Making Making it work for you
making
FEATURE
Making it work for you Photograph: © Snowden Flood
It’s not just possible to make a living from craft, it’s possible to make a great living, discovers Clare Kelly
Photograph: © Katya de Grunwald
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Top: Snowden Flood; Above: Kay Mawer, Clothkits *Making Value: Craft & the economic and social value of making
ccording to a recent report by the Crafts Council, the craft sector ‘now makes a £3 billion contribution to the UK economy, and represents 13% of those employed in the UK’s creative industries*.’ When you consider those figures, it’s no wonder that so many makers have given up the long commutes and office politics of a day job, and decided to sell their wares. But if you’re thinking of taking a slice of this creative pie, what might you need to know before you tuck in? One of the best ways to learn about the making business is to talk to those who are already established about what they have done and how they did it. Most will have made the odd mistake too, and from that can come the most amazing results. Snowden Flood is an interior accessories designer who lives with her family in south London. Her iconic landmark plates and textiles can be found in some of the finest stores (including Fortnum & Mason) and barely a week goes by without her work being featured in a glossy interiors magazine. As a starting point, she suggests: ‘Don’t feel like you have to know everything about being in business. Most people running small businesses are learning all the time, and mistakes are inevitable (while not necessarily pleasant).’ Kay Mawer, managing director of sew-at-home clothing kit company Clothkits is currently planning the launch of her first shop and couldn’t be happier, however, she too would insist that those in a craft business are learning all the time. Kay says: ‘Three weeks before we launched, I was awaiting the first print run of our new collection but when it arrived, the lines were wonky and I couldn’t use any of it. The people who had printed it for us thought they could do it but hadn’t worked on that scale before. However, it was through this that I met a wonderful lady who was able to print our kits in exactly the way I wanted – we’ve been working together ever since.’ Delivering the best quality products is the essence of any making business but how do you know what people want and crucially, how much they are willing to pay for it?