Front cover artist
I receive lots of press releases in this job, I tend not to use most of them, I’m much more inclined to follow up those that pique my interest with a phone call and chat to hear the story behind the marketing spiel.
And that’s exactly what happened with our latest cover artist – and I’m so pleased I took this route.
Si Homfray is an artist and designer, running Park Designs – I’ve seen and appreciated his work in shops around the Peak District and the visitors centre in Bakewell. When I learned he was based in Hathersage – one of my favourite places for lunch (try Colemans Deli) and a browse of the outdoor shops – I was there!
Si is one of the most interesting and unique people I’ve had the pleasure to meet in this job – he’s warm, talented, and tenacious, with an inspiring journey full or twists and turns.
Originally from Sheffield, Si worked as a medic, he moved about a lot in his younger days and in the 80s returned to Sheffield for the climbing.
“The medic role wasn’t for me, and I started up a business making futons and the business grew rapidly, I had three shops and was selling probably 50% of the futons bought in the UK!
“That was until the Swedish giant IKEA turned up and things took a downward turn.
“I’d always been creative and, in the business, one of the very early adopters of Apple Macs. Design is one of my core skills and I find that visuals, colours, and layout come naturally. People started asking me to do work for them, so I went from Futons to ‘Diagram Ltd’ a business specialising in print and web design,” explains Si.
I then set up and later sold ‘Vivid Creative’, a Sheffield name some may know who offer branding, digital and marking services, Si parted company with Vivid in 2001. “I decided to go climbing,” says Si.
The next sentence left me lost for words. “Things took a change in 2012 when I was involved in a motorcycle accident. I was thrown off my bike, suffered head injuries, broke so many bones and frankly, was lucky to be alive.”
Today Si operates his commercial design business as ‘Hammer Design’ from his design studio, taking on graphic design and creative marketing projects.
“I tend to specialise in signage, walking maps, leaflets etc much of it based around the Peak District.”
Amazingly SI’s resilience helped him recover and he decided to change direction. “I handed the design business over to my staff and set about recuperating properly. “I got married, went diving and sailed the Atlantic.
“The next plan was to run to Everest and climb it. No one has ever run to Everest from Sheffield and climbed it so that was my goal (Ed: just 7,000 miles). I ran across Europe with my trailer ‘Gromit’ behind me for almost two years, and I got 3,500 miles into it before family and financial reasons forced me to return home.”
What followed were some tough times for Si; divorce, his parents became ill, and family problems him left depressed, back in Sheffield, and penniless. But you simply can’t stop this man, “I like to think that I’m a decent chap and I’ve got a great bunch of friends.
“Tim from Blue Deer (131 Chatsworth Road & The Glass Yard) helped me get set up in the unit I’m in today and I started my recovery. Creativity and artwork are where my heart is, I was interviewed by the Royal College of Art, but they looked at my history and work and told me I didn’t need them!” says Si.
As I look around Park Designs studio, Si has created a wealth of artwork, bright colours, outline drawings, prints, cards, mugs, Kitchen wear, t-shirts… an organically growing range of products.
As part of his recovery Si also wrote ‘The Magic Forest’, a self-help book which guides us through our sense of wellbeing. As Si quoted in a recent Derbyshire Times article, “Finding what you love, doing what you love in a place you love seems to be a rare thing. And as an older, hopefully wiser, and certainly humbler, person I am so grateful for the opportunity to live here, and to share what I have learned.”
I was with Si for just over an hour and I left wanting to know so much more, I felt like I’d only scratched the surface (we haven’t even mentioned the work he does with the Peak Park Foundation). He’s one of those people you meet for the first time and leave feeling like you’ve made a new friend! He is clearly a man passionate about what he does, a man who embraces the now and someone set to have another fantastic chapter in this thing we call life.
If you like art and people, make a plan, call in and see him, and as always tell him where you read his story, S40 Local. Thanks for your time Si, I can’t wait to chat again.
Park Designs & Gallery
3A Hathersage Business Park
Heather Lane
Hathersage S32 2DP
www.sihomfray.com
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