Upcycling and recycling are terms that we are all familiar with and they feature more and more in the media and for good reason, after all every one of us has a responsibility for the future of our beautiful planet.
The British Craft Trade Fair has always supported upcycling and it is now very much on trend, consumer awareness has increased massively with the environmental issues that surround us all. Re use of our waste materials has been around now for some time and awareness on ‘save the planet’ is critical for its long-term future.
At BCTF you can see a large selection of remarkable and quite ingenious product ranges for home and giftware created sustainably by conscientious exhibitors. The wonderful Beastie Assemblage creates unique jewellery by combining metalwork with beautiful finds including fragments of painted pottery, rusty keys and pretty bottles. The assemblage is from soldered copper and chemical verdigris.
To complement the garden finds, local antique and charity shops of Jedburgh donate their chipped cups, lonely saucers and redundant keys to be turned into a Beastie Assemblage which I sell to galleries across Britain and Ireland.
British made product has enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity with consumers over recent years and there have been several government backed marketing campaigns around ‘made in Britain’ that have helped the cause.
BCTF brings together the very best of created British art and design and helps the buyer to make an informed choice on ‘buying British.’
Laura Zabo’s fashion range is an embodiment of the recycling, low waste movement. Bicycle tyres and tubes may have been designed to spend their working life in rotation but, now that they have been saved from the dump, it is their time to shine. She takes the mundane and making it marvellous; this is high fashion, low impact. Transforming trash and finding an ongoing use for a persistent waste product, this is up-cycling of the highest order!
Lane End Vintage creates artwork from used postage stamps. Postage stamps are surprisingly versatile with beautiful colours, patina, postmarks and interesting designs and at BCTF she is launching a range of self-assembly postage stamp art kits.
Tanya Thompsons range of unusual sculpted fibre vases and vessels, hand crafted and embellished with speciality yarns and jewelled pieces, which combine sophistication with robustness. Often using a combination of vintage and antique materials, ensures small limited edition runs, promising exclusivity for a discerning clientele.
Darach, based up in the Highlands of Scotland, produces individually hand made furniture and interior accessories from the staves of vintage oak whisky barrels that come from Highland and Speyside distilleries and it’s their pleasure to breathe new life into this amazing product, creating a range of quirky and functional decorative items.
If you have a vested interest in the home and gift industry, a visit to this year’s British Craft Trade Fair should be on your ‘must go’ list!
The fair represents the largest collective of British craft and design in the world, with almost 500 makers represented.
It is a beautifully presented trade fair and if you have a sales outlet is without doubt the very best place to view, select and order some of the UK’s best handmade home and giftware.
Established over 40 years ago the fair has gone from strength to strength over the years and is a firm favourite with buyers from the home, gift, stationery, fashion, garden and greeting card sectors.
Margeret Bunn has developed and manages the fair over the last 13 years and she is very proud of her exhibitors who as she says in many cases represent many of tomorrows antiques and collectables.
Margeret said ‘British craft and design has over recent years come of age and is currently at the forefront of conscientious consumers wanting to buy homeware and gifts that are hand made with integrity and passion. Our exhibitors have also become far more professional and much of this has come about as a direct result of our mentoring programme ensuring that exhibitors are ready to supply trade buyers.’
To register for your FREE invitation/ticket go to www.bctf.co.uk
