Happy New Year all!
I've been wanting to write this post for a long time, but sadly life has thrown me a few curve balls and I've not had enough time to put my virtual pen to paper.
As you are no doubt now aware, there is a new model horse company on the scene;
Copperfox Model Horses
The Copperfox logo is an original piece of artwork created by an incredibly talented UK artist, Niroot Puttapipat. You can see more of his work here: https://himmapaan.wordpress.com/, I would greatly recommend you go have a little look at his site, his artwork can easily be described as "exquisite".
Copperfox is a brand new venture founded by one of the UK's most highly awarded young businesswomen, Becky Benfield. Becky is best know from her company; Utterly Horses, she also works as a business mentor under the Prince of Wales scheme. Becky started Utterly Horses at the insanely young age of just 16. It soon took off and became the UK's number one mail order model horse supplier, with her shop in Essex providing us with the perfect place to get hands-on with our collecting.
Copperfox has been years in the making, the Kickstarter Campaign will provide merely a fraction of the costs involved with setting up the new business, but it has been a wonderful way to allow collectors all over the world to be a "Founding Fox" and to be involved in the beginning of something that could change the face of the model horse scene around the world.
Copperfox is planning on doing something that nobody currently does - British breeds! There has been a gap in the model horse market that has been crying out to be filled. Britain has some unique and interesting horse and pony breeds that are rarely seen in model form. A simple geographical cause - the UK does not have as many sculptors as the US, so logically, there are many US breeds featured in the hobby with a lack of breeds from other places such as Europe and the East. Becky is setting out to amend this imbalance and bring more British breeds into collections globally. I am confident that the US collectors will welcome these new offerings as UK collectoras have always marvelled at international breeds - Quarter Horses, Gaited breeds and showy ponies, Warmblooded breeds and tall, long legged drafters. I collect them, my friends collect them and so with a bit of luck, Copperfox models will be welcomed into collections all over the world with that same magical fascination.
The Copperfox range is starting out with three moulds. The first is a rather cute Exmoor pony sculpted by Harriett Knibbs, a UK sculptor that also creates a variety of wild animals - here's her website: http://harrietknibbssculpturesltd.weebly.com/.
There is a Connemara pony sculpted by Kitty Cantrell, a prolific and incredibly talented US sculptor, her website is here: http://www.kittycantrell.com/
The third model in the range is the Welch Sec D, or the Welsh Cob. This chappy was sculpted by yours truly. He is the first model I have sculpted as a pure commission, though I have retained the rights to produce a china edition at some point in the future.
There will be seven models released by Copperfox to begin with. Two colours on the Exmoor, two on the Connemara and three on the Welsh Cob. Five photos have been released so far, so I am looking forward to seeing the additional colourways when they are shared with us.
The Copperfox Kickstarter project ends TOMORROW! They have already smashed through their target goal of £25,000 and are now heading for the £30k milestone. It is safe to say that the Kickstarter campaign has been a resounding success and it now paves the way for Becky and her team at Utterly Horses to make Copperfox Model Horses a true competitor to the gargantuan market leaders, Breyer and Peter Stone. Though market share will be small to begin with, even if these models are collected in the same proportion as their real counterparts, Copperfox will continue to thrive and to provide the world with model horse breeds that have been missing (or under-represented) for so long.
There is one day left to become a "Founding Fox" and receive a plastic model before they are released, or a resin model (no resins will be sold later, so these will be true collectors items!), if you'd like to be a part of the Copperfox project then take a mosey on over to their page and check out the various options, there are pledges from £10 to £2500 with some very attractive options around the £50-250 range :)
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