Summer Brighton Craftaganza: Poster Design Unveiled!

One of my very favourite parts of the run-up to a Brighton Craftaganza event is the unveiling of that event’s poster design. Up until that point, each event seems to be a collection of emails, lists, document files, phone calls and conversations. The poster brings all that together and gives unity, cohesion and even life to the event. The poster design process forces us organisers to consolidate all the necessary info and details so they can be communicated to the public, the poster is the distilled event before the event actually happens!

Hope you like this latest poster design, it’s absolutely my favourite so far. Massive thanks to Jennie Ball for another wonderful crafty illustration, and to the highly talented designer Silvia Sella for the layout and general design. They both have the ability to reach inside my head and put into 2D form the essence of Brighton Craftaganza!!!

Product Highlight: Purple Ombre Brooch from Cuttlefishlove Kanzashi

Before we have a look at today’s lovely product highlight, here’s a reminder to enter our free book giveaway! You could win a copy of Craft Business Heroes, a must-read for designer-makers and everyone who runs their own crafty business. All you have to do to enter is comment, and the deadline is this Sunday, so click here to give it a go.

Here’s today’s highlight, a beautiful purple brooch from Cuttlefish Kanzashi. Inspired by the maker’s love of all things ombre (a fade from one colour to another!), the layered petals are made from gorgeous silk.

This brooch costs £35, and you can buy it here on Etsy.

Emily of Cuttlefishlove Kanzashi will be at the June Craftaganza fair on both Monday and Tuesday, so come along to see more of her fabric brooches and accessories! You can also read her Meet The Seller interview here.

Meet the seller – TheBigForest

I know that after the June Brighton Craftaganza there is going to be a dent in my bank account and TheBigForest are going to be partly responsible. I’m a sucker for well-designed soft furnishings and these are full of character.

Please introduce yourself….

I’m Benjamin, Maker in Chief at TheBigForest.

Describe the products you currently make to sell

At TheBigForest we design and make wool felt character artist bears and animals, home, mens’ and womens’ accessories, personalised childrens’ name door hangers, story cushions, greetings cards and lots of other goods to delight and thrill our customers.

Where and when do you design and make your products?

All our goods are made in our hut in TheBigForest. The eagle eyed will of course have spotted that there aren’t many forests (big or small) in Brighton but we managed to find one and our hut has a wood burning stove for the winter, a beautiful view across the sea and pier for the summer and plenty of tea and cake whatever the season. We create all the time and are forever scribbling down ideas for new goods. Our latest creative outlet is TheBigForest blog http://thebigforestuk.wordpress.com and it’s been so good sharing inspiration and trips out around Sussex with our blogging friends, hearing their comments and the excitement of gaining blog followers.

How long have you been selling your wares and how did it begin?

 After I completed my training in Textiles I didn’t really want to do fashion and spent time experimenting before I gradually developed TheBigForest.  It started off as a hobby around two years ago but I was getting so much positive feedback and interest that it became a full fledged international multi million global bear business around four months ago!

What drew you to the Brighton area, if you are not a ‘native’?

My partner moved to Brighton back in the mists of time and I came here after I finished my training in textiles in 2000, we love it because it is such a buzzy creative city.

Any other crafty disciplines you like to practice?

Other?!! All our energy is focused on TheBigForest, and when we need to relax we head out in our camper van although we often end up making or designing parked up in a forest or overlooking the sea.

What inspires the things you make?

The Festival of Britain, old photographs and illustrations, 50′s and 60′s reworking of Victoriana, forests (of course!), clowns and circuses, Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, the seaside, folk myths and legends, British travel (preferably on the defunct branch lines that criss-crossed England), Market Towns with lots of independent shops, camper vans, country car boot sales in fields, old puppets, toys and dolls houses………….can I stop now please?

Personal motto?

I’ll have a cup of tea seeing you’re making one…..

Totally inspiring and wonderful work, can’t wait to see the stall all set up and to take a happy little piece of TheBigForest home!

‘Craft Business Heroes’: Book Review & Giveaway

It was after the author Alison McNicol had researched and written her first book, ‘The Craft Business Handbook: The Essential Guide to Making Money from your Crafts and Handmade Products’, that she realised she had collated so many fascinating interviews jam packed with useful tips that another book was in order. This second book, entitled ‘Craft Business Heroes’, skips all the usual ‘writing a business plan/how to register as self-employed/pricing your products effectively/advise on using social networking’ info out there to assist people wanting to take their hobby more seriously, and gets straight to the good stuff. Those first types of books are of course fantastic, and every serious crafter/designer-maker should probably get hold of one at some point for practical advice. But sometimes you want to get straight to the fun bit: being inspired by wonderful and successful people doing what you want to be doing and making a living from it!

‘Craft Business Heroes’ really appeals to my nosey nature, McNicol asks all the important questions about the development of each interviewee’s business. Her clever questioning includes how they begun to take their hobby seriously, where they run it from, if they employ any staff, the effectiveness of trade fairs in comparison to other methods to grow their businesses, how they fit their business in with the rest of their lives, and so on.

