A Dutch girl with a French name living in Cornwall….

Hi!

I am Mariëlle, a Dutch girl with a French name living in Cornwall.

I first came to Cornwall in 2000 with my future husband and fell in love with this beautiful place.  At the time I was studying for a degree in photography and Design at the University of Art Utrecht in The Netherlands.

When I completed my degree in 2003 I immediatelypacked my bags and joined my Cornish man in the small village of Downderry.

Over the years I had my own photography business and painted on the side. Living in such a beautiful place and by the sea is a constant inspiration for my paintings. In 2018 I made the decision to follow my passion for art and leave the photography industry.

Following on from that decision and in that same year myself and my business partner Mark Gibbons created a company called Cornish Galleries.

Cornish Galleries is a curated online gallery for Cornish artist to sell and promote their original work. We have around 50 artists on our books and the gallery has been a labor of love.

To widen my audience and that of Cornish Galleries I contacted Helen from The Upcycled Home Co to see if she was interested in showing some artwork in the shop.

Helen was very enthusiastic and we hit it of with both having a similar work ethic and passion for original makers and artists.

So I created a “ micro gallery with a selected few artist from Cornish galleries with the idea to rotate the work every couple of months.

Whilst hanging the work at the shopI was telling Helen that I was going for a job interview at an art gallery the following day...Helen immediately replied with "I am looking for someone!"

And that is how I came to work at the Upcycled Home Co.... a beautiful shop in a magical setting.

As mentioned before I love how Helen choses her makers. Ethical, environmentally conscious and supporting local, British and Global Fairtrade makers. Her choices are unique and of high quality design.

I'm often asked what's my favorite product in the shop .....nearly impossible to chose, but I do love the gifts with messages like the Literary flowers seeds and the Gift of Time candle boxes with little inspirational messages that have just arrived in store...

As for my new job I love working in the shop and meeting new people ... and I hope to meet you soon...

Marielle x