Drinks and other opportunities to meet us and get involved!

We’ve been a little quiet on the blog front recently, but rest assured we’ve been anything but idle. Work behind the scenes is approaching fever pitch, with lots of exciting things to share with you very soon!

After our successful round of Makers Meetings (of which more anon) we also wanted to share with you some other opportunities to meet us, fellow makers, potential buyers and other interested parties.

You’re very welcome to come along to as many of these sessions as you want, including our team meetings. Our ambition has always been for Makerhood to be shaped by you, so feel free to pitch in whenever you want, however you want!

Here’s what’s happening when:

Drinks
Tuesday, July 5 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Project Co-ordination Meeting
Saturday, July 2 · 9:30am – 1:00pm
Cafe Roha, 103 Acre Lane

Pre-launch meetings
Saturday, July 9 · 10:00am – 11:00am
Location TBC

Tuesday, July 12 · 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Location TBC

Maker’s Meeting (for new makers joining for launch, added due to requests)
Thursday, July 7, 6.30pm
Cafe Roha, 103 Acre Lane

Feel free to rock up, or better still let us know via Facebook or Twitter that you’re coming, and we’ll keep an eye out for you!

An interview with Tim Sutton

Tim Sutton has had a huge influence on the South London art scene. Tim started the Urban Art Fair on his street a few years ago – it is now the largest alfresco art festival in London. Tim is also behind Lambeth Open, an annual weekend when artists open their studios and workshops for visitors.

So of course when we got a chance to speak to Tim, we grabbed it with both hands. Watch the highlights! Tim talks about his experience of starting art events, becoming an artist himself and his love of Brixton…

Check out Tim’s own work here: http://www.timothysutton.com/

The Urban Art Fair is on 16-17 July, on Josephine Avenue in Brixton

Lambeth Open takes place on 1 – 2 October  all around Lambeth

9 quotes about the ideas behind Makerhood

Some feedback from survey contributors we wanted to share:

“We need to bring back care in this world. I’d like to know that I’ve bought something with a bit of love in it rather than some cheap plastic machine made crap.”

“I love buying handmade goods that someone has put time, thought, effort and love into rather than buying mass-produced rubbish. It’s also really nice to have a one-of-a-kind item rather than something loads of other people own.”

 “I don’t want to end up living in a ‘Tesco clone-town’ where the only choice I have is to shop in chain stores. I want to support local businesses and keep money circulating in the local community.”

“In modern days, we’ve become a total throw-away generation, where everything is built to fail… I think it’s just a terrible waste.”

“I think to keep a vibrant local economy and prevent cloning on high streets and preserve character we should support local business and enterprise.”

“If food-related, it’s good to know exactly where the product has come from and how it has been sourced. If non-food related, it adds to the appeal of a product if you know the story behind it and who has made it.”

“Buying/selling locally is more environmentally sustainable and helps strengthen communities. It’s nice to know your neighbours/ who made your bread/who bought your tablecloth/who makes the best cheese.”

“I feel really passionate about buying locally-made products – it’s so much better for environment and community reasons and I’m becoming more and more disillusioned with buying from supermarkets.”

“Being able to chat directly to the person making the product is a great boon – shopping shouldn’t be a trial! Plus the obvious benefits of less food miles, fresher output, knowing what has gone into the product.”

Can you give us a tenth?

Interview with Sweet View

This is the second in an occasional series of interviews with local people who inspire us.

Sweet View is a new company that offers a series of prints by artist Jack Noel. Rather than covering the usual touristic highlights of the Big Smoke, his work presents a Londoner’s view of life in our capital. Many thanks to Jack and Charlotte for taking the time to answer our top ten questions.

1 ) You meet someone at a party – how do you describe Sweet View to them?

We’d say Sweet View is a little company that sells prints of Jack’s drawings of each of the inner London boroughs.

