Hello everyone
Hope your week is going well? Overseas trips always provide me with new inspiration – it is good to get away and see what is happening in the rest of the world and come back refreshed and brimming with new ideas. As there is too much to share in one sitting I will spread this out over a few blog posts, this week I will be chatting about my visit to Search Press book publishers.
On Friday 14th June my daughter Stacey and I made our way to Search Press which is located just outside of Royal Tunbridge Wells a historical town in Kent, England. We had spent the last 2 days in a lovely country Inn and had the opportunity to explore some of the beautiful countryside around Tunbridge Wells.
We spent a day at Scotney Castle – a 14th century moated castle and country manor within a wooded country estate and I was in my element, it was so quintessentially English and the gardens and flowers were just out of this world! The beauty of these gardens, the numerous wildflowers, wildlife and insects that they attract were a huge inspiration to me and I plan to introduce these into future designs, so watch this spot!
As mentioned previously, two years ago I signed a contract with Search Press for future book titles, and have just completed my first commission with them for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. The book will be released mid 2020. Search Press is the leading art and craft publisher in the UK , with offices in USA and Australia. They have won awards for the Best Craft Book Publisher in the prestigious Craft Business Awards, the craft industry’s highest accolade for a book publisher eight times since the awards began in 2006.
“With a team of nearly 40 people, many of them long-term employees, Search Press now publishes up to 100 of its own titles each year, as well as distributing books for other publishers. From the commissioning of an original idea to the final delivery of books into the warehouse, the publishing process is carried out ‘in-house’. A few books are bought in from other sources and labelled with the Search Press ‘stamp’, but they are always checked by Search Press before they are printed, so that they fit in with their style and publishing philosophy. “
This was my first visit to Search Press and we were warmly welcomed by Becky Robbins my editor and Mary Ellingham the publicity manager who showed us around the warehouse and offices. Having worked with Becky on the new book for several months it was great to put a face to the person behind the emails and phone calls and to see behind the scenes.
The warehouse where the books are delivered and stored was impressive! Rows and rows of books labelled and bar coded for easy access were laid out in an orderly fashion. The staff were busy taking delivery of shipments and moving boxes on haulage trolleys, packing and unpacking boxes of books, and preparing online orders for shipping.
I was surprised to see how many people were employed at Search Press, and the work environment seemed happy and relaxed in an open plan office format. My editor mentioned that working together like this could prove useful as if you needed something from another department you could just shout instead of picking up the phone ! There is a little garden outside with benches where the staff can have their tea/lunch and a dog lay quietly behind his mistresses’ desk whilst she worked.
I found I could identify with each department from Customer services, to print layout, graphic design, sales, editors,digital , and so much more. Whereas they have approx 3-4 staff members in each department I similarly tackle each job alone for my online business (on a smaller scale of course). I seem to remember asking a few of them if they wanted to work for me in Cape Town!!
Thank you Mary and Becky for showing us around, it was such a memorable visit and a great pleasure to meet you all. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we can’t wait to see a copy of the new book!
Till next time wherever you are in the world, keep smiling, and happy stitching.
Trish
Hi there, Trish,
Thank you for the tour. Very interesting to see how it is put together. Always thought it guys in suits! So neat to see this formula of the office.
Do we really have to wait until 2020. So sad for that waiting time. I am hoping another Iris in there too.
I have your last three books so thrilled with it. I loved the comment left on the pic of the Spartan Iris by the editor about where is this petal stitching info. It was scary for me! BUT I continued . I trusted your instructions fully, ha ha!
I just finished it this month so pleased with it. Amazing detail in it.
Peggy Kimble found this Iris for me. She knew I loved these flowers. Peggy also taught me and lots of other ladies the start of short and long stitches. Sent a pic on line to her of it all finished. And surprising ,she said she did not like short and long stitches to do herself. But Peggy was so accomplished or talented with technique , hard to believe it was not her first love.
Do not know it first came out , but finally started Jan. 2019 and finished July 2019. It was so pleasing to work on!
I took it on a road trip to Az and back. We got stuck in Olympia, Washington for two nights and two days in a hotel. There snow everywhere so we had to stay put. Last room at the inn, a small room with a husband and two bull terriers. Yikes! I managed to dig kit out of the trailer and stitched on it while waiting out the snow to melt.
Then got home to Income taxes to prepare for the Canadian bunch. But I kept trying to work on it.
Now have a friend inspired by it. She wants to do it now, it turned out so gorgeous. How is that for a wonderful comment on the Spartan Iris. Maybe my stitching, mmm.
So thank you, Trish , Peggy and Inspirations for the gorgeous Spartan Iris.
Margaret Corlett
Nanaimo , BC
Thanks for sharing. Have just arrived in London for a week of stitch related activities in Bath and Birmingham. Plan to visit Hampton Court on my return to complete the stitch journey. Loved the photos. Looking forward to the new book.
Thank you Trish – I did an internship at Search Press – and seeing the place and people again was a treat! I can’t wait for your next book!
Thats amazing Claire how wonderful!
Trish,
Hi Lori from Connecticut USA here, I’ll be visiting London and Scotland by way of Cotswold in October and whilst in London I plan to search out embroidery shops for supplies to be used for the projects I own of yours. Please do you have any suggestions of any shops? Also going to Edinburgh. Loved your comments about the press process by the way.
Best Regards Lori
On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 6:14 AM Trish Burr Embroidery wrote:
> trishburr posted: ” Hello everyone Hope your week is going well? Overseas > trips always provide me with new inspiration – it is good to get away and > see what is happening in the rest of the world and come back refreshed and > brimming with new ideas. As there is too much ” >
Hi Lori firstly stunning you are going to have such a wonderful trip – Scotland is my favorite although make sure you have plenty of warm clothes! Unfortunately as in the rest of the world high street embroidery shops are declining – I dont know any off hand except that Harrods has some needlepoint and I think Libertys still has a needlework section. Perhaps someone else from the UK might see your comment and have some suggestions? Trish
Thank you for sharing your adventures of your vacation. That was really interesting about the publishing process and all the people involved in making the beautiful books. Looking forward to your new book when it comes out.
Thank you for sharing your adventures of your vacation. That was really interesting about the publishing process and all the people involved in making the beautiful books. Looking forward to your new book when it comes out.
Thanks Joanne glad you enjoyed it!
Beautiful and interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Suzanne
Sent from my iPhone
>
My pleasure Suzanne.
Thank You for this pretty visit !
my pleasure Nancy.
Thanks for sharing Trish! I love Tunbridge Wells too (I used to live in Sevenoaks), and I loved seeing your photos. What a great team they have there too. It makes you realise how much goes into giving us the books we love!
Thanks Catherine I know Sevenoaks we visited – beautiful countryside! Glad you enjoyed the post and yes it does make us realise how much goes into each book!
I’m retired, but reading your piece about search press, makes me want to apply for a job!
Ha ha thanks Kelvin!