12/3/26 Lawrence Alkin Talk

Lawrence Alkin is a British art dealer and entrepreneur best known for founding and running Enter Gallery in Brighton (formerly Art Republic), one of the UK’s most commercially successful contemporary print and street-art galleries.

Early Career

• Lawrence Alkin began his career in the art world1980 in Dublin selling prints in markets and founded We Frame It in 1981 a gallery to bring contemporary prints and framing to Ireland which never existed before
• 1990s– 2000, expanded to Brighton set up a similar gallery and called it In the Frame
• He developed an interest in accessible contemporary art, particularly limited-edition prints and poster and prints from the top museums around the world, introducing Rothko, Warhol, Lichtenstein and many more like Kandinsky, Matisse and Picasso to the general public
• His approach focused on making collecting art more open and less intimidating, targeting younger collectors rather than the traditional blue-chip gallery audience.

Founding Art Republic

• In 2000 Alkin founded Art Republic in Brighton.
• The gallery specialised in limited-edition prints, street art, and contemporary graphic art rather than traditional fine-art prints and posters It quickly gained attention for showing artists connected with the street art movement, including figures influenced by the success of artists such as Banksy.

Key aspects of the gallery model:

• Affordable editions rather than high-value originals
• Strong online sales alongside physical exhibitions
• Use of email lists and digital marketing to reach collectors internationally

This hybrid retail/gallery model allowed the business to scale beyond a typical regional gallery

On the back of this success he opened 2 new galleries. 2008

• Ink_d Gallery Brighton where we showed emerging artists and had a very strong exhibitions program
• Lawrence Alkin Gallery Soho to expand our customer reach as there were very few in this space
  • Peter Blake
  • Damien Hirst
  • Charlotte Rose
  • Mr Brainwash
  • Jamie Reid
  • Ryca
  • Dan Hillier
  • Brian Eno
  • Caroline Chinakwe
  • Symble

Expansion and Commercial Success

During this time

• Art Republic grew into one of the largest contemporary print galleries in the UK.
• The gallery hosted exhibitions for many well-known contemporary artists, including:
• Mark Vessey
• The Connor Brothers
• Pure Evil
• Dave White
• The gallery developed a strong international collector base, with many sales happening online.

Rebrand to Enter Gallery

Around 2020 Art Republic was rebranded as Enter Gallery.

• The rebrand reflected a broader ambition to become:
  • A major platform for contemporary printmaking and street-influenced art
  • A gallery with stronger artist collaborations and events
  • A more distinctive brand identity.

Enter Gallery continued to operate from Brighton while selling globally.

Role in the Art Market

Lawrence Alkin is notable for:

• Bridging commercial retail and contemporary art galleries
• Helping expand the market for limited-edition prints and street-art related work
• Building a digitally driven gallery business model outside London.

His approach demonstrated that a regional gallery could achieve national and international reach through online sales and strong artist relationships.

Reputation

Within the contemporary print and urban art market he is known as:

• A commercially savvy gallerist
• An advocate for making art collecting accessible
• A key figure in Brighton’s contemporary art scene.

In short: Lawrence Alkin built a successful gallery business by focusing on affordable contemporary prints, street-art culture, and strong online sales, transforming a Brighton gallery into an internationally recognised platform for contemporary editioned art.

Inconsistent colours – Bansky

Interesting because unique (bad screen printing)

Trust in people

Start small, figure out the business model as you go based on what works.

Giving back ink—d gallery, never made money but gave a platform and championed emerging artists.

Moved slightly more up market during financial crash

Demystifying art – walk-in knowing nothing, of art but you would feel welcome and inclusive

People need decisions to be made, don’t let them ponder – give them confidence to make a good decision.

Team ready to serve – no seats

Similar philosophy

Charlotte rose

Giveback connecting the roots. – charity to offset use of paper.glass. electric, e,t,c and inability to be so sustainable.  Graffiti tours.

Peter blake print retrospective.

To expensive on highstreet – close – warehouse/gallery costs e.t.c marketing logistics, costs getting higher.

Expected staff to be just like me.

Integrity – pay everyone else first

To immersed in own bubble and not immersive self into gallery world…being part of community.

Eyeful management – represent artist to brands

Nothing goes any further without a plan

We all need each other

Be memorable

You make your own luck

Be Fully invested

We shall adapt – what happens when AI really hits?

