Today's confession: Reetsweet is a knitwear stalker.

 

A few years ago we set up reetsweet because my friends and I were sick of two things - 1) bad craft fairs aka 'crap crafts' full of stuff that wasn't handmade and wasn't even nice and 2) we wanted to meet other makers and bring handmade to the highstreet!

Around this time one of us bought our friend a scarf from Knit & Destroy and thus our mission to one day have Kandy come to reetsweet was born and this year she's with us for the christmas show no less. OMG. Yes, we said OMG....you can expect crazy knitting and PERFECT GIFTS. Oh yeah.

April Event: New Maker 'Dual Nation' Jewellery

Way back in 2002 Tatty Devine in London kickstarted a revolution in modern jewellery, using plastics, and bold bright colours, they have inspired a generation of makers to think outside of the box and make fun, quirky, individual pieces that are affordable to all. As a big fan of this kind of thing at reetsweet, we were super excited to welcome on board Zoe, the designer/maker behind 'Dual Nation' jewellery...

'Dual Nation is an up-and-coming jewellery label spearheaded by designer and maker, Zoë Alexandria Richardson.  Draped in silver and adorned with bells, her love of jewellery stemmed from a young age and having already completed degrees in fashion design and marketing, Zoë then enrolled in a diploma of creative jewellery making at the London Jewellery School.
Focusing on handmade, statement pieces, Dual Nation draws inspiration from both British and Australian heritage.


Each piece of Dual Nation jewellery is lovingly handcrafted and we don’t mass produce. Our collections are created in small production runs as we believe in individuality and strive to create bold and curious jewellery that won’t be seen anywhere else. Our products also come beautifully packaged, making Dual Nation jewellery perfect for gifts or as a special treat to yourself.'

New maker preview: Becci Maryanne at the april event

I am so excited about the next event, I mean, I get excited about them all, but in april there's always a little more spring in everyone's step, the weather's getting nicer, the days longer and the heating needs to be put on less, I just love it. I am also in love with a new artist that will be with us on april 6th, her wonderfully weird and pretty work will definitely be something I'll be hanging on my walls this year;

'I’m Becci Maryanne – an illustrator/artist based in Leeds. I am somewhat obsessed with science magazines and evolution and things like that. I guess that as a result of that fascination, I’ve grown sort of obsessed with nature! 

I think that a lot of popular art now tries to make a statement. Which is fine - but mine doesn’t. I get asked all the time what my things mean. They mean nothing beyond the fact that I think that animals are stunning and ridiculously awesome. I like to imagine the lives that they have. It's shit to think that a bird just sits around all day waiting to die. I prefer the idea that when he's singing in the morning, he's actually yelling at his Mrs because she didn't come home last night and he heard from Tony that she was at Paul's. That's why I make the things I do. I like the idea that my art is just fun - it makes people smile and it’s weird/intriguing to look at. 

People can make up their own minds about what it means or what’s actually even happening in it! I much prefer that level of interactivity. I use mainly ink and watercolour to make my paintings, but sometimes I'll very lightly collage - generally I use science magazines, just to sort of fit in with everything else. I like the fact that my paintings of animals are sort of wrapped in people writing about the science behind animals.'

saying thankyou! (despite the weather)

 

(sophie wilson illustration)

Things have been a bit quiet around here as we have been booking in the Oct show for Leeds, organising some festival dates and planning in some new cities for 2013...so sorry we weren't around!

Summer has been a great time to take stock of what's going on in the crafty scene, and to look forward to what we want reetsweet to achieve...

I began reetsweet in 2009 with help from my friend Emily (who taught me press releases!), the support of many people, and encouraged by many folk - Michelle Duxbury gave me a ton of advice, John Baron from The Guardian helped me spread the word, as did Darren from 'mylifeinleeds'... And of course there's been the people at The Corn Exchange, and the other venues who have welcomed us in,the amazing makers up and down the land who have taken part and of course, all the super nice customers too!

I hope that you still enjoy our little art fairs, and we hope to keep bringing you our unique take on the craft fair genre and making it bigger and more interesting! 

