How does he manage? Ice sculptor - Jamie Hamilton, Co-director, Hamilton Ice Sculptors
- When did you become a manager?
My dad set up the company 35 years ago, and I joined after my English degree. That's how I got into it: nepotism. But I grew up with the business. I'm 36, so it's about as old as me.
- What does management mean to you?
Artists often struggle with the fact that you have to be a businessperson too. We make sure to integrate the team into every aspect of the job. We don't have a separate sales team, so clients are talking to the people who will design and sculpt their pieces. We do a lot of work for Christmas parties, as well as extravagant installations for PR launches. Right now, we're making a lot of hand-carved ice-cubes for drinks ads. The strangest brief was when we froze a dead dolphin in ice for a Greenpeace protest. Crucially we're all still hands-on: I love to get the admin out of the way, put on my hat, gloves and steel toe-cap boots, grab the chainsaw and get sculpting.