Maybe it’s her positive and friendly approach, or perhaps it’s down to how genuinely helpful most crafty people usually are, but each interviewee is so open with their responses and clearly keen to assist and encourage other creative people to learn from their own successes and failures.

McNicol has split this book into subsections relating to a variety of crafty business categories: Jewellery, Paper Goods, Homewares, Sewing and Fashion/Accessories. It makes sense to structure the book in some way, and there are, of course, some common questioning within each category, but I would encourage the reader to explore every interview, not just the ones from the section closest to their proposed crafty business genre. Each interview is a gold mine of ideas, tips and advice that often transcend creative disciplines.

So now to the important bit: how to get your hands on a copy of this awesome book for nothing! We have one brand new copy of ‘Craft Business Heroes’ to give away to one lucky crafter/designer-maker to be sent to them for free. If you would like to be in with a chance, please leave a comment on this blog post with your name and a way to get in touch with you (email address or link to a site/blog with an easily accessible email address). Also in that comment, please tell us at least one independent designer-maker or small creative business that you admire and why. On Sunday 20th May 2012 at 10pm a winner will be selected using a random number generator and the winner will be contacted. This giveaway is open to anyone living in the UK (sorry international crafters). Any questions about this giveaway (but not entries), please email craftaganza (at) gmail (dot) com.

Good luck!!!

Product Highlight: Amber statement necklace from Lux & Love

Can you believe it’s the 8th of May already? That’s less than a month until the Diamond Jubilee, the long bank holiday weekend, and most importantly, the June Brighton Craftanganza!

In the run-up to the event we’ll be posting lots of product highlights. These are little peeks into what our lovely designers will be selling at the June market, so you can check out their work and do some window shopping in advance.

First up, we have this absolutely stunning statement necklace from Lux and Love.

Isn’t it beautiful? Made from vintage brooches, jewels and pendants, it’s a total one-off piece, and is available now on Lux and Love’s etsy shop for £40.

To find out more about Carola of Lux & Love and the amazing work she creates, read our Meet the Seller interview with her here.

Meet the seller – Kirstin Stride

With her beautiful hand drawn and coloured shrink plastic brooches, Kirstin Stride creates one off pieces of bold yet delicate jewellery, which are totally unique and special. We are pleased to meet you…

Please introduce yourself….

Hello, I’m Kirstin.

Describe the products you currently make to sell
I make hand-drawn bird brooches and hand-drawn tattoo brooches, both of which have a strong vintage/antique style.

I have some big plans for some elaborate bird necklaces soon, so watch this space! www.kirstinstride.com

Where and when do you design and make your products?
When I’m not at my day job which pays my bills, I make my wares in my little flat in Hove – that’s the beauty of shrink plastic, all you need is colouring pencils and a oven!

How long have you been selling your wares and how did it begin?
I think I’ve been making and selling my hand-drawn jewellery for just over a year. I’ve always made things, I used to make fimo jewellery and flog it at school! I was introduced to shrink plastic by one of the artists at Handmade (http://handmadeshopbrighton.blogspot.co.uk/)

I was making and selling my designer toys in Handmade at the time but I wanted to get back into drawing so I gave shrink plastic a go, and here we are.

What drew you to the Brighton area, if you are not a ‘native’?
I used to be dragged around the open houses by my parents when I was younger when we lived in a village in East Sussex. I think it made a big impression on me even though I pretended I hated it at the time! It was either here or London, I love the sea  so there was a clear winner. I’ve been here for over ten years, thats the longest time I’ve ever lived in the same place for and I still feel very lucky to be here.

Any other crafty disciplines you like to practice?
I’m a trained silver-smith, black-smith and leaded light maker.

I’m also a self taught sewer, I used to make and sell my handbags and creatures at the west pier market about 5 years ago.

What inspires the things you make?
My friends, humour and nature.

Personal motto?
Um I don’t really have one, maybe I’ll adopt one from now on, any suggestions?

Ways to stay Creative

Thanks to everyone who applied to sell at the June Brighton Craftaganza. The deadline has now passed for applications. Look out for a full list of sellers on this blog soon, as well as lots of ‘Meet the Seller’ interviews, product highlights, and we have an exciting competition coming up as well!

Until then, here’s a couple of interesting things from the online world to help spark your creativity.

Firstly, this poster design which has been all over pinterest, tumblr, and the rest, and with good reason: it’s 29 handy tips to boost your creativity, by paulzii. Print it out and stick it above your workstation to spark your imagination…

Secondly, here’s a truly brilliant post from The Design Trust on
‘How to avoid being a starving creative’.

It’s all about that tricky intersection between art and money,  a sticky place where lots of people get caught! You should definitely be following The Design Trust on twitter for more advice like this. And while you’re there, make sure you follow Craftaganza too, for all of our latest news.