I really enjoyed this Talk with Lawrence Alkin, I found many of the things he spoke about resonated with me and had similarities to things that I had experienced in business, from gazebo’s flying away at markets. To not having staff sitting on the shop floor, so they were always ready to serve.

I think he thought like me, he loves art but he loves the hustle more.

He also came to a point where he realised he wasn’t being sustainable so upped how he  and the business acted in the ‘sustainability’ world, something that I am very aware of and work on all the time, whilst being sustainable the systems are set up to make it impossible, we can all do our small bit.

I have been in a small bubble of business for a few years now, not really reaching out to the community and but I feel I am at a stage where building more of a business community again is something that I would like to do. Doing the charity event for Phyllis Tuckwell, will be a great opportunity, and potentially moving to business premises that are in a more art environment will also aid this. I have also added in the diary to go to the next Farnham creatives networking meeting, as I feel I have lost the connections to the community that I once had, whilst ive been busy with my head down, but I can see how being more collaborative with my work will bring further opportunity. I just need to manage my time accordingly.

Overall he showed that all businesses, no matter what business experiences the same highs, lows and issues.

But the reality of it is was that he was running a business, not creating art, for me the interest lies in the person who is creating the art AND running the successful business that sells the art.

https://maricecumber.com

Marice Cumber

The huge oversized ceramic cups, vessels and vases that Marice makes are confessional, bold and brave. They are highly decorated and are inscribed with her innermost thoughts and personal mantras that she communicates to herself and her audience through her work.

Telling the truth

Workspace in house – treasured waiting long time for studio

Started as painter – degree – grappaling with identity and self, how seen and how others see, narratives between internal and external

Text in creativity, try to position into an environment.

Did ceramics after degree. Unemployed meant cheap to do courses. Work got picked up. Theme continued – role as a woman – conflict

Forward thinking for 40 years ago

Cermaics went well then – transfer print – Camden market contrempoary design onto bone china. Not time to do creativity – successful on paper – sold in big places and achieve – was not doing rewarding creative practice and manipulating it to be a commercial endeavour.

Childcare, financial responsibility, income needed, career (educator) career demands and pressures, value in work that replaces the missing creative identity. I needed to know how to run a business. Breakdown – burntout.

Uses all that to replace creative identity.

2010 – Depression and analysing – make sense of career path – how ended up in that position – evaluate who you are and what to achieve, what is really fulfilling – (ego not real)

Small homeless charity, guardian private view with charity

2018 – when are you getting back to ceramics – subsitiutes and enabling others whilst denying myself.

Making gave a physical sensation fulling up – making for herself only

Written text and emotions from depression era, again still view of self and raw – not fancy but brave.

Not made for public consumption

Can you be the person you wanted to become at 25?

Coward for not putting self out there.

Art therapy or art, not showing it to external audience made it not art, only art if shown.

Art curator takes her to London art fair, but covid – so all online, galleries started contacting me. Sell out at London art fair.

Shows e.t.c

Struggle

Struggle with self.

Becoming more complex

Wealth of material from self doubt and struggles.

Element of naivety

Element of youth energy

Cant make when younger without benefit of reflection.

Most valuble things are time and health

Playing a role and not being true to myself.

Success can finish easily

Integrity and truth

Initial creator put her on the map…

Cant take you to Rotterdam art fair – commercial risk because they may find out your Jewish… Aghast

Think about costs to go if people aren’t going to buy……only know because of a Instagram post in 2023….they would have to lookback a long way to even know was Jewish.

World suddenly became a different place.

Anti-semtic work –expelling raw thoughts.

Not everyone is racist

If you are true to yourself that is the most integrity and truth and honest has been biggest driver behind the work I do – purely done for you.

Get into rut again, prepping for shows, producing work for deadlines and treadmill.

Financial security allowed this to happen? Nothing to lose – don’t need to make money – don’t care anymore.

Write down thoughts and create work that express those thoughts. You can not manufacture pain.

Status and ego – had to be the best. I want work to be recognised.

The best artists are those who struggle. If you reach happiness would you create good art.

Physicality of building the shape.

Skill of ceramics are basic – not based on skill – not seen as a ceramicist, beauty of craft.

