Vendor Profile: VAMP productions

VAMP Productions is the brainchild of Lucy Rendle. Specialising in pen & ink, watercolour and collage, Lucy uses the combination of these different media and their effects to create unique and fascinating artworks. Inspired by the imagery and style of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and the Victorian Gothic, Lucy’s pieces often include images reminiscent of the fairy tale, albeit in its darker aspect.

This creates an otherworldly or surreal effect within work which draws on modern day symbolism to reflect on the female form, women’s role in society, and the relationships between mother and daughter. By combining such subject matter with a mixture of style and media, Lucy is able to create beautiful pieces that resonate on a number of levels, offering something new and different for every perspective.

More information can be found on her website.

Vendor Profile: Artist’s Palette Yarns

Juliet trained in Fine Art, focusing on printmaking and sculpture. Although she was always interested in textiles, inspired by the fine craftsmanship of historical textiles and fascinated by colour, she gave up knitting jumpers in the 80s when she couldn’t get them to fit properly. That changed about 7 years ago, when she took up the needles again, only to find that the colours that she wanted to work with, the handpainted skeins that she saw at festivals, were surprisingly difficult to get hold of. She went on a dyeing workshop, fell in love with the technique, and Artist’s Palette Yarns was born.

Artist’s Palette now produce a fabulous range of luxury fibre and yarns, all individually handpainted by Juliet.

Ideal for a whole range of knitting, felting, spinning and crochet projects, their vibrant and subtle colours are just astounding, and as Juliet’s skills and interests have developed, so the range has grown.

She’s been working backwards – from knitting, to dyeing, to spinning, and now includes a collection of fibres for spinning in her stock. She’s currently learning more about different sheep breeds and their different fibre characteristics, and realising that the more you learn, the more there is to know. I’m very excited to see what happens next – and how the Artist’s Palette Yarns collection will grow and change as a result of this understanding!

More information can be found at the website.

Vendor Profile: Katie Woodger Illustration

Bizart are particularly pleased to welcome Katie Woodger to our first designer-maker event, as she can more usually be found in her disguise as a teacher. As an illustrator, however, she is especially interested in fashion drawings.

Her influences range from the eccentricities of contemporary art to Japanese pop music, fashion and cinema.

She is drawn to the glamour of Burlesque and the Pin-up, and her images are bright, bold and colourful, aiming to capture the beauty of these phenomena.

Working in drawing inks and watercolours, Katie uses traditional methods to make all her pieces, and she enjoys the process of experimentation and creation as much as the effect of the final product.

High-quality colour prints of Katie’s delightful paintings in a range of sizes will be available from her stand at the Bizart fair. More information is to be found at her blog.

Vendor Profile: Tickled Pink Crafts

Tickled Pink Crafts are Ann and Amanda, two friends with a common passion for crafty things – card-making, jewellery, scrapbooking, needlework, baking, and much more besides. It was a coffee, homemade cake and crafting session that the idea of Tickled Pink Crafts was born.

Their pieces are as varied as their interests, but all imbued with a certain style and pretty elegance. Their range of cards is quirky and stylish, suited to any occasion. Most are left blank for you to use for any occasion, and add your own greeting.

All their needle-felted items are handmade with either 100% merino wool or plant fibres such as soya and bamboo. They are finished with stunning glass beads, crocheted or tatted motifs and beautiful ribbons. Needle-felted motifs can also be found mounted on pretty cotton fabrics to adorn reusable jute bags, which are further embellished with vintage buttons, beads and ribbon.

Since founding Tickled Pink Crafts, Ann has been particularly enjoying finding an outlet for her crafty side, and likes nothing better than delving into her felting, bead and ribbon boxes, and pulling out the materials to create beautiful gifts and accessories. Amanda began with a focus on handmade cards, and had been successfully selling them for some time when she found she had a talent for knitting and crochet too. Now she’s have great fun playing with her craft store and seeing what develops!

Find out more about Ann and Amanda and their work on their website, or connect with them via their blog, on Twitter as T1ckledP1nk and on Facebook (search for Tickled Pink Crafts).

Vendor Profile: Tanith Rouse

Tanith Rouse has always been fascinated by the construction and remaking possibilities of jewellery, often taking apart pieces of costume jewellery, and adapting them to her taste and style. Taking this passion to the next logical step, she studied for a degree in Silversmithing and Jewellery at Birmingham School of Jewellery, graduating in the middle of the 1990s recession. A career in jewellery beckoned, but she ended up falling into an office job, and the jewellery-making could only continue as a hobby in her spare time. Fast-forward 17 years, and the office job was struck by the current recession, at which point Tanith decided to make a career for herself, doing what she loves.

