A former financial adviser who turned her hand to arts and crafts is set to work alongside “crafty celebrity” Kirstie Allsop.
Jenny Kemp, who runs ceramic and craft studio The Mouse House Pottery Company in Elland, has been selected to work alongside Kirstie at north’s first-ever Handmade Christmas Fair in Manchester.
Jenny will be on stage running workshops for up to 600 craft enthusiasts at the three-day event, which gets under way on Friday, November 20.
Her workshops will teach attendees how to make a decorative Christmas lantern as well as teaching the basic skill of book folding to turn unwanted hard back books into beautiful gifts.
At her studio in Victoria Road, Jenny also carries out other crafts, including pottery painting, glass etching, mosaics and framed artwork.
Jenny, who is nicknamed Mrs Mouse by her customers, also stages activities including “make and take” events where people of all ages can create their own items and take them home – an element that caught the eye of Kirstie’s team.
At the Manchester Central event, Jenny will be joined by leading figures from arts and crafts, including decorative painter Annie Sloane and Deborah Simms, who was runner-up in TV’s British Sewing Bee.
Jenny said: “One of Kirstie’s consultants contacted me in June about taking part. I thought I would be doing a workshop for about 20 people – but it’s on stage in front of cameras and about 100 people at a time.
“I was hoping I would be able to watch some of the other demonstrators to get the hang of it – but I’m going to be on first!”
Said Jenny: “I’m immensely proud of where I am today, having taken such a big risk and setting up just over two years ago. It’s a far distance from my previous occupation as a financial adviser, but I don’t regret it for a minute.
“It’s an honour to be asked to work with such a talented and enthusiastic personality like Kirstie. This really is the equivalent in the arts and craft world of the ‘Great British Bake Off!’”
With Christmas coming, Jenny said she was working late into the night to meet orders for her baby hand print service – turning babies’ feet and hand prints into colourful framed pictures,
But she said: “It’ll be hard, but I’m taking a little break from this for the weekend to work alongside such an electric mix of fellow artists and meet a woman who inspires me with her quirky televised Christmas makes year on year!”
