Makerhood
The new website Makerhood Brixton, is helping shoppers in Brixton and nearby areas find local makers and producers.
The website currently lists more than 180 items from local makers, ranging from biscuits and pork pies to socks, scarves and chairs. Prices start at £2 for a greetings card.
Some of the sellers are professional traders, like Ellie Laycock of Hunted and Stuffed, who is selling beautiful cushions made from vintage scarves and tea towels. Other sellers enjoy making or growing things for a hobby, like Carly Telford of Picakes, who offers an array of delicious baked goodies.
Since launching on 23 July, the Makerhood website has already seen successful sales. During the “soft launch” period of the next six weeks, there’s an extra incentive to buy. Every week, one buyer will be picked at random and will win £15 to spend on anything they like on the Makerhood website.
Makerhood was started by two Brixton residents, Kristina Glushkova and Karen Martin, who were frustrated at the difficulty of finding local makers in the area.
Kristina says: “I wanted to buy a piece of furniture but couldn’t face trekking to Ikea for the same flatpack item that everyone else has. But when I tried to find out whether there was anyone around Brixton who made furniture, it was really difficult. When I talked to Karen about this, I discovered that she had had similar problems. And so the idea of Makerhood – bringing local makers and buyers together – was born.”
Karen adds: “Makerhood is a way to encourage three things – making, Brixton and connecting with people. It’s more than an online marketplace. It’s also about getting to know your local area. It encourages people to meet each other in real life as well as online. By supporting the making of goods locally people can encounter other local people and share their enthusiasm for the area that they live in as they buy and sell.
In a small survey we carried out, 75% of people said that they didn’t buy locally produced goods as often as they wanted to – and over half said this was because they didn’t know where to look. We hope that Makerhood will help solve this problem and support the local economy.”
Makerhood Brixton covers Brixton, Camberwell, Clapham, Dulwich, Herne Hill and Stockwell. Kristina says: “The core idea behind Makerhood is localness, bringing together buyers and sellers in these areas. This soft launch gives us a chance to test out the idea and hopefully encourage people to support it and draw in more makers and buyers. We’ll be adding more makers and features to the site during the next seven weeks, as well as ironing out any bugs. And anyone who buys from Makerhood during this period has the chance to win £15 to spend on anything they like on the site!"“Once we have Makerhood Brixton established, we’d love to help people in other areas set up their own Makerhood sites.”
For more information, and for makers in Brixton, Camberwell, Clapham, Dulwich, Herne Hill or Stockwell who would like to sell through Makerhood, please visit brixton.makerhood.com