Networks have value

Driven is best skill that she has

My thoughts on the talk:

I enjoyed the talk with Marice, she was clearly very passionate and had positioned herself well in her market. I personally didn’t feel much connection to her work, but I could understand how it was personal to her. It got me thinking about my most personal work, so far ‘when home is gone’ the hat I made from my dog’s fur felted together. I can see how it has value for her, but struggle to understand how someone else’s personal story can relate to buyers. Is it that what you are buying is ‘brand’ not object? Is it maybe that Maurice through her network and lucky contacts has marketed her name to be desirable, therefore in turn making the outcome of her project desirable, and the actual art form that she skills herself in is marketing. The pots are just a by product of that marketing. Is it the Marxist approach of capitalism in full play, pots with no purpose having huge value, because we have been sold the thread that that is what value is. As I have discussed previously, I struggle with the concept of value without function, against the tension between art, fashion and craft, something that is inheritably useless against something with purpose. My dog hair hat has no value to anyone else as it is, it is not really wearable, it is not really fashionable, but it could gain value by myself building a personal brand for ‘dog hair artwork’ but I need to build that value through marketing, not by my art, so therefore marketing is the more important skillset to have in art, not the art itself.

I as the ever critic also realised that she had the privilege of doing the artwork, because she had spent a career in high up well-paid jobs going up the career ladder and providing her with a comfortable life. One in which she could afford to take time out from when having a breakdown, one that afforded her a spare room in a house to use as a studio, one that afforded her the ability to rent a studio before even having made or sold anything. With the buffer of money there is a lot more freedom, more oxygen and more room to be creative and do the creative things. Whilst yes, she makes some money, would it be enough to support her and her studio by itself or is it the fact she started her creative practice when she had stability that has allowed for her success? Is it less to do with her skill and more to do with her relative comfort?

I don’t mean to criticise anyone, I think people going a=out there and doing what they want is amazing and brave, the stories and personal feelings that are evoked from her artwork are so brave to share. My comments are not to diminish that, they are more to highlight the inequality in art, and how is someone without that stability behind them able to live off their art. She leads an unrealistic example of what life in the art world look like, because it is not a lifestyle that has been created and fully supported just by her art alone.

In these two talks (this and the Lawrence Atkin talk) we have covered a maker and aa seller, we have had a successful business that pays bills but does not create and we have a maker, but one who is not reliant on it for their lifestyle. To me the only interesting talk we could have would be from a maker who also makes a fulltime living from their art, the one that pays the mortgage. Because I think it would then show a very different approach. How the business needs to win over the creativity, how the push of paying the bills lessens the art work, makes it commercial and scalable, and the push and pull between making money from your art or just having it as a hobby.- Maybe this is my interest because this is my reality the strain of running a creative business that has no choice but to pay my bills and the compromises that I and my creative practice has because of that.

The question is, does that make my ‘art’ more or less valuable? By creating a more commercial product, I could sell many, if I created ‘art’ my audience would be less, my ability to sell would be less. I have created value in my art by making it appeal to a wider market; by predominantly answering the question my clients need answers to: what suits me? What should I wear to my daughter’s wedding? What colour should I pair with this dress? I provide a service, educating and teaching meeting my clients pain points and coming up with a solution. That is not art led, that is consumer led. Starting with the talking than with the ‘art’ means I am adding value to my ‘art’ because then it is completely tailored and personal to the client. And that is where the value is found.

Neoliberalism in arts

Watching this video:

my main initial thoughts are:

Why are we so worried about the middle market galleries not existing anymore? Surely if we are teaching creativity and artistry, we can be far more creative than galleries to show our work? If as much effort and creativity was put in to selling art as used to create the art, imagine what a wonderful art scene and world we could have. Galleries seem like such a limiting medium for artists and an antiquated model to sell art. They may make a few sales and provide an ego boost but needs to be part of a wider approach to being an artist.

To only cater on arts courses for the 10-30% who might ‘make’ it using traditional art routes (who you know not what you know), is failing the other 70% who don’t have those networks, it is known through facts and data (given in the video) will never make it in the arts. The top 10% may not value the teachings of economics in art but for everyone else it is crucial to even give them a chance to succeed in the art world. Seems beyond belief to not change the ‘doctrine’ of arts courses when they know 70-90% will fail. To take the money £27,000 for a BA course and only provide a relevant education for 10% seems immoral and privileged.

