Junk Artist

My name is Melissa Tessaro, I’m 36 and live in London a bit like a student still in a shared house with 5 others and a vegetarian cat! My shop is called Junkartist mainly because I am always photographing junk, junk in skips, on the streets..anything that looks remotely dirty I’d be there with a camera.

I’ve always been interested in photography… constantly annoying others with my camera clicking away but had no outlet for the creativity. I don’t think I believed I had any creativity at that point, I was just taking photos randomly. Later I found photoshop and I was instantly hooked, spending months and months messing about with pictures, layers, trying to make images look better, or worse..I still had not done anything with the creativity I was developing until I found a weekend glass fusing course.

I loved it and within a week I had bought a kiln and tons of glass, bits of glass everywhere, bank balance going down, hands being cut but I didn’t care I just kept at it trying different techniques and styles. I knew that I didn’t just want to shove glass in a kiln, I knew I could create something more interesting. I knew from the beginning I wanted to use photography or photoshop in some small way but I didn’t know how and it took me about 8 months of constant research and developing techniques before I made it work.

My ideas come to me throughout the day, I coud be looking at something in the street and an idea will pop into my head. Mainly it happens when I’m messing about in photoshop though, trying to find out ways of doing new things.

I will be outlining all my processes eventually on a blog I’m setting up which will be advertised on my etsy page.

So whilst my creative side was steadily growing my professional work side was making me more and more miserable. I left Uni with a degree in Social Sciences and no idea where I wanted to go or be so I took the first job that was offered to me, a secretary in a university. Well i hated that job so I transferred to accounts and ended up there for 5 years hating ever single minute..roll on 12 years later and numerous more bank jobs and I’m literally tearing my hair out. I never fitted in, they knew it and I knew it.. so on New Years Eve 08 I walked out of the last accounts job I’m ever going to have and have just started to think seriously about setting up my own business.

I’ve sold to friends and family and a few small pieces to shops but I feel like I’ve only just started out. I’ve had an etsy shop now for about a week and have yet to start a proper blog. When my blog is up and running I intend to promote the blog on-line as much as possible.

I’ve also got some research ideas that I’d love to carry out. I plan on visiting as many shops in London as possible and doing some market research into which craft products they buy and details of that and then putting that on my blog to help others trying to sell. That will happen in the next few months. Perhaps it’s best I don’t have a 9 – 5 job anymore.. there’s not enough time as it is. Apart from creating things I haven’t done anything else recently. I have spent the past year just doing this. Friends think I’m mad when I constantly say no to going out but I have a goal and working hard is the only way I’m going to achieve it!

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