Showing posts with label reetsweet leeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reetsweet leeds. Show all posts

Monday

Feb Fair Preview: Two amazing ladies...


We have two makers for your perusal today, (I know my generosity knows no bounds!) Jenny and Lucy, two very talented designer/makers who will be sharing a stall at the Feb event on the 2nd. 

Old friends, with big ideas, I think you'll find it hard to pick what to buy from these beauties, I pretty much want it all, as always!...

Coo & Co
The Coo & co brand was established in 2011 as the vehicle for the work of designer/ maker Jenny McCabe.





The mission behind Coo & co is to use natural and where possible recycled and upcycled materials, to make useful and stylish textile items.

All of Coo & co's work is printed and made lovingly by hand one at a time, it is produced in a small studio near the beautiful Lake District in the northwest of England. All our inks are water based and environmentally friendly, we reuse as many off cuts as possible within our designs so nothing is wasted.




Jenny’s designs are inspired by her observations of the natural world, all the designs come from original drawings and are worked with in the sketchbook until a pattern starts to emerge. The choice of fabrics is very important to the style, natural and raw linens and cottons work best, lending their beautiful imperfections to each piece.



Little lost soul
Lucy Pass has worked as a freelance artist since leaving college in 2005, producing commissioned oil paintings and expanding her personal port-folio. Her work is figurative and often interspersed with geometric shapes and blocks of colour. More recently she has rekindled her love of printing and fashion design. This has allowed her to look at her work from a new perspective, taking the strongest sections of her paintings and translating them into simplified, streamlined images. These images can then be printed as repeating patterns or as one distinct design, to be used on a broad range of products.




Not content unless her hands are busy making something, there has never been a time when art hasn’t dominated Lucy’s life. She believes that being surrounded by art and design can only have a positive impact, so making it accessible to everybody, even to the smallest degree, is extremely important.






Wednesday

New maker: The makings of Mrs Bertimus...

Are we enjoying the new chill in the air?  The massive influx of freshers and all the new season's collections, collectables and trends?  I certainly cannot wait to start my christmas shopping as I like to get organised!  This lady may have a few perfect presents...


'Mrs Bertimus loves sketching, (especially dogs that she has surreptitiously papped whilst on her travels).
All the bags, scarves, cushions and other fripperies are one-of-a-kinds, and all the fabrics used are vintage or recycled.
The screen printing inks are water based, (they are kinder to the planet and my kitchen sink!)
Everything is made on my trusty (but a bit rusty,) sewing machine, which was a present I was given when I was thirteen, (I was gutted at the time because I wanted a pair of pedal pushers!)'
'The Makings Of Mrs Bertimus' has a face book page, a blog (letitiathompson.posterous.com) and a little Etsy shop which can be found on mrsbertimus.etsy.com .

Find her at reetsweet october 6th, at Leeds Corn Exchange!

Monday

Oct Fair: new maker 'Pickled tees'





We always strive to give new makers a chance to showcase their work, and we are in love with the artwork that Lisa Pickles aka 'Pickled Tees' sent to us to get into the Oct fair.

'I illustrate and hand screen print my slightly quirky and unique designs onto quality, fashionably fitted Tshirts.
I use environmentally friendly water-based inks that have a nice soft feel on the fabric...'

There is exquisite detail, craziness and awkward femininity in these illustrations and as soon as we saw her submission we thought that Lisa is maker that will definitely be going far in future - just remember you saw her here first!

Tuesday

reetsweet's occasional guide to what to do in leeds when reetsweet isn't on...

so we understand at reetsweet the heartache of going to your nearest city centre (for many of our fans: Leeds) and finding that 1) there's no reetsweet on and b) half the shops you used to like have vanished....so we present to you reetsweet's occasional guide to what to in leeds when reetsweet isn't on...a guide for the stylish and crafty girl/boy about town that's looking for something fun to do!


(mad elizabeth vintage)

vintage shopping
love it or hate it, there are many little vintage haunts to go see in leeds if you like to stay away from the highstreet - may i firstly recommend 'pop boutique vintage', mainly because the staff don't look at you like you just spat in their eye if you ask for help, and it's reasonably priced. i hate rip off vintage. also well worth a trip is 'mad elizabeth vintage' upstairs in our spiritual home - the corn exchange, run by two lovely brummy lasses they won't rip you off either, and they have a great denim selection! the charity shops in headingley by the arndale centre are also well worth a browse...but i prefer to get to know the lovely people in some vintage shops, and let them do the legwork for me in sourcing the stock!


(shaky jakes)


(marvellous tea rooms)


sweet treats
if you are in headingley aka studentville, there's 'shaky jakes' milkshake bar* - a place which takes a bit of milk, and a bit of chocolate, whizzes it together under various recipes and make a little bit of heaven for £2.50. cannot argue with that. there's also the rather fabulous and newly opened 'marvellous tea rooms' in the town centre, just down the road from the corn exchange - housed in 'birds' yard' - an independent shopping hangout (will get to that in a moment!) this is leeds' newest (and only i believe!) tea room! afternoon tea for two is just £18, and you will get to enjoy the crazy vintage decor (look out for the tea cup lamp) and chat to donna and angie - the marvellous tea ladies! cakes start at £2. the brownie is like crack, go carefully my friends...


