Birmingham Vintage Fair 25th June 2011

We are proud to support the upcoming Birmingham Vintage & Arts Fair in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter!

BVF wants to encourage people to buy from local traders and for that to result in repeat business through ongoing opportunities.

June’s event will include:

Vintage & pre-loved (all eras)
Shabby chic
Handmade (Yay!! That’s YOU!!)
Clothes, accessories and home furnishings
Artists colony (Yay!) and creative workshop (<– run by our lovely Francine)
Live music
Make up and hair experts

The event has a 1970s theme with a festival vibe.

The coffee lounge is open for business serving hot and cold drinks, cakes and refreshments all from local suppliers so customers can sit down and enjoy the music and linger a little longer around the booths.

Saturday 25th June
11am – 5pm (set up starts at 10.15am)
Stan’s Café (off St Paul’s Square)

To be part of this, please get in touch with Rickie for a booking form; see more details here.

There’s a reduced rate for the first 10 traders to sign up, so go get your skates on!

Hope to see you all in June!

Thank you & we’ll be back soon!

Last weekend saw a special installment of the Handmade Market for Valentine’s Day. We had a great day down at the Bullring Open Markets; lovely visitors, lots of handmade goodies to browse and buy and we had such glorious sunshine all day long!
(It definitely made the memories of snow-covered marquees seem long gone!)

We’ve had a great response from shoppers, really valuing the alternative, handmade and bespoke offer our market brings to the City Centre. Nothing quite says “I love you” as something carefully picked, specially made and unique to you!

We have also really enjoyed hanging around with all you crafty types again for a whole day! It was brilliant to see what new ideas you have been working on and getting inspired in the process!

So really we would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who dropped by & all of you who took part! (& Everyone who shouted about it on Twitter/Facebook.. Brilliant!!! Really warms our souls!)

So, what’s next?

Squirrel by Slightly Triangle

You may have heard about the Bullring’s Spiceal Street development kicking in on 3^rd March 2011, which means the area around St Martin’s Square and the steps down to the Markets will become a building site until the Winter.

We have therefore decided to not book any further dates as are now looking to relocate the Handmade Market!

Of course in the meantime, any thoughts, comments & encouragement are very welcome!

Birmingham can thrive!

Hi Artists and Supporters

Birmingham can Thrive

We hope you would agree, since launching as a pilot location last August, the Handmade Birmingham Designer-Makers Arts Market has proved to be a highly successful and a vibrant addition to the City Centre cultural experience.

By the end of the past 6 months, and having trialled at a number of other profile locations around the city centre, Rotunda, Pigeon Park etc, the evidence is that currently Edgbaston Street is perhaps not the ideal regular City Centre location for our high value Arts & Craft Market.

Key indicators for a successful City Centre arts market is that they operate in the way of their natural customer and obviously the balanced ratio between turnover and cost.  In the main, we seem only to exceed these indicators when operating from the more profile City Centre locations. Unquestionable is the determination and commitment shown by Birmingham artists to grow the capacity of Edgbaston Street as a regular location for the HMB Market, even when sales were not at their best.

Like us, many of you will have recently learned that St Martin’s Square will soon undergo an exciting major remodelling programme March-Nov (Spiceal Street Development) http://tiny.cc/ihhp0 The impact of this development will however make our ability to attract our natural customer base down onto Edgbaston street and thus our current location unviable.

For these reasons we have asked the City Centre Partnership to work with us to find an alternative City Centre location for Handmade Birmingham, at least for the next 12 months. We know from our various trials that the ideal locations for a higher value Artisan Market such as Handmade Birmingham are New Street, Victoria Square and Chamberlin Square etc. Though genuinely supportive, it has however been made clear to us that there are no plans or vision for a regular open-air artisan market such as Handmade Birmingham in these locations. A number of alternative locations have been suggested but none at present that we think viable. As an alternative and should a suitable venue exist, we are also looking at the possibilities for an indoor City Centre Arts Market???

From the outset our aims have been to play our part in expanding the local ‘Arts & Craft’ side of the city-region creative industries, and to support Birmingham’s reputation as a arts and cultural destination.

At this point we would very much welcome your thoughts, ideas and support via our facebook Page or by leaving your feedback at the bottom of this post. Other than this, should there be any, we shall update as soon as we have any news…..

Daniel Cremin

Handmade 12 Feb: SL Recycled Fused Glass

Designer-maker Sarah Whapples uses a variety of recycled glass to create her unique decorative artwork. Her wall hangings, jewellery and framed art are made from for example: shed windows, greenhouse glass, picture frame glass and broken car windscreens, inserting the glass with metal & coloured glass  and fusing the designs in a kiln.

Come find a unique SL Recycled Fused Glass item at tomorrow’s Handmade Market!

Handmade 12 Feb: Berry Beads

Berry Beads style is big and bold, fine and elegant and everything in between. There’s something here for every budget and if you don’t see what you are looking for, Designer-maker Lydia Berry takes commissions. She is also working on a bridal range of her jewellery, so if you have something special in mind… it’s worth to have a chat!

You can find Berry Beads at the Handmade Market tomorrow, Saturday 12th February!

Free Handmade Birmingham Tote

That’s right! We’ll be giving away our lovely squirrel print totes this Saturday to the first lovely 20 people who come to visit our Handmade Market!

Simply download the voucher, print at home and bring it along on Saturday morning to redeem at Gosia Weber Handmade‘s stall.

We look forward to seeing you happy shoppers!!

Handmade 12 Feb: Worry Bears

Worry Bears’ little creatures are designed to be held in your hand and to help you relax. Each bear is made individually by hand, fired twice and hand painted. The bears are finally joined together with wire giving them jointed arms and legs.

You can sit your bear anywhere, on your desk, by the side of your bed, in your car, keep him in your pocket or handbag, wherever you need a friend.

You can find Worry Bears this Saturday at the Handmade Market and anyone buying a bear will receive a free handmade fabric heart!

Handmade 12 Feb: Handmade Charlie

The jewellery pieces by designer-maker Charlotte Deeley are inspired by the reuse of vintage prints. Delicate fabrics and papers are collected for their pattern and colour, and are carefully preserved beneath a layer of clear resin. Each Sterling Silver piece of jewellery contains a tiny snippet of pattern, making every piece an individual.

Other figurative items are delicately cut from brass and have a brushed finish. These creatures will look magical on an evening out!

Find Handmade Charlie at our Handmade Market on Saturday 12th February!

Handmade 12 Feb: Victoria Plum

Victoria Plum‘s fabric treasures are made with a variety of techniques and materials, such as collage, stitching ribbon, textiles, stamps, origami paper, buttons and beads. She describes her work as “quirky with a vintage style”.

Pop round on Saturday 12th February to see for yourself!

Handmade 12 Feb: Kist Jewellery

If you’re after something cute with a vintage charm to it, then look no further than the collection of Kist Jewellery. Designer-maker Donna Flanagan aims to create unusual pieces sourcing quirky beads and pendants and some vintage components to ensure you receive a truly enchanting piece of handmade jewellery.

As all her designs are handmade she’s also able to offer a bespoke service for you to have something totally original and designed just for you.

You can find Kist Jewellery at our Handmade Market on Saturday 12th February!