the short version:-

hils - that’s me, or Hilary when I’ve been naughty!

mill - that’s the making and creating - also me!

Or…

the longer, but still potted version:-

Born in Liverpool 1958

(it was down by the docks - for those that get the reference. :)

With 5 brothers, this is one - and me

on holiday in North Wales -

Not sure if I’m the reason for the warning!

Learnt how to make things -

-knitting and sewing from mum…

…watched how to make things, dad in his little workshop, mum and dad building a boat!

Enjoyed what was made - lots of happy holidays boating on the canal :) ‍

Though didn’t enjoy the launch, on route for the Leeds Liverpool canal. Going down the rough River Mersey in a little 4 berth boat wearing old ex-naval, smelly, oil covered lifejackets. It was a recipe for the most horrible sea-sickness. Then being scarily squeezed in with the seemingly giant ships in the Manchester ship canal was not the ideal introduction to the languid easy going holidays of canal boating, (though there were lots of other mishaps, I’ll keep them for another time ; )

1962 - 1974 School

Naughtiness - Hilary!

1974 - Work - shop, pubs, b&b’s, factories, hotels and on and on and on…

Naughtiness - Hilary!

Work - blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

1981. Becoming a grown-up

? Vocation Nurse Blackburn!

Very worthwhile and fulfilling!

First independent home - bedsit in Birkenhead. No money, needed shelves - made them! (a bit wonky!)

love… ‍

Grown up home - little money, no furniture - MADE IT - less wonky, (but still a bit!)

Pregnant - exhausted but happy

BABIES!!!…

…three of them!!!

love…

Need lots more furniture - MADE IT!

Getting quite good at this -

I LOVE making things!

Another home…

‍ exhausted and not happy :(‍ ‍

You guessed it! Need more furniture…

….made it

(Just a little sidenote, when I was at school in the 60’s/70’s, boys did wood and metalwork and girls did domestic science, (ugh). So the boys learnt how to make lots of interesting stuff and the girls? A whole lesson on how to iron their shirts!! Suffice to say, I don’t do much ironing and certainly never a mans shirt :))

Soooo, I really want to learn how to make things, properly, with joints and all..

Hmm, careers advice? At my age? With children???

I LOVE the EU! (DOH Brexit!)

I’ve discovered a parallel universe where miracles happen, and it only gets better…

Fan-bloody-tastic 2 years at Kingsway College in lovely Clerkenwell. Very hard work with 3 young children, sometimes getting only a couple of hours sleep a night, writing essays, meeting deadlines etc. But I loved every bloody second. Two Brilliant tutors who opened my naive mind and eyes to the whole new world of Art & Design - I was in my element.

As well as teaching some amazing skills - thanks Nigel and Doug X

They also gave me : CONFIDENCE - Uni? At my age?*

1999 WOOOHOOO Offered a place on HND Furniture Design and Realisation course as well as BA in Furniture design at London Guildhall University. I have a choice!!! Obviously went for the HND, (a more practical hands on course) and - as you know, I love MAKING things

some of the things I made..

Dumb valet

Designed with a limited 3m of tubular steel Learnt a lot of welding techniques :)

Mirror

‍Inspired by the ‘Institute du Monde Arab’ in Paris

designed on autocad produced with CNC router

Final Major Project: the sofa

The frame: welded tubular steel

‘Designed for people of varying heights’, I entered the design into a competition run by the ‘Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers’ and I won an award! - some cash, which enabled me to have it professionally upholstered in leather, (generously donated by 'Andrew Muirhead Leather, thank you), and the opportunity to exhibit at the ‘New Designers’ exhibition in London, where, I won another award, from the ‘British Contract Furnishing Association’, with the opportunity to exhibit at ‘Index’, an Interiors and Furnishings exhibition in Dubai!

Positive publicity

Fantastic though it was, I found a real stumbling block trying to navigate the realm of manufacturers and business, (this was pre the internet we now know), and I needed to earn some money.

So, I got a job as a technician in the Art & Design department at a sixth form college, thinking it would be temporary - it is now over 20 years ago and I feel this is where I belong. I work with some brilliant colleagues (now friends) and have built up a whole host of skills. I’ve also taken on the role of Instructor, and find it deeply satisfying passing on my skills and expertise.

A really surprising and wonderful consequence of this job, has been the freedom, inspiration and confidence to explore and go beyond the practical making, (which I still do, and still love!), and have discovered an ever expanding path from which I am able to discover, experiment and express myself completely, as a designer, a maker and an artist.

Update:- I am now fully retired, or re-focused as I like to coin it. I am missing students and seeing cherished colleagues regularly, but I am now happily living a fully art fuelled life!!!

5 things I didn’t include:-

1. More of the naughtiness – Hilary! 

2. Mrs Paisley, (Bob Paisley’s! wife), taught me at primary school, got us all to stand up one day and told us Winston Churchill had died. She also gave us Lincoln biscuits and milk every morning, (I loved those milk and biscuits. DOH Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher ☹). 

3. I designed and made a table for a well-known anarchic magician/comedian.  

4. Obviously very personal details 

5. Giving thanks to all the amazing friends, colleagues and most especially my family x