Thursday 2 December 2010

Faborto Glass Art ~ Glass Art in the UK

From the 1 st December 2010 it's all big moves at the studio ... well not literally the studio is exactly the same it's the internet and web based stuff that all moving to a central location so please ..........................

Follow me to the new blog location

Faborto Glass Art

You can also search and follow me on Facebook too


See you there :))

Thursday 14 October 2010

FABORTO ~New Brand in Jewellery ,Lampwork and Glass Art Launched

What a truly amazing month October has been so far. My feet have not touched the ground so far, a new website, new facebook group, online shops plus continuing with the now very popular tuition on offer has only reinforced what I knew deep down in that handcrafted items are on their way back into fashion.

Val Cox Frit arrived from the USA having just been made UK distributor.

The last open day was an unbelievable success with approximately 43 people turning up to socialise and watch some lampwork demonstrations the theme of the month was lampwork implosion pendants .... some had a go and some real good first attempts were created in the flame.

Last week also saw the first of what is hoped as many return visits to a very special local group of ladies who invited me a long to their pamper evening, it was certainly the biggest group i've ever been fortunate enough to give lampwork demonstrations to..... a cool 100 people watched the glass melt and the first winds of molten glass placed on the mandrel to create a glass bead.

Commisions have been coming in through the door and a totally unbelievable amount of people have purchased not only gift vouchers for the courses for friends and loved ones but also smaller denomination vouchers to give to people as presents. These can be used against finished jewellery, glass beads, or of course tuition.

The weekly groups are getting really popular with 5 groups now coming along on a weekly basis to improve their knowledge and their skills.

So what's Faborto all about....well having been involved with sales and marketing at senior management level for quite some years it's been a bit of a mission to create a brand that I was comfortable with. I'll not bore you with the why's wherefors but least said there is a right way to create a brand and a wrong way.... unfortunately most don't get it quite right .

In short my work is for the higher end of the market where quality counts, we can all knock out the odd bead or silver ring for a few pounds and unfortunately if you get it wrong at the start your in the bracket for a very long time, you make no money, and as harsh as it may seem do nothing other than copy others in their quest for recognition.

A huge amount of effort has gone into this venture, Wibbly Wobbly Glass which rose from what seemed to be a very long up hill struggle , especially in the 1st quater of this year due to a whole host of reasons but to what we now have is a leading name in tuition for all things in Silver and Glass and without doubt the best collection of skills under one roof on offer nationally. As I say it's been hard work to get it where it is but I now have some great new tutors who are well liked and respected in Fused Glass and Silver Clay and it's a pleasure to work along side them on a daily basis and in time I can see them taking over the day to day running allowing me to concentrate on this new venture.

My passion for handcrafted glass and fused glass art is endless, the hours and hours of sat in front of a lampwork torch have now made my lampwork skills some of the best around and I now have collectors globally. Feedback has suggested.... well if I told you that...you'd all know as much as me...!!!. A recent abstract fused glass vase has just sold for £820.00. These works of glass art are not created every day and infact the one in particular may never be produced again...but we can try.

So what does FABORTO mean... loads have asked so heres the shortened version ... in order to create a long standing brand a few simple rules need to be followed this is not just my opinion ,for those in the know there are few simple guidlines.... a word that has no meaning, between 4 and 8 letters long, no geographical reference, no peoples names, and no reference to type, not using three or four letters, those type brand names occur naturally... BMW for instance. Effectively you need to make up a name that means nothing to no one , no where and has no meaning in any other language, combine that with trying to get the domain name, email addresses and everything associated is no easy task. In fact it's taken me the best part of six months to put all the pieces together. Then when it does go live it needs to go live all at once.

So as an excercise even if you have a brand already try thinking of that elusive word that means nothing.

But... but ...but..... Faborto now does mean something...... it means a great deal to me now and even more so going forwards breaking it down in it's individual letters it means ~

Fresh ~ Artistic ~ Bright ~ Opulent ~ Rich ~ Timelsss ~ Original

Now this actually covers everything I do now and everything it will become in years to come..

It's new brand for an exclusive market for those wanting only the best in original and unique pieces to either wear or display in their homes or offices........ http://www.faborto.com/ add it to your favourites , join me for daily goings on through facebook... but better still come and see me in the studio

Watch out for Faborto .... in time it will be everywhere.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Faborto is Launched

Not been around for a while due to an ever increased demand for commissioned items and the chance to experience the best in tuition for Silversmithing, Lampwork and Fused glass

Due to the ever increasing demand for that special gift, present or just because you care as of the 1st October 2010 www.faborto.com was launched to show case the higher end market of bespoke jewellery,lampworking ,fused glass and art.

Come follow me on facebook @ - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/CarlMartinJewellery2WibblyWobblyGlass and keep up to date with all thats happening at the studio on a daily basis.