Since the end of last year, Tanith has been making lots of jewellery. She’s been to a few craft fairs, and become hooked by the buzz of creating something that someone loves enough to spend their hard-earned money on.

She’s inspired by bright colour and anything that glitters. Her love of the sea ia also apparent in her work, many of her pieces playing on the colours of green and blue. She loves nothing more than a good rummage at a bead fair, and buys beads and buttons on impulse, rarely having any idea of what they will eventually become.

Recently, Tanith has begun to make her own beads from coiled wires, which come in a variety of beautiful colours. As her interest in creation from scratch has developed, she’s also dug out and dusted off her old workbench and started experimenting with aluminium, adding all sorts of vibrant colours to it.

Other than at craft fairs like Bizart, Tanith’s work can also be found in person at Lovely Annie’s and the Discover Herefordshire Centre in Hereford, or in her Folksy shop: dare2dream

Vendor Profile: Sweet Sisters

The Sweet Sisters are Melissa and Ginnell, who, having spent years squabbling, as sisters will, decided that their creativity and love of chatter could be put to better use. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength, and now offer a delicious range of cupcakes and goodies alongside beautiful painted giftware.

 

Melissa’s cupcakes are not just a visual feast, but a taste sensation – and large orders can be supplied for special occasions. As if that wasn’t enough to tempt you, the Sweet Sisters offer a selection of fudge, toffee and honeycomb – perfect for nibbling, or to take home to that special someone.

If you’re looking for something more lasting to mark an occasion, then Ginnell’s painted giftware is a perfect solution. Teapots, plates and cups and mugs all come in a range of designs, and custom orders can be placed.

 

More information is available on their website.

Vendor Profile: Rosie Smith Illustration

Rosie Smith graduated from Westminster University in 2010 in Illustration. Currently working in design, Rosie’s continuing love for illustration and art form the basis of her work. Drawing on detailed features of the world around her, Rosie’ artwork often includes elements of reportage style and observational sketches.

These may present a wry comment on the world or people around her, or be inspired by comments overheard on her travels around Malvern, and always intrigue and entertain! She use a wide variety of media in her work, which tends to use animals in place of human subjects, and specializes in line drawing. Her series of illustrations of buildings and architectural features is beautiful, and the London landmarks are soon to be joined by a series of more local designs.

As well as producing these illustrations Rosie has a massive obsession with buttons and this is the focus of the items she has created for the Bizart craft fair. Cards, bags, coasters and many more items will feature hand made buttons and will be sold from her stand.

For more information and other examples of Rosie’s work, see her blog: www.rosiesmithillustration.blogspot.com

Vendor Profile: Smith-Taylor Ltd

With two weeks to go, Bizart’s first event is taking shape, and to whet your appetite we’ll be giving you a bit of an insight into who our vendors are and what they do.

First up is Smith & Taylor;  working from its studio workshop in Pershore, this company designs and makes decorative wall clocks. They have a huge range of designs, and are always developing more, either through commissions from individual customers, or as a development of their own collections, themes, and inspiration. One of their most recent styles was developed with small kitchens or living spaces in mind: combining pinboards and chalkboards with some of their wall-mounted designs allows you to keep track of appoinments and shopping lists, or even your keys, without taking up two sections of limited wall space!

Working with individual customers has seen them produce unique designs for everyone from seaside gift shops and online retailers to breweries and local football clubs, while their own design collection includes subjects as wide ranging as flags and animals, flowers and fruit, French style, classic and vintage elements. There’s something for all ages and tastes – be it a multicoloured face for a child’s bedroom, a commemorative design marking the royal wedding, or a quirky take on a Scottish theme.

As a local crafting business, Smith & Taylor also source as many materials as possible from local supplies – yet another reason to support them and buy their products!

Bizart’s first Event!

It’s official! Bizart’s first event is a designer-maker fair in the Lyttelton Well Main Hall in Great Malvern ( WR14 2AY) on Saturday 11th February from 10-4. We’re bringing together a whole host of local craftspeople, from photographers and illustrators to bakers, textile artists and paper cutters, so come along, and bring lots of friends. Pick up gifts for Valentine’s Day or birthdays, meet the artists, and have a generally fab day out!

Keep an eye on the blog for full profiles of our vendors and details of future plans, as well as a wealth of helpful information.

Watch this space!

Bizart and crafts is officially live! Find us on Facebook HERE; or follow the blog to keep up to date with all our goings-on 🙂 We will be posting regular updates with local designer-maker features and events information.