Why is being a poor struggling artist seen as a flex? And or just accepted as the way it is?

Why does art think it is above or in a separate microcosm to the economics of how the rest of the world works? – not saying art cannot be a message or political statement, but we all have bills to pay

Why is the talk suggesting that the focus should be on the reliance of grants, funds and royalties than creating sustainable business models through entrepreneurship and multiple revenue streams. Which is reliant on other institutions rather than creating frameworks to enable self-supporting artists?

Taken from the British hat guild report 2026. Full report can be read here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tiny2a4qkdgy3wle65g0h/BHG-report-to-sumarise.docx?rlkey=wjipob551rmm69mw18oep66tf&dl=0

Proof that people deep into a career in millinery (on average 11-20 years in the industry) wish they had more education in other areas than just the physical skill. Whilst these may be seen as a distraction to artists and unnecessary at an early stage in their education and career, from what they want to do, which is create art. The knock on effects of not having this education is felt through the industry for years to come. Imagine if people had confidence in these areas before they embark on a career where they are suddenly left flailing and un equipped in these areas.

‘Only 1 in 3 hat-makers (35%) felt their training prepared them for a career in hat-making.  The majority (53%) felt partially or not prepared.

The skills that were frequently mentioned as missing from their training included business/marketing (58%), exporting / wholesale (54%) and accounting (44%).

Many describe the experience of leaving college able to produce technically strong work, but were unprepared for running a business, in particular costing accurately, negotiating with suppliers, marketing strategy, communicating value to clients and managing seasonal income fluctuation.

“My training did not fully prepare me for working in the industry. The content often felt formulaic rather than focused on real-world application, and there was limited emphasis on business or marketing skills that are essential when starting out.”

Overall, hat-makers feel that the current training opportunities fall short in preparing them for a career in hat-making.  Just 12% thought current training opportunities supported the industry, with another 37% thought they were somewhat supportive.  Nearly half (49%) were neutral or thought they were not supportive.

“My training gave me fundamental millinery skills, but it didn’t prepare me for the realities of running a business. As a small business owner there is so much more involved, from production to client care, marketing, finance, and navigating the industry itself. The creative foundation was invaluable, but the career side needed to be learned independently and through experience.”

Noted from the session

The 1% Talk

Is it kind to be creative? Or what likely to happen – if you don’t succeed then the implication is that it is your fault. Kinder to say this is the reality, can we do something about it. – look reality in the face.

Creative world is curated version of the real world – neo liberalism

Neoliberalism is modern capitalism and how it is managed. Government leaves people alone, everyone works hard, trickledown economics.

Private companies subsidised by government. (serco/g4s e.t.c)  2008 proved it doesn’t work and governments must give private companies money.

Smallest number of people with most amount of money

Idea is that wealth disperses to lesser. if you invest rather than companies then rich people get richer and poor gets poorer- the gap widens. People with power interested in keeping power.

HNWI – hight net wealth individuals are the customer for the creative industries. But only buy art if you are low risk  – must be good to be good. Money goes to antique and 50’s-60’s modernism we know is valuable – all money goes there and investment in work now is shrinking.  (Basel art market survey). All luck. Functionality of the artwork. The closer you are to HNWI the better you will do.

Value to the person can change – Starbucks vs local takeaway shop.

Creative professional – what is it

• Creative work primary source of income
• Do Identify as a creative person

Portfolio careers / multihyphenate career

• Income from day job
• Income from creative work
• Other stuff  hustle culture

If your primary source of income is creative –

Support for the creatives – marketer needed

Median wage for creatives: £12000

£15000 is official poverty line in UK

Minimum wage £23000

Not earning money then you are a hobbyist.

Money=worth

What is success??

Way of paying so you can be creative

Not accounting properly or putting right attention into investment is the issue.

Subsidising is trickle up – we buy materials from big brands – they get torcher – we get poorer.

Feel bad asking money for art

 Battaille sacrifice – critical thinking – giving away and is your gift.

Instrumentalisation of artists

Turning art into product.

Treat creative practice as a tool for making money.

Fred Lunzer

AI gastronomy and creativity

Sony AI and robotic research company – movie markets tools but also scientific discovery

Research in sony entertainment – how does it interact.

Ai generated art – is art communication between humans – do you feel art between ai and human. Depends on usage, can be excited, scared and bored.

