I have been asked many times over the years 'Who is your inspiration?'.......

The answer that always comes to mind straight away is my Mum.

There are so many reasons that she is my inspiration...... being an amazing wife to my wonderful Dad, an amazing mother to my sister, brother and myself, an amazing grandmother to my incredible nieces and nephew and also having the most wonderful lifelong circle of friends.

My Mum is the reason and the inspiration for me always knowing that I was going to run my own business and be self-employed.

I always joke that I haven't had a job since I was in my teens when I had a babysitting 'network' in North London and worked for a catering company to earn some extra pocket money. I say that since starting my training at Sir John Cass I became 'un-employable' because I realised that I could only work for myself and follow in Mum's incredible footsteps!

I am so lucky to be able to say that what I do has never felt like a job, it is a passion and something that I enjoy getting out of bed for every day and this drive and passion has never changed in nearly 30 years of business. I can say without doubt that Mum feels the same way too and we are both so blessed to say that we both do something that we love every day.

My Mum has instilled her work ethic in me which I am so grateful for and one of her mantras that I live by is 'Don't leave until tomorrow what you can do today'. Sometimes when I am working on a piece in the studio until the early hours it is a hard mantra to follow but it means that I get a good night's sleep knowing that the job is done when I come back in to work the next day. 

Another of her mantras that I love is 'Treat people the way that you want to be treated yourself' and one that I live by.  

Mum has been working as long as I can remember and was still working a 4 day week at her shop in Grays Antique Market until '2020' temporarily stopped and my sister stepped in but she is still very much at the helm!!!

I love the fact that Mum has been such an inspiration to my sister and brother too leading to us all running our own businesses and being able to work together now, I am proud to be able to call us The Bedwell Dream Team thanks to the driving force that is Sylv, our Mum.