2 ) Where did the idea come from?
Jack has loads of sketchbooks full of doodles of his surroundings. We realised that some of these sketches were actually quite lovely drawings of little slices of London.

One sketch – a Trafalgar Square panorama – he coloured and had framed. This became the basis for the Westminster print and the starting point for the whole project.

We love London and particularly our own little corner of Lambeth and knew others were affectionate for their local area too. We felt we could offer them affordable artwork that was unique, non-cliched and would allow them to display that affection on the walls of their homes.

3 ) Jack, how did you get into illustration and design?
I started by spending three years toiling through a degree in mathematics. I have always been a doodler and throughout my university time was no different.

I eventually emerged with a 2:2 degree and a pile of cartoons drawn in margins, and I decided to focus on the latter.

4 ) You’ve a very distinctive style – how did you go about developing this?
My sketchbooks have a loose, natural feel with lots of scribbly bits and half drawn people that I couldn’t finish before they moved.

I’ve tried to make this a positive thing and let things remain for the final prints. All the Sweet View drawings are done from life – there isn’t really any other way.

Brixton market where Atlantic Road meets Electric Avenue

5 ) And in terms of Sweet View, how did you decide to go about organising and selling prints?
We decided to make Sweet View a largely digital business, so we sell the prints online and most of our publicity comes from blogs and online publications.

But we do also attend the occasional market around London, so that people can come and see the prints in person before buying, if they prefer.

6 ) If you knew what you know now, would you do anything differently?
Financial records have been surprisingly challenging!

If we could turn back the clock we might seek more advice on recording our finances in a professional way. It turns out homemade financial spreadsheets can rapidly become very complicated.

7 ) What are you plans for the next year?
We will have the complete set of 12 prints finished by the end of the 2011. We are hoping to launch the eighth and ninth print in June so we are steadily getting there.

8 ) After you’ve done prints of all the inner London Boroughs, what’s your next challenge?
We could go on making London prints forever, there’s so much to celebrate. We’d also like to maybe look at other cities in England and the rest of Europe.

9 ) How do you think Makerhood could support your work and fit into your vision?
We love Makerhood’s focus on local shopping and trading.

Our mission with Sweet View is to provide artwork specific to a local area, so the whole concept of Makerhood matches perfectly with our vision.

10 ) I’ve read this and I love the sound of Sweet View. How can I find out more?
Do visit our website at www.sweetview.co.uk. You can also follow Jack on Twitter on @jackdraws and join our mailing list by emailing info@sweetview.co.uk.

Bonus question: If you were to share a top insider tip for someone new to Brixton and the surrounding area, what would it be?
In the summer go to Brockwell Lido early on a hot day and spend the whole day there. The water’s icy and you have to sunbathe on concrete but the atmosphere is pure holiday fun.

Two new Makers’ Meetings added

Due to popular demand we’ve added two new dates to the diary.

  • Saturday 18 June, 10am – 11.30am at Cafe Roha 103 Acre Lane, Brixton
  • Thursday 23 June, 6.30pm, also at Cafe Roha.

Each session lasts about 90 mins. They are very informal, and designed to give you an opportunity to explore the Makerhood (beta) website, find out more about the project, meet the team and see how you could be a part of this exciting new online – and offline – community.

We’ve had a great response from our first two Makers’ Meetings, including the fact that many local makers love the chance to meet people like them who are doing creative things.

So, as well as finding out more about Makerhood, these sessions are also a chance for you to grow your network and meet interesting local people with similar passions and interests to you.

We’ll post more about what we’ve learned from the sessions in due course. In the meantime, find out more these sessions – including the other dates available – here.

Do sign up, tell your friends, and come along!  We look forward to meeting you.

Interview with local artist, Pam Williams

Pam is an inspiration to us at Makerhood. She’s a terrific artist and has been a great source of friendship, support and advice as we have developed our ideas over the past year. So, who better than to kick off an irregular series of interviews with “people who inspire us”?

