Why We Do What We Do
Well where has the time gone and where can I ask is Spring! It’s certainly not
arrived properly in Dorset yet, what with snow, wind, torrential rain it seems like Spring isn’t sure whether to turn up yet or not. The gallery has been pootling along and we’ve been preparing for the new tourist season here in Swanage, Dorset which started last weekend with the Easter break.
This month we thought we’d share with you a TED talk that we’d listened to 
recently by a great speaker called Simon Sineck. If you’ve never heard a TED talk then I can’t recommend them highly enough – 100s of topics to choose from and they only last between 12-20 minutes – so real bite sized nuggets of gold. For businesses there are some amazing and inspirational speakers on there so when you’re feeling a tad uninspired or just down right fed up then give yourself a TED talking too!
So this talk from Simon focussed on the why do we do what we do. He tells us that most businesses can tell you what they do and how they do it but very few can tell you why and it’s the why that so often separates the successful businesses from the not so successful. If as a business you can communicate to your customers why you do what you (and financial gain isn’t a why, it’s a reward for what you do) then you’re more likely to retain existing customers and gain new loyal customers as well.
So as you can imagine, it got us thinking about the gallery again and trying to put into words why we do what we do…so here goes…it’s not a complicated message but we hope it’s one you can all get behind.
What drives us are two things – the first is the passionate desire to support British artists and makers. It's a wonderful privilege to be part of their lives and to help them find new audiences for their work and support them in building a sustainable career as an artist and maker. In a world of mass production, whether that be food or products, to sell and own something that has been made by hand is a truly wonderful thing. It’s an amazing privilege to be part of artist or makers creative life and to be a small cog in helping them achieve their ambitions and dreams and we take great pride in supporting British artists and makers and in particular those that have a strong connection with our wonderful county of Dorset. As a gallery we can look back with huge pride and see how many artists’ and makers’ careers we’ve helped launch and others who have gone on to be picked up by well-known publishing and greetings card companies and whose artwork now reaches thousands of people across the world – it’s an incredibly privileged position to be in, to have been part of someone else’s success and yes it does overwhelm us at times.
Secondly, we’re all about “making your home more beautiful” - we all live in a dwelling of some sort or another but what goes on inside that space, the people
and things that reflect who you are, will transform it into a home. Across the world there seem to be common themes that will make a home feel welcoming and lived in – we can’t help you with who lives in your house, but we can help you with the “things”! Even from caveman days people have looked to decorate their homes with things that mean something to them – it could be things you’ve found on walks, photographs of family and friends, paintings etc etc. It’s amazing how when you pop a piece of artwork, that you love and have chosen, onto your walls, it all of sudden makes the room come alive – this is because it reflects you and what you find to be beautiful.
So there you have it, as we said it’s not a complicated message but we hope it’s one that you can see reflected in everything that we do.