On my desk : Rebecca Skeels

Contemplation is creativity’s best bud..

My working day tends to start listening to a podcast while eating breakfast (lately its been accidental creative podcasts or 99U podcasts). I teach most days, so I will go into work early, have a coffee, clear e-mails, prep for the day and go and teach. This varies from BA to MA, workshop to seminar, costings to drawing to making.

I usually stay late sorting out the next days activities, prepping handouts, publicity, marketing, interviews and so on. Some interviews include meeting the Jewellers and Silversmiths Network, meetings at the New Ashgate Gallery, going to exhibitions in Farnham, University for the Creative Arts (UCA) or London, and going to talks at the Crafts study centre.

Evenings include speaking to my partner on Facetime after dinner; he’s currently working in Norway. The week varies a lot, the weekends I sort out home e-mails, work in my workshop or on my sketchbooks and dig my garden.

So I can’t get by without my breakfast, making time, reflecting time and sketch book. And most of all I really wouldn’t know what I was doing without my diary.

Sketching and writing allows time to think, improve and change, There is always something to show for the time and efforts. And always time to share and encourage others too.

Creativity and developing my thoughts, ideas and skills makes me ‘me’.

Rebecca Skeels is a designer, maker and educator. She runs SKEELS, a jewellery and product design company in Surrey, UK, which she has run for 20 years. Rebecca works on commissions as well as her own collections ranging from handmade cufflinks, pendants and furniture, to installations in public spaces. In addition to her role at UCA, Rebecca is a member of the Board of Directors for the Association for Contemporary Jewellery, the Board of Trustees for the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, and also on the executive committee for the Hand Engravers Association. Follow Rebecca on Facebook.