also another source of learning. Show visitors knew that they would always get a quality product, made by the person on the stand and that they could always ask questions. It felt like a very safe way to sell and grow our business in an environment where the customers really appreciated what they could buy. 

 

And that’s not even starting on the camaraderie and support of all the other members and the social side. We made many good friends from being members and even though we now live on the Isle of Wight we still meet some at shows and have fun and laughter. 

 

I definitely feel it helped us on our path to where we are today ,and I like to feel that the Guild still influences a lot of what we do and how we act today – in particular Quality with a capital Q being at the centre of all we do.” 

Julia Tanner (September 2023)