What should you be doing this weekend?!

Hard-Craft Christmas Classes!

In case you haven’t yet heard of them, I’d like to introduce to you the Brighton craft company Hard-Craft! They organise and run a fantastic range of classes, courses and workshops in an exciting array of crafty disciplines at the Artist Residence hotel in Regency Square, Brighton. The organisers put an emphasis on fun and always create a relaxed and social environment, so by attending one of their classes you are as likely to come away with new friends as you are with a fantastic handmade item!

With the festive season getting close, Hard-Craft have got developed some fantastic Christmas-themed classes. These classes and workshops would create a lovely alternative get-together for friends or colleagues, rather than the usual rushed drink in a noisy, crammed bar or pub! These Christmas-friendly classes including making Vintage Crackers, Wreaths, Bath Gifts and Wrapping Paper so you can stuff your Christmas with gorgeous crafted goodies.

Impress friends and family with your creative, personalised gifts – all made by hand! These friendly classes are a lovely way to get creative, socialise and learn new skills while enjoying lots of tea and biscuits on chilly wintery evenings.

When you book 3 of Hard-Craft’s Brighton Christmas craft classes for a discounted rate of £50 they will also give you a wicker hamper to fill with your creations. (Each class normally costs between £19-22 for a 2 hour session and includes all materials and refreshments)

Choose to make:

• A Stunning Fabric Christmas Wreath – Thursday 22nd November
• Vintage-style Crackers (with optional cheesy jokes!) – Thursday 29th November
• Wrapping Paper and Prints – Thursday 6th December
• Winter Skin Saviors - Bath Bombs, scrubs and melts – Thursday 13th December

All classes are 2 hours long and organiser/teacher Katie will take you through a step-by-step tutorial in the comfy Artist Residence hotel in Brighton. You’ll come away with a hamper filled with home-made Christmas gifts plus lots of ideas to make them again at home.

Tea, coffee biscuits and plenty of gossip and chatter will be served in the break.

This hamper package costs just £50 and includes all the materials and equipment you will need to make your own unique Christmas decorations or gifts. 

HOW TO BOOK: Visit the website http://hard-craft.co.uk/events/hamper/ or phone 07588692955 for more details.

Reminder: Craftaganza Live Begins Next Week…

In case you need reminding, next week we launch our monthly free creative meet-ups entitled Craftaganza Live! We hope you are able to come down and support it. You can register to attend the event here. See you next week!!!

Update: Craftaganza Live Event Registration

This is an update about the new Craftaganza Live event that was announced in the previous post. Due to a very positive initial response, we have been asked to monitor the number of attendants to make sure it doesn’t exceed the capacity of the venue.

The event is still completely free, however we ask those that wish to attend this meet up/talk to REGISTER HERE so we can gauge the number of attendees.

Thanks and looking forward to meeting you on Weds 10th October!

Introducing ‘Craftaganza Live’! With speakers Amy & Claire from Super+Super HQ

I know I’m biased, but I can’t help but proclaim today’s announcement to be a particularly exciting one! Brighton Craftaganza is growing another arm! As well as hosting regular craft and handmade markets at the Fabrica gallery, we are now about to start organising free monthly creative meet-ups called ‘Craftaganza Live’. They will provide an opportunity for anyone interested in the local contemporary craft and handmade scene to get together to share knowledge, experiences and inspiration, as well to make new friends and contacts.

A collaborative endeavour between Sarah Meredith, organiser-extraordinaire designer-maker of jewellery brand Rock Cakes and myself (Zoe), the ‘Craftaganza Live’ events will take place from 7pm every second Wednesday of the month in the bar of The Old Market, Hove (pictured above and below).

Each monthly event will kick-off with a speaker (or speakers) sharing their creative knowledge and experiences. The speakers will include designer-makers, artists, buyers, teachers and bloggers.

For this, our inaugural event, the duo of speakers will be Claire Culley and Amy Phipps (pictured above), owners and creators of Super+Super HQ (pictured below), Brighton’s freshest and most exciting creative hub. Come and hear how the pair successfully set up a unique place for the creatively-inclined to work in, learn from, craft at, shop in and more often than not, hang-out at and be inspired by. Come down early (from 7pm) and grab a drink. Claire and Amy will speak from 7.30pm followed by a Q&A session. Then everyone is encourage to stay to chat and hang out for as long as you like.

Those event details once again:

Craftaganza Live

First event: Weds 10th October Doors open 7pm

Speakers from 7.30pm

@ TOM (The Old Market)

11a Upper Market Street, Hove, BN3 1AS

FREE ENTRY!!!!

