I know I don’t have to say this because I am sure my customers, friends and followers on social media know me well enough. But if you’re new around here…
I wanted to add my thoughts to discussions and social media posts that seem to regularly crop up on in my feed.
If you’re a fellow crafter, stitcher, embroidery designer or artist then keep on doing what you’re doing. The world needs you and your work. It needs your unique take on the world and we want to hear your voice. There is room for you.
We are all inspired by similar things and none of us did this first. None of us. Not the lady who was stitching trees in 1976 nor the chap who was making paper butterflies in 1953. We have all consciously or sub-consciously absorbed inspiration and ideas along the way. Nothing is original under the sun, as the saying goes.
There are folk who get their knickers in a twist about ‘copying’. I’ve been messaged by lots of people over the years saying that ‘such and such’ is copying me and I have even had one person contact me because they were outraged that I did a stitched fabric book for my first Stitchery project and they felt it was their idea (in 2017).
I appreciate people’s concern for my business and my designs. I also appreciate that we can feel threatened by work that other people do which is similar to ours, and the knee-jerk reaction might be to feel disappointed. But honestly I am not worried - there is room enough for everyone in the creative world. If I see something online similar to work I’ve created myself then I might re-share my own, just to stop any more nasty messages heading my way about me copying them but otherwise I am very relaxed about it. I love my life, I love my little job and I especially love connecting with people via instagram. I don’t want it to become an unpleasant, competitive and shouty place to be (like Twitter or Facebook, haha).
We may be a very small family business and I do live and breathe my brand BUT if I was ever concerned about any copyright infringement that would be detrimental to my business I would approach it in a polite, professional and private way, via solicitors. (Thankfully I’ve never felt compelled to do this and I know it’s unlikely I will unless a high street store does a tee-shirt with my exact beehive design without asking first…). I would never send an email or social media comment to the culprit and I don’t encourage any of my friends or customers to do that either. I view that as bullying behaviour and bullying destroys lives.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for freedom of speech and I know that in many situations silence is akin to complicity. But when it comes to ‘copying’ I think negative comments are unnecessary and upsetting for everyone involved. Certainly, at The Stitchery, I want to welcome everyone and rub along nicely with everyone else in the creative world. I love to share the work of artists and stitchers who I admire and I’m always up for collaborations if you’re an artist and you have something in mind!
Having got that off my chest, I won’t be making any ‘copying’ or ‘anti-bullying’ statements on social media any more. I want to keep my instagram grid a happy little bubble as much as possible, away from stress and upset, for my own wellbeing as much as everyone else’s. I don’t want to have to use that platform to defend myself or anyone else, just as I steer clear of politics and religion on social media. There’s a time and place and, for me personally, my Stitchery instagram feed isn’t it.
Thanks for reading, thank you for your support and thank you for being here.
Sending love and sunshine your way,
Nicki xxxx
