Our Designs in Mind Shop in Cross Street, Oswestry is the feature of this week’s blog.
Our products have such a valued purpose from the very outset of the process… first as part of a member’s imagination to a draft design onto paper, to its final manufacture and then onto our shelves and shop floor!
When you, our customers, come along to our shop, and pick up our tactile products, while making comments about their quality, we note how often the high-quality design exceeds people’s expectations!
We see many folks buying our products because they love them, not because they feel sorry for us.
We see the genuine delight our products spark, as it’s often dancing in our customer’s eyes. This spark continues to ignite creative flow in enthusiastic mementoes for our members to keep creating. It means members’ creations are not just stuck in a drawer or gathering dust on a shelf.
This flow of creations to present to our shoppers is akin to how we can keep on going through mental health challenges. It’s often that recognition from our customers that keeps our members from feeling they don’t fit into society or are themselves tucked away in labelled boxes without a purpose. Your investment in our products goes much further than the monetary value, it helps people who live in your community to flourish and thrive.
I like to purchase my notepads and cards for friends in our shop. I’m a big fan of supporting local businesses and of course, supporting Designs in Mind. When you or I shop here, it means we continue to have varied avenues of income to keep ourselves going. Our products are of high quality, uniquely and individually styled from the talented minds and fair hands of our members and staff.
We have some beautifully crafted Woodwork items such as knives and spoons: “All our wooden items have been handmade in the Designs in Mind Studio by our team of talented makers who inform our woodwork group. This group has evolved and become a Tuesday afternoon ritual for those who attend.
The practice of working with wood itself is very absorbing with a mediative quality to it that is extremely beneficial to mental health.
What started as an initial guided tutorial in the basics of whittling has now developed in a personal journey for each of our makers, and has offered the opportunity for each person to create something really unique, whilst enjoying the company of others.
Each item has been made from foraged, found, or donated wood. The foraged wood has been a particular favourite to work with, as each branch is unique in its organic form, which in turn influences the shape of the final product”.
We also have:
• Textiles
• Ceramics
• Cards
• Jewellery
These items make great gifts for Anniversaries, Birthdays, Christmas time or other special occasions. Or if you’re like me, a gift to yourself…because you know you’re worth it!
Perhaps you’re looking for a retail Voluntary role locally? We are currently looking for reliable shop volunteers who can commit to each week, either a half day or a whole day or a few days a week, to give their time to create more opportunities for people to visit our shop and buy our beautiful products. This role you’d be part of means a lot to us, as we can then become more financially independent as an organisation.
Self-sufficiency is a wonderful boost to the ongoing confidence of our organisation and our members. What we continue to create here at Designs in Mind, as we sustain ourselves and grow, is how we become more known by the public. This means that we will always be here for our members, existing and potential, as this can be anyone, at any given time, where life can turn on a sixpence.
Mental health challenges can pop up at any time in our lives.
If we all chip in as a community to support the shop: whether your making purchases or filling voluntary shop roles, talking to others about mental health, mentioning and promoting Designs in Mind to others, it helps us all, as we know where to go, should we find ourselves facing the challenges life may bring.
This keeps things in a win-win situation for Oswestry and surrounding areas and helps break the stigma of mental health.
If you interested in being a Volunteer or visiting our shop, we are located at:
17a Cross Street, Oswestry, SY11 2NF, or you can call us on 01691 655140 or email hello@designsinmind.co.uk
Blog Written & researched by Willow, Member & Social Media Coordinator