Book: sike

How does ai come into authorship                    

Focus to publish research papers

Artist and consumer – bring more experience to people

Support chef creativity – recipe concept to food manipulation

Algorithms that empower chefs with food data and robots to assist function.

What value in developing this?

Demand for creativity is high.

Chef used to be just in kitchen, now chefs moves into restaurant – chef ‘celebrity’ now needs to engage, social media e.t.c, presence, new revenues due to rising costs. Becomes necessity.

New pressures:

Be even more creative, needs attention of whole world

Be health aware and sustainable

Be more ethical

Be more ‘for everyone’

New opportunities:

New creativity

New soloutuons

New democracy

Cost of creativity is high

Battle creativity vs costs

Labour crisis, low margins

Individual chefs, lack time and money

Is Ai creative?

Creativity driven by: social media, seasons, experiences, finiacial, dietary trends, internet, education, books

Can Ai have meaningful input?

Automation- More time for creativity?

Replication – better capture of creativity

Remote operation – greater reach of creativity

Creativity is when something is effective and original

Effective – molecular pairing – ingredients share flavour molecules will pair well together

Original – recipe paring theory, recipes that ingredients are never paired together

Big challenge – data is disparate – consolidate information but data didn’t really exist.

Ai making decisions in scant data, still needs human impact.

Which parts of job do you not want to do..how can AI help

Support you, not replace you

Take away the lower jobs, how do you rise up the industry.

How can you use Ai to be more interactive or accessible?

Process – human skill product is evidence of process.

Process AI – product is evidence of what?

Judge process over and about output

Democratization– small amount of people could hear the philharmonic orchestra, now with Walkman anyone can hear it. Is visual not important as well as sound? And culture and performance, participatory. Not capable just by sound. But is more accessible but do you get less back?

This talk was very interesting although I did not fully relate it back to my business I could understand how the role of a creative has changed over the years, you are no longer just a milliner, but a product yourself, you have value as a content creator and are ‘the brand’ AI tools allow you to do this more efficiently and to open yourself to new markets. The world of business is now global for nearly every business, digital assets allow me to earn money from clients all over the world, they just need to know I exist. As a milliner I could produce and app where clients upload images of themselves to try on hats virtually. Right now the expense of an app that could do this effectively, i.e. understand the scale of the person in the picture against the hat, it could be misleading, technology may well get there. What is lost by not being able to try handle and interact in person with a milliner when done over the internet, what value does that in person experience hold?  AI Tools can be used to make my work easier to manage, create workflows, email newsletters, automated email responses, but at some point, is the personal touch lost? and in a high end luxury market where I want to sell the craft, this could be seen as devaluing the brand. It is good to keep on top of what is going on with Ai and selecting the tools which genuinely do help not hinder the business, but a hand crafted product can never be taken over by AI. The question is risen that as AI develops and jobs are lost the value in handmade craft could increase, these items cant be offered by AI. AI can not take my job, but it can used the right way allow me to build the brand better.

Assignment Talk 4/6/26

Artists studios  – no  business rates

See other peoples case studies – scenario modelling – pros and cons

What do all elemts look like.

Pause

Learn from what doesn’t go to plan

Positive- good way to promote selves as college and collective

Conversations

Claire took on too much

Promotion differently – understanding everyones work

More description of what going on

Marketing

Creative business strategy

Income models and financial planning

Legal considerations

Networking and collaboration

Executive summary

Define your practice

Income models

Costs audience

Business model – your elevator pitch/ executive summary

What kind of creative life are you trying to build

What is success

What is audinec/ client. Community, market sector

How will it create value, financial, social ethical enviromaental

What evidence shows that your plan is realistic and achievable

Define personal practice:

Articulation of creative identity

Chef in kitchen – kitchen – world

Come out of kitchen – more creative, more viabale, health aware, more ethical more ‘for everyone’

How do you do that yourself

What you make, why you do it, how distinctive in your field

Who is your market

How does contemporary trends impact that – Busiess rates / social/ economy

Responding to AI – how to make how to put together. Process behind something has meaning, audience interested in how you got to where you are, know about you and your process.

Show the process

Case studies and professional models – triangulate

Analysis relevant practitioners and explain how each ones sustains their professional practice

Use case studes to show what would work/ wouldn’t work.