Kindly taking time out from her busy schedule to talk to us about drawing, running away to Greece, and how South London has changed in recent years, here’s Pam’s answers to our most probing questions.

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1) Art appears to be in your blood. Is it something you wanted to do from an early age?

I went to 13 schools due to my father’s profession. It was the only subject that had any continuity!

2) You’ve sketched and painted a lot of events and festivals. How does this differ from your other work? I would imagine it’s quite challenging?

The main challenge is to be super disciplined. To produce great results…which is expected ….while keeping up with the events program. It’s very demanding.

3) You run a lot of workshops. How did you get into this?

By default. In the ’70s, I used to teach on the side, for bill money. I now have 30 years experience as well as up to date teachers training. It was important to experiment with myself and skills so, worked as a freelance from day one. Not great re a regular pay cheque!

4) We note that a number of these are in Italy. What draws you to that part of the world?

That environment is a perfect place to develop thoughts and activities in beautiful surroundings….

I always liked the bright sunny postcards from Europe and wanted to see if it was real. At 25yrs, I went to Greece with £30 I had saved up, working at the local village pub for a month, to see how people lived out there. The sun was real and the long meals, wonderfully sociable. Italy is the revival of that very happy time in Greece.

5) Lest we forget, of course, your home and studio is in South London. As an artist what’s its appeal?

Having a solid base of my own…..it could have been anywhere.

6) Has the area changed a lot since you moved here in 1991?

100%.  In 1991 it was uncared for, people felt and looked hopeless. The main street near me, was known, London wide, as the place to buy drugs…..not cool…at all….Fortunately, it was nothing compared to living in New York in the 80s. Now the community is beginning to grow ‘together’ and ‘up’ in a fascinating and positive way.

7) How do you think Makerhood could support your work and fit into your vision?

Makerhood is a gift from ‘whomever your God is’, if you are an independent artist. Makerhood could become the perfect business partner to help market local (more personal) products. In the making, it already looks well designed and could provide a secure online platform to advertise and sell within Brixton.

8 ) You seem to be passionate not just about the area, but art in general. How did you get involved in The Big Draw?

I was tired of working alone and wondered if others shared my passion… to revive the power of drawing in our society. So, I signed up as a volunteer in 2004. Have been a strong supporter and c ever since.

What would be your advice to any inspiring artists?

Draw something everyday. Choose a pen/pencil you like and stick with it until you can control it and every mark it can make.

9) If you could be anywhere, bar South London, right now sketching and doing watercolours, where would you be?

Mmmm, in reality?, at the moment… Exploring a North London borough, known for its street market. Every community is unique… Capturing the mix of people and mood of living and working together… There is always humour…

To sketch and paint….On a riverboat in the midst of a Thai river market, capturing the speed and colour of transactions from the boats to the land market traders? the prize… buying and trying their delicious food. the promise of perks help me to concentrate and their energy would fire mine.

10) How can people find out more about you and your work?

www.pamwilliams.co.uk

Send me a message from the site with their email to add to a list for future exhibitions or news update.

Bonus question: If you were to share a top insider tip for someone new to Brixton and the surrounding area, what would it be?

Sign up to everything Brixton…Get involved, even if you don’t like meetings….you will meet locals of all types….start off friendships and understand Brixton from the inside out….volunteer….at your own pace…you will be part of the community and feel at home, not a stranger in a box in London.

Makerhood survey – key conclusions

We recently ran a survey to ask people what they thought about the Makerhood concept and the ideas which underpin it. In this post, we’ll provide some of the key feedback we got from the 106 people who completed the online survey. You can also see some nice graphs / more detailed results here.

Why this mattered to us

The survey has helped to reinforce much of what we have learnt from previous offline research; reflecting attitudes which show a strong interest in local goods, local issues, handmade/crafts, and environmental concerns arising from how people shop – and what they buy.

