Beanie Love!

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Picks from the Gift Guide!

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We interview Tania about 'Shop Handmade Australia'!

Tell us a little bit about your website?

The Shop Handmade Australia blog and associated Facebook page caters to the Australian shopper and lover of handmade. They seek items that are lovingly produced in the homes/workshops of hard working people around Australia; items which are not available in mainstream stores; items which are made with love and a creative spark, and delivered with excellent customer service and care. Items which are contemporary, beautiful, whimsical and original.

 SHA is discerning and aims to facilitate a genuine connection of buyer to artist in a meaningful way. We are not a store; just a doorway into the handmade community. Here, people connect with Aussie crafting businesses and artists who will tell about their sales, specials, events, auctions, new products, markets and more. In addition, we work hard to inform about handmade news as well as shopping guides, interviews, competitions and more.

For the seller, SHA is an extension to their own online stores, market stands, blogs and Facebook pages; helping them increase their reach to potential buyers. For the buyer, it provides quality, short, sharp and easy to digest information about Australian handmade businesses; connecting them to products they are interested in and helping them to benefit from sales and special events.

When/why did you open your website?
We are quite new, with our first blog post published on 20 April 2011. It is the sister site to The Contemporary Handmade Alliance; a blog and Facebook page which I have been operating since May 2010. Where the CHA is an information and support source for the handmade maker, SHA is an information source for the handmade buyer. It just made sense to address both sides of the industry.

What is the favourite part about running your website?
Seeing it grow, be well received and achieving its goals, with the industry genuinely benefitting from the hard work I put in! At the time of writing this, we have collected over 770 follows on Facebook in just 10 days; thanks largely to people in the industry who have thrown their support behind it and spread the word. I love that; it makes me happy.

Why do you love handmade so much?
I love what the handmade community stands for; a return to our roots, a sense of community, kindness to the earth, support for our local economy, people working from home whilst being with their families, people expressing their creative spirits and following their passions. If we could all find a way to do what makes us truly happy, the world would be a happier place.

Name 5 reasons why your visitors keep coming back to your website?
Handmade, community, quality, connection, benefit


Shop Handmade Australia
BLOG, Facebook Page

Contemporary Handmade Australia
BLOG, Facebook Page

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Tess McCabe talks with us about the Creative Women’s Circle - a Melbourne Collective for Creative Women

Tell us a little bit about your collective?
The Creative Women’s Circle is a group of women working in creative industries. We hold regular events featuring an invited speaker in a creative field, and she shares with us the challenges and opportunities she has faced in her career, and offers advice and insight into running a successful business as a creative woman. The events are informal and a fun way for creative women to network, share their information and resources, and learn from the experiences of other women who are balancing work, family, their creative pursuits outside of a ‘day job’, and everything in between.

When/why did you start your collective?
Interior & accessories designer Dearne Herrenberg (www.mainichi.blogspot.com) started the group in 2004. She organised a small group of Melbourne-based women and they met every couple of months to discuss their businesses and share their creative work. I joined the group (after hearing about it online) upon moving to Melbourne in 2007. As a graphic designer working in-house at a government department, I wanted to connect with other like-minded women who enjoyed design & craft, and to experience and discover the creative hubs of the new city I lived in.

When Dearne had her son in 2008, I offered to take over the organising of the CWC. The group had helped and supported me a lot as I ventured out to start my own graphic design business (www.tessmccabe.com.au), and I could see the group’s potential to reach many more women in Melbourne and help them on their creative business journeys.

Since then, the CWC has evolved to regular events with an invited speaker, a larger audience and an active blog – and our database of talented ladies just keeps growing.

Above image taken by Pauline Abordi www.paulineabordiphotography.com.au

What is the favourite part about running your collective?
Hearing the career stories of successful and interesting business women who I respect and admire is a fantastic thing. But just as fun is meeting the women who attend the talks. Our events are quite casual but with a fabulous energy. The women who attend our events are engaged in all sorts of creative businesses, from photography to jewellery design, retail, graphic design, styling and fashion - at both amateur and professional levels, start-ups and established ventures.

It can be isolating working for oneself, and despite the active blog and social networking community in Melbourne (and internationally), nothing beats meeting up with people face-to-face and sharing an inspiring experience.

Above image taken by Pauline Abordi www.paulineabordiphotography.com.au

Why do you love craft/art/design/handmade?
It’s in my blood. My mum has always made things (her passion when I was growing up was patchwork quilting, which she taught extensively and even wrote a book on the subject). My dad also has a keen eye for quality and well-designed products, especially in print as his background is in publishing.

Like most creatives, I’ve always had the need to make things for myself, and I get immense satisfaction from doing so. In terms of my career, I fell in love with graphic design at a young age and looking back, it was so obvious that it was the career for me. I’m sure my primary school teachers would not be surprised to learn I do it for a living now – my school projects were always presented in an overly artistic way .

I think the best thing about handmade products, is that they have not been ‘market tested’ or factory-made, aren’t bland or a carbon copy of another product. Most often than not, handmade products are imbued with a sense of passion for good design, attention to detail and a story to accompany it, which makes it worth so much more than a chain-store bought version.

Name 5 reasons (single words) why your creatives should join the collective?
Resources. Motivation. Insight. Encouragement. Community.

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For more information on the collective please visit www.creativewomenscircle.com.au or www.facebook.com/creativewomenscircle

Autumn Finds

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New Finds on Craftumi

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Picks from the Gift Guide!

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For more ideas visit the gift guide

.....................................................................................................
Visit madeit.com.au for more handmade goodies