Reference AI

‘Bankers get together and talk about art, when artists get together they talkabout money’ Oscar wilde

money is not always the driver but it does allow it to exist

‘where there is loads of money there is very little art. But when it comes to real art, money shouldn’t be invoved’

‘Making money working is art and good business is the best art’- andy Warhol (the philosophy of Andy Warhol.

You can be amazing as an artist but if cant make money what is the point

Where does your money fit?

Arguably state your case

What do you want to or need to achieve financially

Models, sole trader, mulit hypernate, employee, collective, suplimentry income, pro bono

Several can run alongside

All models are valid even if money is incidental

Who is similar, who is differrcet and evaluate

Alterative business models

Cultural value

Place based practice

Social value

Consider how value is created socially, culturally and economically

Could the practice be sustained through this

Assemble – as a case study

Costs

Production costs

Material costs

Distribution costs

Rent, fees, proety costs

Shared costs

 Marketing and communicatiosn

Travel

Time

Many hidden costs

Thorough analysis

Include time for selling the hat

Define income model

What are possible income streams, sales, commissions, teaching, grants

Short term and long term ambition

Explain how income model supports, rather than compromises your practice

Proof of concept

Define audience- who is audience, who are your people:

What are they interested in

What do they caluse, what do they really want

What evidence do I have

Communication strategy – what are the communications and marketing methods you will use and how to reach your audience. Network.

 What is really effective? Which magazine e.t.c

Legal consideratons

Dbs

Insurance – public liability

Leases

Written contracts

IP protection

Company structure sole trader, partnership, ltd company – why self assessment – professional boundaries

Explain infrastructure you need to operate professionally.

Risk assessment and financial stability

Business changes, risk mitigation, financial, time, health market, legal or reputational – what happens if doesn’t work out.

What could send stuff off the rails – external changes – what could happen, how to mitigate

What is plan ABC

Action plan, short medium, long

Short tems goals few months

Medium term goals 1year

Longer term ambition 3 years

Link back to learning agreement and skill audit

Summarise professional direction

Restate business strategy via how sustainable

What does success mean in your practice?

End up with a clear sense of next steps

Be authentic to yourself, nothing happens without a plan, make your own luck.

I found this talk really helpful on writing the assignment, I especially loved the Andy Warhol quote, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” This viewpoint resonated with me a lot. Running a business is art, it is not easy, there is no one set of things to do to succeed, running a business to me is equal to my creative practice, without one there is no other. The joy of creating your own money from your craft and having control over your destiny (even during tough times) is irreplaceable. If every artist could embrace the time needed to run a business over and above their craft, there would be so many more amazing businesses and an even more vibrant world. I have come to understand during this MA that I am perhaps quite unique in this viewpoint, many want to practice their art, but not dedicate the time to business, in essence saying I don’t want to compromise on my art. For me I would rather work in my art with compromises than not work in my art at all. If there was a way to embrace all creatives in this view point, I believe the world would be a better place, full of more joy, understanding and value in the creative arts.

Acid Talk 18/6/26

Intellectual property essentials

Risks – people seeing ideas, exhibitions, starting out, social media, online marketplaces

What classes a different design? Inspired by or?

Does it look similar enough?

Competition risks

What is IP?

Trademarks: brand protection, registrable, potentially perpetual

Copyright – 2d work, automatic not necessarily required registration – photo

Design rights – 3d works, 25 year protection, unregistered 10-15 years

Patents – inventions – 20 years

Trade secret – forever

Trademark

Don’t have to register trademark

Limited territories covered, renew every 10 years, use requirements

Search before use, register relevant classes

Look out for similar registrations and oppose if necessary

Copyright:

70 years

2d work – sketches, photographers, software, images, paintings, marketing material collages, engraving, surface decoration.

Date and name everything

Design rights

3d goods

Registered – novelty and individual character

Last 25 years provided your renew every 5 year

Requires formal registration

What you register is what you rely on

Unregistered

Shape/ configuration

Original not commonplace

Lasts 10-15 years

Automatic

Contours/ lines/materials/shapes/ornamentation/texture/colour

All or any 7 aspects registerable

Supplementary right – replaces EU rights.

1^st 3 years get same protections.

