Season’s Greetings!
With 3 more weeks left in the year, it’s definitely a time to reflect, spend some time with loved ones and be thankful for all the wonderful things the year has brought us.
We hope that 2016 has been kind and generous to you, and would like to say a big Thank You to all the makers and market goers who have supported us this year! Your creativity and dedication to your passions are what inspires us to keep growing year after year and we hope 2017 will continue to strengthen this AWESOME community.
As you know, we absolutely love our local makers and strive to provide a platform where those who are just starting out can join the community, interact directly with their customers and build relationships with other creatives in the space.
In that spirit, we asked one of our favourite makers, Susan from Spin Spin, to tell us about her journey to becoming such a successful designer/ceramist/blogger/photographer. I know we’ve featured Susan before, but one blog post is not enough to cover the inner workings of such an amazing woman!
What does being a maker means to you?
For me, being a maker means you're intimately involved in every step of the process, and are often doing it all alone. That's fine by me - I love being hands-on and getting to work on lots of different things - from updating my Instagram feed and website to mixing custom ink colours and sketching out new ideas. I'm trying to plan a bit more now, so thinking ahead about what I want to be doing differently, what I can get others to help out with. And I think collaborations are a really nice way of developing your work and working with others.
Will there be a new line of products/projects coming up?
I'm brainstorming a new range at the moment but it's all a bit up in the air. I like patterns to work together as well as being able to stand alone, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so things can take forever! All I know at this stage is there will be a lot more hand-drawn work. I'm also working on a little collaboration, details to be revealed soon.
As a successful designer yourself, do you have any advice for those wanting to get into the creative industry full-time?
Ha, I'd say I'm always working to get better but I'm far from 'there' yet! And I don't work on my stuff full-time... I would say you need to have a really clear idea of your values, what makes you/your work unique and what you can offer that others might be interested in. I'm not sure if having a business plan is vital (so many super successful small business owners have said they never had one!) but having a set of short, medium and long-term goals is really helpful - it means you've got a rough map and can start heading in the right direction.
Would you recommend starting with local markets and going from there?
Doing markets, small and large, is generally a really great way of developing your work, seeing if people are into what you're doing, if you've got your pricing right etc. It's certainly not easy and some markets can get very expensive, but you'll get feedback, positive and negative, that will help you move forward. And it's the best kind of marketing there is - you talking directly to the people who are going to buy your work.
Our December Twilight Market 2016 poster designed by Susan
What great advice from Susan! As the organizers, we hope that makers have a great time at our markets and are able to build and connect with their audience in a really personal and intimate environment.
Our last market of the year is the Twilight Market on Thursday Dec 15th! There’ll be heaps of holiday themed packaged foods, wine, jewellery, accessories, toys, homeware, candles and art to choose from. Head on over to our Facebook or Insta pages to get updates - I know that’s where I’ll be getting my Chrissie gifts!
xo