(candy candy)

independents
sadly in leeds, an endangered species...there's 'bird's yard' home to a veritable treasure trove of vintage, handmade, local designers and also a hair salon! this place is like a maze of cool, they stock tatty devine exclusively in leeds - go and drool! and well worth a look is 'candy candy' in the corn exchange - a burlesque girly girl's dream - 50's style clothing, makeup and toiletries - it's all pretty lovely. upstairs in the corn exchange for the boys i'd highly recommend the award winning 'kiosk78' home to a great selection of understated men's labels such as APC, Carhartt and Folk, they also stock 'kitsune' tees which are amazing.



(yorkshire's best kept secret: ilkley lido)


random places you should know (but keep it to yourself yeah?)
on a sunny day, get out of the city and head to ilkley lido - they have a lido people! - an outdoor pool! it's about £5 for adults to get in and it's just gorgeous vintage day out - it does have to be pretty warm though folks...but on the two days a year it gets warm enough - it's worth the drive! also, i highly recommend saltaire - yorkshire's most vibrant arts town - it boasts salts mill home to david hockney (he has a studio there and still has regular exhibitions there), the amazing saltaire arts trail, and a wealth of cool vintage homeware shops including the house of rose & brown.



(the house of rose & brown)


now don't say we don't look after you! june 2nd is our next fair, at leeds corn exchange on the jubilee weekend - previews will start here shortly!



*i wish i owned a milkshake bar although i may grow 5 dress sizes as i would live off milkshake but at least i'd get my calcium intake up!

Sunday

Reetsweet's Easter Fair: A big thank you!



(foxbunting's brionny chatting to us at reetsweet easter)


Wowsers! There were some amazing makers on show at the easter fair, big thanks to The Corn Exchange for hosting our event, we are back in Leeds on June 2nd.

Head to www.reetsweet.com for more details.
Thanks for visiting and spending your pennies on 100% British Handmade! Meanwhile, here's a few of our top picks from the fair...


(finest imaginary)


(magasin)


(witshop)


(Do you punctuate?)

Tuesday

hello leeds: easter fair preview of Catherine Summers Design





New to reetsweet Catherine Summers is a unique artist working with ceramics and textiles, she produces lovely original illustrations with a sweet and innocent feel. Bunny rabbits, giraffes, pugs and other animals are brought to life in stark black and white designs and used in her tea collection, and also on a range of cushions and toys.

We at reetsweet have a feeling that Catherine (who has only recently graduated as a mature student) will be very popular at this fair so pop down early on april 7th to make sure you get to see the whole range - simply beautiful!


Sunday

hello leeds: easter fair preview of 'the beating arts'



We are very intrigued by our next booking for the leeds april show, on saturday 7th; 'The beating arts' are a Leeds based collective of artists working accross a broad range of mediums - leather, illustration, print and jewellery - the sneaky pictures here show an interesting mix of modern work, stay tuned as we prowl through more previews this week!

To keep up to date with all the blog entries, get alerts for events and news and general chatter please follow @reetsweet.






Monday

Thank you Sheffield!


Thanks to all the lovely customers that came out in force to the Sheffield event on saturday, it was a beautiful sunny day! There were some amazing makers on show, pop over to the facebook page to view the gallery or go to www.reetsweet.com to have a look...






Previews for our next event which is in Leeds @ The Corn Exchange on Sat april 7th, will be starting shortly...see you soon!

Saturday

LIVE BLOGGING: Today's Fair at Leeds Corn Exchange Continued...

(et respice finem)


More of our favourites from the fair today - until 5pm at leeds corn exchange - it's free entry, and prices start at just £2....


(laura shelton)


(liu)


(zinc white)


(becky hodgson)

Sunday

the brilliant lives of reetsweeters continues...

At reetsweet our aim is to promote handmade shopping - providing you the public with a cool and local alternative to mainstream high street shopping - why buy something mass made abroad when you can support british handmade by coming to an ace fair? Exactly. You'd rather get something one of a kind and super cool - some of the best makers in britain are part of our network, just look at some of the press they've been getting - well done to all!

See some of these makers and more at our next fairs - feb in leeds, march in
sheffield and april in leeds...go to www.reetsweet.com for deets...

Fenton have been the darling of the blog scene of late - featured
here on the print & fabric blog, and also on the beautifully designed first2print blog.

Kim of
Finest Imaginary is going from strength to strength also, she has been part of a number of big fairs last season, and has secured some great press with this sunday mirror feature - her 'golden' necklace:




In more jewellery news Rowan of Kitschensink had a piece on the telly box!! On none other than Mr Rusell Kane wore her POW brooch. Nice. And to top it all off her Jezebel necklace was worn by Eliza Doolittle!






Saturday

remember we are back tomorrow dec 4th!

(zinc white)


If you couldn't make it out today - brr! It has been nippy - why not bob down from 11am tomorrow for a little browse and spend? Leeds Corn Exchange - just a short walk from Briggate...


(fenton)


(debbie greenaway)


(e-creations)