Kirsten Ellison

Company Name: BrightonView

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightonview.shop/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrightonViewShop

When did you start making art with sea glass?

I made my first sea glass picture about 3 years ago, it was a picture of a snowman and wasn’t the greatest!

I still have him though 😊 I then made a picture with some little sea glass birds in it and suddenly the design ideas were flowing.

What inspired you to make your first piece?

It was actually my eldest daughter that inspired me – we had met up for a coffee and I was saying  to  her that I really needed to increase my income and she suggested that I make things and set up an Etsy shop... many years ago when she was young I used to do glass painting and sell my makes in various shops here in Brighton.

I remember asking my daughter ‘What is Etsy?’!

At that point I’d never heard of it – hard to believe now!

I had a lot of sea glass that I have collected so thought I’d have a go at using it to make something – my original plan was to make a beach scene with the glass layered up at the bottom but that didn’t work as I’d pictured it – the birds kind of organically happened.

Where do you sell your products?

At the moment, I mainly sell through my Etsy page and also get orders on Instagram.

Pre Covid, I used to do craft fairs on a regular basis, they are my favourite way of selling as it’s so nice chatting with customers and fellow traders – it’s all so much more personal than online.

I have really missed doing the fairs but thankfully there’s light at the end of the tunnel and I have my first one booked for this year on 15th May (I’m so excited!!).

Where do you make your creations?

Everything I make is made on my dining table – we haven’t used the table for ages because it’s always covered in sea glass, driftwood and half completed design ideas! I did clear it off for Christmas Day but it all soon crept back!

I can’t pack it all away because I’m always thinking of new designs and then sifting through my glass to find the exact right sizes and shapes. I like to listen to music while I make – I am a 100% reggae fan (all genres from roots to dancehall) and usually have an online reggae radio station playing.

Do you make bespoke orders?

I would say that approximately 50% of my orders are custom ones.

Without a doubt, my most popular picture is the custom family tree but I’ve been asked to make all sorts of pictures to represent certain events – I think the funniest has to be a grandma that fell off a boat (she was fine & it was her that asked me to make the picture) and the sweetest was for the Mum of someone who’s moving to America to live with her fiancé – they sent me a video of their proposal.

What’s your favourite make using Archie’s sea glass?

I think my favourite make with this glass has to be ‘True Love’ – it has so many beautiful blue pieces of glass in it, I hardly ever find blue on Brighton beach – I think I have literally found 3!