Artist helps to fuel passion for business

From running activities with mums and toddlers to the busy world of commerce, a thriving north Northumberland business has found a new niche helping young entrepreneurs to develop their marketing strategy and products.
Artist Lorna Watkinson with some painted tiles. Picture by Keith NewmanArtist Lorna Watkinson with some painted tiles. Picture by Keith Newman
Artist Lorna Watkinson with some painted tiles. Picture by Keith Newman

Lorna Watkinson who runs Rainbow Pottery Painting from her home in Warkworth, has teamed up with Bedlington charity, Leading Link, to deliver enterprise workshops to junior schools in the county.

Lorna, a former advertising executive, is using her skills with pottery painting, coupled with a unique creative concept, to help the children identify a product that they can make and subsequently sell at a local market.

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Her successful Business-visioning workshops have been specially adapted to fit in with lessons at the first school involved in the project, St Robert’s First School in Morpeth.

The pottery painting sessions help the children to keep their vision for their business idea in sight and remember what they’re working towards.

During the workshops, they are asked to think about the products that they would like to sell. They draw their designs on to a tile or a mug, which Lorna fires-up in the kiln to provide them with permanent visual reminders. The children will visit Morpeth Market soon to get more ideas about promoting their products before taking over a stall themselves. Ideas generated by the children with Lorna’s help include T-shirts with Morpeth clock tower design, decorated sweets and clock tower snow globes.

Lorna was pleased to see that her work with the children had led to some good marketable ideas and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.

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As the pilot workshop was a success, it will now be cascaded out to other first and primary schools with a final enterprise challenge between schools taking place later in the year.