Trade secrets:

manufacturing process

Pharmaceutical test data

Designs/ drawings

Commercial information

-distribution methods

-suppliers and clients

-advertising strategies

-secret formula/ recipes

Share personally – but not for commercial use – would be breach of contract

Moral rights

AI and social media – possible issues

Who owns the photo

AI closed or open system

Where did ai find its prompts

Can you be confident it is original

Doesn’t acknowledge where it got it from  – Moral

AI should be used with discernment

Upcycling and inspiration – risks

Trademark

Design right infringement

Is it sufficiently different?

A% change difference is a myth

How to protect your IP rights

• Keep evidence – sate and store audit trail
• Register trademark
• Register your designs 12months grace period
• Protect confidentiality – use written agreements, keep you and assets safe
• Use a warning on your website
• Add intellectual property rights notification to website

All intellectual rights belong to: Any infringement will be taken seriously.

Confidentially – protect it

-create confidentiality agreements for sensitive info

NDA’s

Understand implications or assigning rights or royalty agreements

Put contracts in place – know where you stand

Monitoring in due diligence

What to do if being copied:

Gathered evidence

Go shopping – purchase copy

Screenshots/social media

Get IP advice

Send letter before action

Consider a claim

Go public

Laura.newboldbreen@acid.uk.com

Patent before you show something new publicly.

This lecture was really insightful; it included things I already knew about but cemented some of the fact surrounding these things. I found it interesting how design rights are so little protected against other things such as copyright which are automatic. It made me consider how much in millinery is similar and where it varies, we all use the same blocks and the same materials, we are inspired by the same fashion trends and colour analysis, it is not unusual for several millinery work to be similar in kind, so where does this grey area lie, what is a design right and what is there in the open. Designers are praised when they are inspired but the cut and shapes of Dior’s New Look collection but frowned upon when inspired by modern designers. In my business I have seen many ways that IP has been infringed, other milliners asking outright how I’ve don’t something, designs clearly based on my own, my own work sometimes inspired by others, only this week I sold a hat that I had made inspired by a photo that I saw and saved around 3 years ago. It was more about taking the technique and applying it myself, By chance I then found out that the hat was more similar than intended, I’d only looked at the hat then went off and made mine form the inspiration, the original photo then appeared on another milliners website, a different colour, a finer straw, one less twist, but arguably the same. The milliner mentioned that it was a 20-year-old design, by design rights, it is now considered outside of the protected timescale, so I don’t need to worry legally, however I do see where issues could arise, even if unintentionally. I have been made to take photos off websites due to photographer’s rights, images off social media and had to request my own images being taken off other people’s websites. I’ve seen words taken off my website and copied and pasted onto others, selling as themselves. Not really a huge issue to me as in that case financially I didn’t believe the milliner in question would be benefitting from the way that I spoke when I looked at the tone of voice she uses elsewhere. There is sharing and making the industry rounded and friendly, there is gatekeeping that keeps everyone at arm’s length, the middle ground is probably where my thinking lies, unless it directly harms my business, there is reason and understanding that inspiration comes from everywhere, fashion is rarely unique, often just a mash up of things that have come before, I understand how unintentional some things can be, that no harm is meant and we are all trying to find our own feet, unless it is done with intention or malice, somethings can be left to lie.

Obviously there are more extreme cases in which Intellectual property protections can be useful, my hats I only tend to make one of each, even a copy will only be a near representation, so to register each design is pointless and futile, I’ve moved on to the next.

I have a privacy policy and statement on my website claiming all work is under my ownership, so this area is covered, but in today’s AI generated world, this information could end up anywhere unrelated to my site and uncredited.

I haven’t trademarked my logo, mainly because most of it is my name, my name belongs to me and always will, no one can take that away from me. If I had a unrelated brand name or a multimillion-pound empire, there would be more reason to protect the logo and my name, but as it stands the business is so small and directly linked to me anyway. I believe it is probably quite futile as it stands currently.

Reflective Journal from the Semester

This semester’s talks have, collectively, done something useful, what does it mean to run a creative business, as opposed to simply making things? The talks and discussions over the semester have each, in their own way, forced me to examine not just what I do, but why I do it, and if the model I have built is one I can sustain, professionally, financially, and creatively.

