11th August 2015

Today was a really interesting day. I have been working for over a year or so on a panel of photographs to try and obtain my Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS). I have been developing a theme involving images of South East Asian Markets but despite attending a couple of workshops and meetings with people I seem to have difficulty moving forward with my panel and no particularly positive comments! As it is rather difficult to retake photographs or to obtain more (unless I take a long trip!), I have decided on a total change of tack.

So today we went to a friend of Colin’s workshop in Dollis Hill. Jeremy owns one if not the only workshop in the UK that still hand-makes lampshades. He has a team of around 25 staff and they are so skilled in what they do. I took a Victoria sponge cake along to break the ice and have discovered that the team have quite a sweet tooth so I plan to bake biscuits for my next visit. There is an amazing process all of which is done by hand and the women are happy for me to photograph them. I am returning in a few weeks with a tripod and other photographic kit for the first of possibly a few visits. My photographs will also be used by Jeremy for brochures about the company as this is the 35th year they have been trading. This is one of the women who is hand finishing the edge of a hard silk shade.

[Stephanie Swift]

I love this photograph and I enjoyed reading about what you are doing in the way of photography, and what they are doing in the way of making lampshades. Reminds me a bit of what I've read about workshops begun by William Morris and other Arts and Crafts people--they greatly valued work done by hand and the joy of doing such work. Hope the photographs you take will help you in your quest.

[Emma Durnford]

@tristansmum It really is a fascinating place and the ladies are lovely. Jeremy says that some cannot eat egg (I think it may be a cultural thing) so I have found a recipe for cookies without eggs which I will be baking tomorrow.