But it has also given us a strong steer about how these attitudes might manifest themselves via a local website. Your feedback and ideas are therefore integral to refining the vision for Makerhood, as well as the features the full website (launching soon!) will offer.

Conclusion 1: Lots of support towards buying and selling local goods

  • 100% respondents said they are interested in buying local goods
  • 39% were interested in selling things they made

The key reasons for wanting to “buy local” included:

  1. supporting the community
  2. reducing environmental impact
  3. supporting local economy
  4. encouraging creativity locally

There was also a widespread belief that local products were often more interesting, fresher, unique, and often had a strong story behind them. Respondents were also keen on the idea of having a face-to-face relationship with a real person, which they saw as the anti-thesis of department stores/supermarkets, mass production, and the “throw-away”
economy.

Conclusion 2: Local means different things to different people

  • 72% defined local as goods “made in their neighbourhood”
  • 72% also defined local as “goods made in your town”.  (People could choose more than one option.)
  • Only 18% agreed that “made in the UK” constituted local.

Where we gave people space to say more, some felt that local should be:

  • “within 1 mile of where I live”
  • all of Lambeth
  • London and its surrounding environs

Views varied for a number of reasons, including a recognition that some products are hard to make in London, such as dairy or certain agricultural items. But, generally speaking, the consensus seemed to be “buy local” or “as close to local” as you can.

Conclusion 3: Buying local can be difficult, and this prevents people from doing so (even when they want to)

Around 75% said they didn’t buy as much locally as they’d like to (only 6% said they do), primarily because of the problem of finding local products. This of course is where Makerhood comes in!

Main reasons for not buying local goods:

  • I don’t know where to look (55%)
  • Cost (38%)
  • Time (33%)
  • Choice (32%)

The results also suggested that many people try to shop from small local providers / shops but they are unsure about how much is actually made locally vs. simply being transported from other areas. It’s a moot point.

Conclusion 4: Makerhood Brixton can play a role in supporting local makers and community needs

When we asked users how they might use a local online marketplace, the overwhelming response was to buy gifts (84%).

One-off purchases such as furniture (65%)  and everyday necessities like food and toiletries (56%) were also popular.

However, it was clear that community and social relationships are also an important part of this mix.

  • 84% told us they would use Makerhood to find out what’s going on in the area
  • 57% wanted to find out about the people who make things (so descriptions and stories are important part of the marketplace)

Conclusion 5: Frequency of use will depend on products

What Makerhood offers, both in terms of choice and quality, are clearly key issues for potential buyers, but in principle the majority of respondents suggested that they would use the site once a month (38%) or once a week (31%).

What happens next

We are going to continue to pore over what you’ve told us, and of course we also have a number of upcoming sessions with potential sellers, which will offer us some great opportunities to garner further feedback and ideas.

We’re aware that the survey isn’t statistically representative due to small size and the likely bias among respondents towards supporting local goods compared to average population. But we think it’s a fascinating and useful snapshot nonetheless.

Thanks again to everyone who took part – and do keep those ideas coming!

If you are a maker, grower or artist and would like to join in, come to Makers’ Meetings

Hamper winner

I’m trying to channel my inner Hot Chocolate and say that everyone’s a winner (baby), but on this occasion that’s simply not true.

On Thursday night we put 106 numbered pieces of paper in a hat (each number corresponded to an entrant to our recent survey) and pulled out a winner.

Entrant number 50, and the winner of a lovely hamper from the Brixton deli CornerCopia, is Jessica Cargill Thompson from East Dulwich.

Well done Jessica!

Some of you may know Jessica from her excellent blog, How to be Unemployed the White Collar Way, and she’s also the co-author of The Midlife Manual.

We’ve been busy absorbing Jessica’s comments, and those from other survey entrants, we’ll be sharing the highlights from this soon.

But, in the meantime, congrats again to Jessica – and a big thank you to everyone else who entered the survey and shared their views with us.