I'm so busy getting this new Online Handmade for Christmas thing off the ground, that it's only just occurred to me that any new subscribers to the Workhouse Chapel site might be wondering what it's all about...
Hello! - I'm Rose and I'll try to explain...
This little Victorian Chapel is just over the road from our home, and it so needed someone to care for it - so we did. We gave it a kitchen and a loo, a mezzanine floor, a mahoosive woodburner, a capacious logstore and lots of love - in return it has given me the most fabulous studio workspace (I'm a textile artist) and the opportunity to grow a wonderful little business.
The very first year of our story together, we decided to 'do' a Christmas Craft Fair. Looking back, we were lucky to pull it off, but folk seemed to love the building, the fire, the welcome, the fun. And they've continued to love our Handmade for Christmas event ever since. Each year the show has grown, both in exhibitor and in visitor numbers. We think we provide the best welcome and the friendliest banter, not to mention a curiously curated collection of the very finest hand-crafted, original and beautiful goodies to be found anywhere in the West. And then there's an indecent amount of nonsense and laughter...
Everything for sale is handmade by some of the most unique and inventive people I know - a band of friends, united by a passion for real skill and craftsmanship. We're deadly serious about what we do - just not about ourselves ;-) If you love the sepulchral hush of white-space galleries, Handmade for Christmas may not be for you. If you love superb craftsmanship and design - the beautiful, unusual and unique - local enterprise - sitting by the fire with a cuppa - a chat and a laugh - good company, then this is most definitely the place for you.
Oh! But I'm so sorry.... We're not doing it that way this year.... I am doing my utmost to inject just a little of the spirit of the piece into the new H4C Online. Hopefully you'll get an idea of what we (ab)normally do at this time of year. And hopefully next year we can be both virtual and real in equal measure.
I've probably rambled on quite enough for now - must get back to loading my cloud with virtual goodies.
Remember H4C Online will be up on Nov 1st - also remember that most items are one-offs. If it's sold, it's gone. I'll be restocking whenever I get an hour to spare, so it's worth popping back to check every day or so... keep an eye on the Bargain Bazaar ;-)