Karen Miller - Dart Art
Karen Miller - Dart Art
Dart Art
Karen Miller is gaining a local and national reputation as the creator and retailer of stunning sculptures and furniture made from driftwood pieces.
Her immensely stylish and original work is on show at her gallery on Middle Street in Brixham and also on her thriving internet site. Here you will find a stunning display of trees, hearts, seahorses, coffee tables and mirrors, to name just a few of the items made from large and small pieces of driftwood.
Karen’s journey to becoming an artist with this unique approach to creating sculptures and objects is possibly a little unconventional but on reflection quite logical. Born in Denmark and raised locally in Brixham from the age of one, she ‘escaped’ at sixteen to get a job in Harrods in London.
Here she gained a varied and valuable retail experience but Karen had always been keen to ‘express’ her creative side. Model-making has been a family passion so a few years later she returned to Brixham and then went to college in Oxford to study model-making.
On graduation, economic necessity required her to find whatever job she could and she soon found herself reprising her retail skills in Dartmouth at a designer interiors shop now since gone. Whilst managing the shop, she created an eye-catching window display of a driftwood Christmas tree sculpture.
This quickly got noticed and numerous commissions for something similar followed. Encouraged by the response, she was soon experimenting with other designs such as hearts (soon to become her ‘signature’ piece).
The birth of her daughter in 2003 and the realisation that she had discovered a skill that had a real commercial opportunity encouraged her leave her full time job. Now she could spend precious time with her daughter and start to exploit these skills properly as a new career.
She took a job as a part-time visual merchandiser at Hoopers in Torquay and spent the rest of the week with her baby daughter whilst preparing her first website. For the next 5 years Karen created new designs, updated the website and took on commissions all over the world. In 2007 she left her part time position to concentrate full time on her business.
At Hoopers, she had met and become friends with Jo Sanders, her then manager. When Jo became pregnant and Karen’s personal circumstances allowed it, she took the plunge and acquired retail and workshop space just a short distance from her house.
Opening this new gallery in August 2008 and with Jo now working with Karen part-time, the new gallery allowed Karen the space to design and create new driftwood sculptures and importantly to showcase her unique work properly to a growing and enthusiastic group of clients, right on her doorstep. Jo is very much an integral part of the show.
Although this new physical presence in the midst of a busy port and tourist destination has helped spread the word, Karen is adamant that she wouldn’t be where she is now without the help of the internet. Many people worldwide have contacted her regarding her work.
With all the contacts and friends Karen has made through her business she now only uses driftwood that has been collected from coastlines in other parts of the world. Karen states that the driftwood is far more tactile, harder, smoother and a fabulous material to work with.
Having been an internet based business for several years she now has the chance to actually see the public’s reactions to her sculpture. People have been very positive and encouraging and travel long distances to view and purchase Karen’s work.
As her creative skills and ideas have flourished, Karen has divided her business and the website into three distinct sections – Made By, Designed By and Fabulous Creations.
Firstly, Made By is her handmade range of driftwood accessories and wall art. The ‘made by’ range took its first steps in 2003 with the much loved driftwood heart.
Karen works with very hard pieces of driftwood that are gathered from all over the world providing wonderful natural colours and organic forms. As she works she can see the character of each piece taking hold, which is why the nautical and butterfly sculptures are usually all named making them even more unique and special to whomever they are being given.
The collection has evolved over the years to provide her clients with a series of pieces that work well together. The patchwork lamps and mirrors for instance are a wonderful focal point in any room, as are the different sized seahorses all in a row.
Every piece is made to order in the workshop in Brixham. She only uses nails, never glue, in any of her driftwood work. So each item is painstakingly made to last. The specified sizes (see her website) are a guideline and work well but she is happy to adapt these to a client’s requirements. Karen is also open to new ideas for new sculptures.
The Designed By range takes inspiration from the handmade pieces. The range is made to Karen’s designs and her strict quality control and production is out-sourced to the far East. This has allowed Karen to expand the range and scale of her output as demand for her work increases.
It has also meant that her designs can be made more affordable. These include her complementary range of mirrors and lamps and now also her driftwood Christmas collection. So popular has the latter become, that it’s taken on a life of its own! Including her popular driftwood Christmas trees, she’s since added wreaths and garlands – customers assure her that they “are not just for Christmas”. These pieces all come in recycled boxes so that, should you ever wish to take them down, they are easy to store.
Her enthusiasm for ‘all things driftwood’ has meant she’s discovered other items of driftwood furniture that perfectly complement her own work. As part of the ‘Fabulous Creations’ range, she now sells (in her shop and online) fabulous dining tables, coffee and console tables, candelabras and other unusual wall art.
The ‘Karen Miller’ brand has devloped a bit by accident partly when Karen’s success meant that the Devon Driftwood name became hijacked by others on the internet.
She was forced to re-brand to distance herself but this this has since proved an excellemt move. But developing the brand is hard work and a difficult balance for Karen to grow the business and tap the demand for her work whilst at the same time enjoy home life and quality time with her daughter.
She took a stand at the Grand Designs Show at the NEC last month where she received an enthusiastic response to her range. This has only underlined the great opportunity she has if she can display her work to a wider public. So if there’s a wealthy and experienced investor reading this article who can help Karen grow her business, we suggest you get down to the Gallery and see what makes her work so special.
The Gallery is found at 26 Middle Street and is very near to the quay and is really easy to find. Although open to the public, if you would like to make an appointment with Karen, don’t hesitate to call.
Tel: 01803 882850
Opening hours
Monday to Saturday 10pm - 5pm or Sundays 10.30am - 4pm
First published November 2009 By the Dart