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!

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

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

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

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

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!!

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!

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!

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

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!