Lawrence Alkin was the most immediately recognisable figure to me, not because of his gallery, but because of his instincts. He started small, read what was working, adapted, and built outward. He took affordable art to people who had never thought of themselves as collectors. That impulse of making something feel accessible, is something I do constantly in my own business. My clients do not always arrive knowing they want a hat. They arrive with a problem, an outfit that isn’t quite complete. My job is not so different from Alkin’s gallery floor philosophy, everyone ready to serve, decisions made with confidence and experience. What struck me most, was something he said almost in passing, that he loved the hustle more than the art. I love the making and the hustle in almost equal measure, and that tension is, where my practice lives.

I appreciated his honesty in sharing his mistakes with staffing and expecting them to act like him. It reminded me that the shortcomings I identify in my business are not unique to me, they are the shared experience of running any small creative enterprise.

Marice Cumber had a more complicated response in me. I admired the courage of her work and the refusal to make things palatable. Her ceramics are not made for public consumption, which makes their success an interesting position. As I listened, I found myself asking a question to examine critically rather than suppress, is authenticity enough, without material circumstance to support it?

Cumber was able to return to her creative practice because she had built a career that provided financial stability first. The spare room that became a studio, the ability to rent space before a single sale, these are not insignificant. I do not raise this to diminish what she has achieved, but because the narrative of the struggling artist who eventually finds their voice through difficulty is complicated by the question of who gets to afford that difficulty. For those of us for whom the creative practice is not a return to something but a financial necessity, the model looks quite different. I have never had the option to step away. The work has always had to pay the mortgage. That shapes what you make and how you make it, it’s not a choice.

This connects directly to something raised in the neoliberalism discussion, the persistent mythology of the poor artist as a kind of authenticity credential. The data cited was stark, the median creative sector earnings at £12,000 against an official poverty line of £15,000. That is not romantic struggle. It is structural failure. The arts education talk said is complicit, charging £27,000 for degrees that statistically prepare only the top 10-30% of graduates for sustainable creative careers, leaving the rest without business literacy. The British Hat Guild’s own 2026 report confirmed this in my own industry, 58% of milliners identified business and marketing as the skills most absent from their training. I was one of them. I learned by doing, by failing, by figuring it out. But I should not have had to.

The question of value, where it comes from, who assigns it, and whether it can be separated from function has come up many times. I find myself resistant to art that exists purely as object without purpose, not because it is wrong, but because I cannot reconcile it with my own understanding of what craft is for. A hat is worn. It performs. It changes how someone feels. That is not a lesser kind of value, it is just a different one. And yet the market sees different values in pricing for ‘craft’ and ‘art’

Warhol’s line, in the final assignment talk, ‘Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.’ Resonated with me. I have always believed this, but hearing it was clarifying. Running my business is a creative act. The decisions I make about pricing, positioning, how I speak to clients and how I present my work, are not inconveniences around the real work. They are the work and are inseparable from the making of millinery. This is something I have always known but in creative contexts, where business literacy can be stigmatised as a compromise of artistic integrity, I have, at times, felt I needed to retreat on this view.

Fred Lunzer’s talk on AI, pushed this further. The parallel to millinery was clear, I am no longer just a milliner. I am a brand, a content creator, a service, an educator. AI tools can support administrative tasks and communications, but the hand that makes the hat, the eye that reads a client’s face, the knowledge of how a colour will work, are irreplaceable. If anything, as AI flattens certain forms of production, the premium on genuine craft process may increase.

If I am honest about what this semester has shifted in me, it is less a revelation about craft or business strategy and more a recognition of drift. I have been heads down for years, serving clients well, maintaining work, but gradually withdrawing from the community of makers and creative practitioners that used to surround me. The legal frameworks in the ACID talk were useful, but it was a small note, about artists needing each other, that stayed with me most. ‘Bankers talk about art’, as the Oscar Wilde line goes, and ‘artists talk about money’. There is a version of that in which we are all so individually preoccupied with survival that we forget the collective power community.

I have added a creatives networking evening to my diary. I am planning a charity event for Phyllis Tuckwell. I am considering a move to premises within a more creative environment. But what this semester has clarified is that the next stage of this practice is not about making more or making differently. It is about being less isolated. About trusting the work, I do has something worth contributing to a wider conversation.

Engaging with my learning agreement, this semester has confirmed something the agreement already suspected, that the tension between commercial practice and creative ambition is not there to be solved, but something to be navigated with intention. I want to work more flexibly on my own terms and more meaningfully. I want the business to reflect the craft, and the craft to be worthy of the business. I am not there yet. But I am clearer about the direction.