YORKSHIRE POST
8 AUGUST 2001
'I love what I do and I'd advise anyone who
is thinking of changing career to go for it. You only live once.'
KATH
LlBBERT, 42, was a psychologist working for the health service.
Now she owns and runs a jewellery studio at Salts Mill, Saltaire.
Kath
did a psychology degree and worked as a counselling psychologist
- first in Bradford then in Leeds. She says: "I enjoyed my job very
much, but towards the end I found my heart wasn't in it and I was
worn out by it. "Helping people is very fulfiling, but you are seeing
a very disturbed and distressed side of life.
"I have always had another side which has been interested in art,
creativity and beautiful objects and I felt I wanted to do something
in that area."
Kath had always been interested in jewellery and collected it herself.
She says: "I used to go to Harrogate Craft Fair with a friend. There
were some great jewellery designers there and I often bought pieces
from them. One year I1 thought I'd see if I could make a go of selling
some."
She opened a stall in Leeds in 1994, showcasing the work of innovative
designers.
"It was an exciting project for me. I had split up with my partner
and I was wondering what to do with my weekends.
"I invested £1,000 and just wanted to sell enough to cover my costs.
"It wasn't a money-making venture, just a project."
She approached Salts Mill and when they opened a new floor five
years ago, they offered her a space. She says: "I like a challenge
and the wonderful thing about owning your business is that you are
your own boss. In the health service you are often blocked and are
forced to do things a particular way."
Kath didn't want a huge bank loan and managed to persuade jewellery
designers to give her their work to showcase.
She took free business courses and employed someone to help run
the business and reduced her hours in the health service to part-time.
Kath Libbert Jewellery now has an enviable reputation for stocking
work by some of the county's best and most innovative independent
designer makers.
She says: "It was a schizophrenic existence and in the end Ihad
to make a choice.
"It was a frightening prospect to give up a secure job in the health
service and a pension and I didn't know whether I would enjoy Salts
full-time, but I love it."
Kath adds: "I've been liberated by this career change. I've stopped
having the desire to be in the morass of people's distress and although
I'm still interested in what makes people tick, this work does fulfil
that in a way.
"I'm building relationships with designers and customers and by
selling jewellery, I'm dealing with people's emotions."
Since leaving the health service recently and devoting herself full-time
to her business, Kath has won a Crafts Council grant to forge links
with a jewellery gallery in Spain and is in the midst of a Flights
of Fancy exhibition she organised at Salts Mill.
She adds: "I love what I do and I'd advise anyone who is thinking
of changing career to go for it. You only live once."
Kath Libbert Jewellery is at Salts Mill, Saltaire, and is open 10am
- 6pm every day. Tel: 01274 599790.
