The Christmas Brighton Craftaganza!!!

Well, after months of discussions, planning and organising, the Christmas Brighton Craftaganza craft market came and went in what felt like a blink of an eye!

Steph and I were at the venue at 8.30am along with our wonderful helpers, Rehanon, Pat and Nik, to set up the furniture and decorate the place with bunting and balloons before the stall holders began to arrive from 9am.  

All the stalls were set up and the doors opened to the public at 11am.

It was so exciting for Steph and myself to finally get to view everyone’s unique product displays. Previously we had only seen images of individual products that the sellers had sent us when they applied for a stall back in the Summer. We could imagine what kind of displays those jpegs would translate to!

It was always important to all three of us (Steph, Lisa and myself) when we started Brighton Craftaganza over a year ago, that the market should include a really wide selection of different types of handmade work. The only similarity we wanted was that everything on sale was of a high quality.

By presenting the best in local handmade products, Brighton Craftaganza is able to prove to the public that handmade things are way better in so many ways than their mass-produced equivalents.

It was so fascinating to see peoples’ personalities expressed in their work and to talk to the sellers about how and why they create what they do. Each seller has a different story, many of which you can read on this blog in the ‘Meet The Seller’ and ‘Seller Update’ features.

Between a third and half of the sellers had stalls at the first Brighton Craftaganza event in March. It was lovely to see these individuals again and to see how their product ranges had developed since the Spring. It was also wonderful to meet the new faces and welcome them to Brighton Craftaganza.

The amount of creative people in this city is pretty astounding. It was so hard to select only thirty two of the many many applications we received. Some of those who sold with us are hardened veterans of craft/handmade fairs, markets and events around town. Whilst for others, this Christmas event was their very first event! I’m so pleased that this blend was achieved, and for our event to be significant for some in their journey towards becoming a successful designer-maker.

The main reason I got involved in what has become Brighton Craftaganza, was to meet interesting and creative people having only moved to Brighton a month before meeting Steph and Lisa and deciding to do this. I feel very grateful to have met so many lovely people through these events, and I look forward to getting to know some of them better through the course of future events.

I’ll stop my waffle now and share with you some more images from last Saturday!

On behalf of Steph and myself, we’d like to say an enormous thank you to all the sellers, helpers and visitors for being so fantastic! We wish you all a truly fabulous Christmas. See you in 2012!!!!