News

A cracking opportunity for creative business start-ups in the North East

(17 November 2005)

A young Tyneside glass sculptor has praised Durham Business School for helping her to ‘crack’ the world of enterprise.

Sarah Blood, 30, is a glass designer, based in the Mushroom Works art and design studios at Spillers Wharf in Newcastle. She specialises in designing and producing glass sculptures and art for exhibitions and private commissions. In 2003, a year after setting up her own business, ‘Sarah Blood Glass’, she enrolled on Durham Business School’s GLEAM programme (Graduate Learning of Entrepreneurship Accelerated through Mentoring) to learn how to manage the business more effectively. GLEAM brings graduates and business owners and managers in the region together, giving students access to advice and support from business mentors with first hand experience in their target market. Sarah attended several courses seeking business advice before joining the GLEAM programme, she explains: “The courses that are popular and readily available were a bit dry and geared towards academic or business-orientated people, not creative people. “I liked the fact that GLEAM lasted for a whole year and gave me the time to apply the learning to my business and see the impact I was able to effect. GLEAM gave me confidence in my ability as an artist and as a businesswoman. “It was good to speak to people who are at different stages in their business development and swap information with people who totally understood where I was coming from.” Since completing the programme Sarah has exhibited and sold her work in locations as far away as Hong Kong, Portugal and the United States. Her plans for the future include her own line in exclusive glass jewellery called ‘Birichina’, which is Italian for ‘Naughty’ and plays on the perception of jewellery being an indulgent treat for women. She has also volunteered to become a mentor on the new GLEAMing Bright Businesses programme at the Business School. The programme is designed to use the GLEAM graduate business network by giving current university students who are keen to go into business the chance to experience the world of enterprise first-hand by shadowing local entrepreneurs in the region. She adds: “I’ve signed up to be a mentor because I really wanted to give something back to the programme and help the entrepreneur network in the region to grow. “GLEAM put me in touch with people who have turned their own business ideas into thriving local enterprises and I would like to encourage more graduates to do the same.” Wendy Parvin, GLEAM project manager, said: “GLEAMing Bright Businesses complements the GLEAM programme and is designed to fast track North East graduates into business start up. “The new programme is designed to harness the talent within the GLEAM enterprise community to support aspiring university students and graduates to understand and gain experience of the world of business and consider creating their business enterprise in the North East.” For more information on GLEAM and GLEAMing Bright Businesses contact: Wendy Parvin, tel: 0191 334 5730 or email: wendy.parvin@durham.ac.uk or visit http://www.gleam.org.uk To find out more about Sarah Blood Glass, visit http://www.sarahblood.com