Now go and put that in your diary! See you on Weds 10th Oct…

Platform: Handmade Talent @ The Fishing Quarter Gallery

Petting Zoo

Residents of and visitors to Brighton & Hove are getting thoroughly spoilt this Summer with all the amazing handmade and craft events taking place. With so many opportunities to check out and buy locally made art and design, we’re certainly not hiding our collective light under a bushel!

One of the most exciting art/handmade events on the calender is set to open this week. Platform will take place at The Fishing Quarter Gallery on the seafront close to the carousel for two whole weeks from Thurs 23rd August to Monday 3rd September.

Kirstin Stride

Organised for the second year by Sarah from Rock Cakes jewellery, she’s gathered a fantastic selection of artists and designers which form an excellent spectrum of multi-disciplinary talent.

Lou Taylor

There aren’t many events/fairs/markets that combine photography, screen-printing, illustration, jewellery, home-ware and paper cuts (Brighton Craftaganza aside, of course!) yet Platform not only has all these, but also manages to have the very best examples of each.

Saffron Reichenbacker

These images are just a tiny slice of the talent on offer. Check out Rock Cake’s blog post or the facebook event for more details and a full list of exhibitors. See you there!

The Fairy Tale Fair in Brighton

Brighton Craftaganza continues to inform local lovers of craft and handmade about the stream of awesome events that may tickle their fancy….

Running on Saturday 18th August between 10.30am and 5.15pm with free entry, The Fairy Tale Fair will be a whimsical themed craft fair with fun for all the family. The organisers encourage you to ‘fall down the rabbit hole and explore it…’

The fair will comprise of 20-25 stalls selling a range of handmade crafts. These include jewellery, knitted items, cute characters, cushions, cards, prints, candles, children’s clothes, accessories, vintage style items, hair pieces, bags, decorations, beads and much more. There will also be face painting, beauty, balloon modelling, magical candy floss and Alice in Wonderland themed cakes with tea and coffee served on vintage china.

This new event is being held at St Thomas More’s Hall, Braybon Avenue, Brighton, BN1 8HG. The hall is located on the main road on the corner of Braybon and Carden Avenues. The frequent 5B bus stops directly outside and it is just 10 minutes drive from the town centre. There is free on street parking available. The hall is in walking distance of many local communities including Patcham, Hollingbury, Coldean, and the Surrenden Rd/ Varndean areas.

To get even more of a taste of what to expect, The Fairy Tale Fair blog helpfully includes a list of sellers AND a tantalising gallery of products to further whet your appetite. Organised by Brighton Craftaganza seller Claire Montgomery, this looks set to be a thoroughly well executed event and a delightful place for visitors of all ages to spend a few hours. We wish them all the best (including some sunshine!).

Pop-Up Vintage Event: Hassocks

And the list of interesting and crafty local events goes on…. You know, the amount of stuff to do in this area over the Summer really is quite embarrassing, don’t you think?! The next event on the handmade/vintage/crafty calendar is the Pop-Up Vintage in Hassocks on Saturday 14th July 2012.

Of course, the relationship between ‘vintage’ and ‘craft/handmade’ is a long-established one, which is why sellers offering both types of products make such good bed fellows at events this like. But specifically, the craft/handmade-inclined will be well served by talented local design-makers like Brighton Craftaganza seller Lynn from Ribbonreal (you can read Lynn’s ‘Meet the Seller’ interview here). Much of Lynn’s range if produced from stunning vintage kimonos, repurposing the exquisite fabric into covetable homeware and accessories, pictured above and below including the beautiful peony cushions made specifically for the Pop-up Vintage event.

With an entrance fee of only £1, this is very much a child-friendly event with kids admitted for free. For more info, visit their Facebook page.

Hastings Based Fun This Saturday: A Tempting Fete

‘A Tempting Fete’ threatens to be more of an extravaganza than the image ‘fete’ may conjure. Organised by one of my absolute favourite sellers from the recent Summer Brighton Craftaganza event, Deborah from The Pink Minx, it’ll undoubtedly be a thrilling event I’m gutted to not be able to attend. So go for me and have an ace time, yeah?

(image source)

Anyone who has seen her cheekiest creations has already caught a glimpse of the kind of quirky humour Deborah radiates, so if you are even vaguely interested in handmade products, unique design, music, bingo, raffles, prizes or cake and happen to be free this Saturday, then head down to ‘A Tempting Fete’ in Hastings from 1pm.

More deets here.

Lewes Based Fun This Saturday: Castle Pop Up

If you are at a loss of what to do this Saturday and either live in Lewes or can get there, the Castle Pop Up event promises to be lots of fun. Set back from Lewes High Street in a relaxed location, there’ll be the opportunity to browse and buy some original art, skincare, ceramics, home-ware and much more from a host of local purveyors and makers.

Running from 10am until 5pm, I can report that two monster gazebos have been bought to stave off the predicted rain! Check out their site for more info and a complete list of sellers.