Display is one of the things I love most about having a gallery...to take an empty space and fill it with treasures, things that have spoken to me, be it an old shuttle, an old pair of steps, or an old tacklers workbench and to fill them with beautiful objects. I often look at the space (sometimes for days/weeks) and decide what i'd like to go in the space and an idea just comes to mind. Occasionally I just freestyle it, being led by the piece of art and often those times are the times the display is (in my mind) the best. 

I adore old bits of wood and metal, things that have a history, a natural patina from use, so many of the fittings are wood, teamed up with a contemporary decor which Barry paints so beautifully and sympathetically. I find it gives a good sense of who we are as purveyors of beautiful things. Handmade objects & artwork perch upon these old items, waiting for people to come and love them enough to buy them. 

Bobbins are a thing I am most passionate about, I buy them whenever I can, but it's getting harder to find them (especially the big ones) so I don't part with them often, they make such a good display stand, giving height and structure to displays.

And then of course the floor...the floor is dreamy...its THE thing I/We love most...it just is everything Hawksby's...an old gymnasium floor, reclaimed and squirrelled away by our friend and local designer/maker/craftsman Anthony Hartley of Damside Mill. We started with the floor, then over the last few years we've had shelves, walls, surface tops and a stunning counter made from it...and i'm starting to think I might need to stop now...although can you ever have too much of a good thing!