Introduction
Looking back at previous blogs and social media activity for Wildcard Curiosities. I refer to Gareth Norman Makes who is a local artist and restorer. I decided to do this blog to provide more of an insight into who Gareth is and what he does. I hope to create more blogs of this nature going forward. Showing you behind the scenes, what work and connections make the Wildcard Curiosities business work.
An Interview With Gareth
Gareth was kind enough to allocate some time to help with this blog and was happy to answer some quick fire round questions about his talent.
Where did you find your passion for restorations and your art work?
At school I enjoyed drawing and painting. Art was one of my favourite subjects. I was fascinated by how mechanical items worked. How carpenters make such beautiful functional items.
Why do you feel it is important to restore items/upcycle old items?
Most importantly it’s environmentally friendly to try and reuse and restore rather than throw away. When I was younger I used to watch my dad mend broken items. It was not so easy to go out and buy new then. It is good to have an understanding of how to restore and upcycle. Very therapeutic to me.
What advice would you give to people who would like to try restorations/upcycling?
I have a YouTube channel which shows some videos of items I have restored. I also have my artwork videos on there too. I would say if you gather information from YouTube videos, forums, books etc and give it a go. It’s not always going to work first time so learn from where it went wrong. I would say don’t go out of your way to buy expensive items to restore start off small and work your way up.
Gareth’s Gallery and links
I think it would be lovely for Gareth to use this platform to plug some of his photos and links. It is lovely to see the images and videos of all his hard work. Please enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/@GarethNormanMakes
Where to find us
To see what restorations and artwork Gareth has created for Wildcard Curiosities we can be found online or instore:
Wildcard Curiosities is based in Freemen’s Common Antique Centre, 8 Counting House Road, Leicester, LE2 7LT.
The centre is open from Tuesday – Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
There is a café and toilets on site
We also have an online shop