Here's a preview of some of the lovely things we're taking to our very first festival next week - Kendal Calling (just click photos to buy online!).

Big love

Becki

x

 

(helen memo print)

 (kitschensink jewellery)

(jodie anna jewellery)

(louise smurthwaite by moonko)

june fair: new maker preview stephanie lawson

At reetsweet we love working with and promoting new local talent; Stephanie Lawson is new to reetsweet, only 19 and from newcastle, currently still studying her in 2nd year of Graphic Design at the prestigious Leeds College of Art.

 

'My work is very much influenced by my surroundings, if a song happens to be played whilst I have pen or paper, or if someones drinking or eating something I get an immediate want to draw it!'


She describes her work as light hearterd and decorative, primarily illustrative, working in range of medias, she says she is most influenced by Kate Sutton - through her hand rendered typography.  For reetsweet she will selling a range of cards and lovely summery screen printed totes, she hopes to one day open a store of her own to sell her work.  You can view her online portfolio here.

Our fair will be at leeds corn exchange on sat june 2nd from 10 to 5pm - see you there to take a peek at Stephanie's work!

june fair: maker profile sophie wilson

I can tell you the moment I fell in love with Sophie Wilson, it was at an exhibition a couple of years ago, trying on moustaches in her 'know before you grow' exhibit - I went for a classic black curly (no 74).  I picked up her card, and I think I tried to persuade her to get involved with reetsweet via email - she did, and at christmas last year we hosted her design + print stall and she has had great success.

What people love about Sophie - who is only 20 and still has a year of studying to go, is that all her work has a profound humour to it, and is uplifting without being cheesy. She wasn't initially drawn to art - she had a penchant for drama, and it was only late on in her school career, she decided to apply for Art & Design at College and was chuffed when she received a place and found that illustration and design was what she really loved and went on to study BA (Hons) Graphic Design at Leeds College of Art.

 

Musically she loves Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, The Smiths, Beirut and Regina Spektor, and enjoys the accordion - Yann Tiersen is a big love of hers as her boyfriend actually plays the accordion himself.  Blessed with some hilarious  friends, Sophie says that it is through them that she channels a lot of my inspiration and energy for her work.

 

 

'I like design to be quite clean, but sometimes a little decorative and quite pretty too. Some of my favourite designers and illustrators include Olly Moss, Robbie Porter, Gemma Correll and so many more (I could genuinely go on for hours).'

She will be finishing Uni soon, then she hopes to go into freelance design, specialising in print and illustration, and hopefully still making people smile. Aside from design, she is hoping to get a tortoise, and she will call him Winston...we like this girl's style and priorities!

june fair: bear follows cat returns...

Fresh from living and working in Berlin, Bear Follows Cat aka Phillipa returns to reetsweet for the june event to show us more of her intricate and original papercuts and screenprints.

She has now introduced a series of homewares including cushions and you can also shop online at her lovely folksy shop which has a selection of her woodland creature artworks for sale...they make us want to marry a deer and live in wood...

reetsweet returns to leeds for the final time this year - this weekend!

Hello reetsweeters, it's been a busy year of craft with us - and this weekend is your final chance to grab a unique piece of handmade for your christmas list! Returning reetsweeter Debbie Greenaway - 'The imagination of lady snail' is back to tempt you into her world of fun characters, and lots of print based awesomeness with a modern twist:

'I am an illustrator and printmaker. Currently living in my hometown of Huddersfield. I have recently returned to full-time self-employment (illustration) but I am still holding on to the strings of my part-time job. My work starts out in my sketchbook and through constant doodling and story sentence writing, I try to develop characters from various things I may have seen or heard. I often take my camera and sketchbook out and about with me and draw from outside observation, overheard conversations or from my imagination.

Screen-printing is my favourite way of working and put my designs on to paper or fabric or anything else I can find, to create an assortment of items including limited edition prints, purses, stitched illustrations, badges, cards and bags. At the moment I am working on drawing people, characters with musical instruments, in the hope of creating a fictional band, some colourful images of a narrative nature and a illustrated book of sorts.'

Debbie's work has recently been showcased by Folksy! But we've known about her amazing talents for ages ;-)