Meet Indie Cindy

Well, to be honest Cindy was a little busy stocking her new shop and making preparations for its official opening party on May Day. But her lovely friend Rowan was more than happy to give me a little more information on the new addition to Bird's Yard in Leeds.

Rowan herself has been hand making and selling jewellery under the moniker Kitschen Sink for some time now in galleries, Selfridges and in her online shop. But now she's taken the leap and opened up a real life store! I shot Rowan a few quick questions to find out more about what we can expect to get from Yorkshire's newest indie edition.

So, what made you want to set up a bricks and mortar store?

Opening a bricks and mortar has always been a daydream of mine. I've always loved customer contact and I love Leeds as a whole but never thought I'd seriously get a proper shop right in Leeds city centre's independent shopping district! I'd heard a lot about Birds Yard so I checked out their website to find them and noticed they had a room available on the first floor. I figured if I asked how much it was, it could be something I could work towards. Two weeks later I'm head over heels in love with the art deco building and Bird's Yard vibe and setting up shop with my imaginary business partner/friend Cindy!

Which independent designers are you going to be stocking?

I'm really lucky to have sold alongside some amazing talent at Selfridges, the Knitting and Stitching Show and Bust Craftacular amongst other places, so Cindy has some awesome designers like Knit and Destroy, Magasin and Littleclouds, nestled nicely between more local designers like Chickadeedee, Memo and Finest Imaginary.

What kinds of products has Cindy sourced for us?

Cindy is selling all things useful and/or decorative that are either colourful or cute, and are original designs. No beads on strings here! It's important to Cinds that the designers she picks make something that's identifiably theirs, that her shoppers will want to wear or show their purchases with pride and boast where they bought them from!

Pop to the first floor of Bird's Yard (83 Kirkgate, Leeds) to visit Indie Cindy - prices start at just £1 for postcards up to £50 for a handmade leather bag. In between you'll find fashion jewellery, prints, notebooks, pocket mirrors, badges, cushions, glasses cases, key rings, canvas totes and more!

Near Leeds on May 1st between 2pm-4pm? RSVP at the Indie Cindy blog and grab yourself a party ring and a piece of craft couture from a host of independent cult designers.

Not Your Granny's Crafts - Stour Space Designers Market

While crafting has been hip for quite a few years now - with the love affair for everything from knitting to macrame being rekindled - Stour Space are offering the cool kids of London town (and anyone visiting E3) something with a little more edge.

Stour Space is a unique non profit exhibition and performance space devoted to the promotion of art, design and creative opportunities with a focus on supporting the development of Tower Hamlets which boasts one of the largest concentrations of artists in the world.

And on the last Saturday of every month they open their doors to the public so we can be a part of this thriving entrepreneurial scene.

 I dropped a line to Rebecca Whyte, director of SS, to find out a little more about the Designers Markets - a small but popular part of what the space does - and what they're all about:

"The market is one of many events but follows the same motive of trying to support the local arts economy and also promoting the unique and interesting work made by individuals and creative companies. Its important to us that there are still affordable places for artists and makers to promote their work."

TTA has also been lucky enough to take a sneak peek at what's on offer at the Designers Market from Saturday 26th March onwards:

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Le Muse Clothing

Evocative designs which focus on quality fabric and the way it drapes and moves on the body and adapts to each person wearing it. Each piece is worn by its owner rather than the garments wearing them.

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Design Instinct

 

A range of innovative interior products including the 'Orbital' light and 'Wide Awake' lamp shaped by a number of disciplines from industrial design to sculpture, this company has a strong ethical stance with an environmentally friendly conscience.

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Miwary

An indie label crammed full of girly nostalgia in the form of cute handmade accessories including this Tiny Tiny Teddy Bear Brooch and Reversible Collar with its 'found in Grandma's attic' vibe.

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Eat My Heart Out

Photographer Rhea Daley-Serieux captures images of the society around her with sepia and monochromatic tones adding a gritty edge while still capturing its true beauty - images such as 'Somerset House' will seduce fashionistas while 'Routemyster' will appeal to Europhiles with its use of iconic imagery.

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So whether you're just a day tripper or an East London lady or lad, if you have a penchant for well made, thought provoking, cutting edge design in any of its many forms (plus tea and cake from the Counter Cafe) head to Stour Space @ 7 Roach Road, Fish Island every last Saturday - support the local creative scene while picking yourself up a possible future antique!

Want to find out more about Stour Space, the Designers Market or to apply for a market stall? Visit www.stourspace.co.uk or go their Facebook page.

Bravo For The Biscuit! - Biscuiteers Q&A

The American's have their cupcakes and the French their macaroons but there's nothing more British than a biscuit. And while cake couturiers are busy turning our ideas of what can be done with some chocolate sponge and vanilla frosting on its head with the arrival of the cakepop to these shores, one woman and her team is busy revolutionising the way we view the UK's staple elevenses treat.

Launched in late 2007, Biscuiteers is a boutique business offering what can only really be described as little edible works of art - hand baked and iced biccies in rich chocolate or sweet vanilla using only real ingredients. Catering to those looking for unusual gift ideas Biscuiteers offer a range of themed tins - covering everything from gardening with the Green Fingers collection to animal lovers with Cool for Cats - to biscuit greeting cards as well as a bespoke service to customise their delights to your every whim. Alongside this the team have also collaborated with everyone from high end designers to high street brands.

Somewhere in her busy schedule (she is also project director for the Orange Prize) Harriett Hastings found time for a little Q&A with The Tiny Atelier to let us know everything from what happens in a day of the life of a Biscuiteer to strange biscuit requests and amazing collaborations!

Tell us a little bit about Biscuiteers. What led to the idea for a boutique biscuit company?

I was helping my husband with the marketing for his catering company Lettice and spotted a gap in the market for a really creative food gift solution. Biscuits at the time were incredibly underdone but they had the potential to be a perfect gift because you can send them in the post and be as imaginative as you like with the designs. We put Stevie's catering experience and my PR and marketing skills together and Biscuiteers was born.

What's a typical day for the Biscuiteers team?

We have a huge team of artisan icerswho work in our bakery in Kennington hand baking, icing and packing up all of our biscuits. Every day they ship hundreds of orders worldwide. Up in the office we are now planning Christmas 2012, brainstorming ideas and getting into the festive mood. Day to day our office is busy with phone calls and emails from customers, corporate clients and press requests.

You've done some amazing collaborations with some big names. Any favourites?

We have been lucky enough to get some fabulous commissions, including a collaboration with Anya Hindmarch and a circus tin designed exclusively for The Conran Shop. We are always busy around fashion week, most recently working with Mulberry, Burberry and Gucci. One of my personal favourites was the Jeff Koons' 'Lobster' created for the Serpentine Gallery.

As well as your themed biscuit tins you also offer a bespoke service. What's the wackiest/funiest/strangest biscuit request you've ever had?

At Christmas we were commisioned to make a tin of company bosses. There were about ten of them and we had to copy photographs from their staff party. They worked out rather well in the end - our icers are obviously brilliant portrait artists too!

2011 has already been a big year for you with the release of your book ('Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits'). What's next for the Biscuiteers?

We have just launched the Jolly Gingers - our take on the Gingerbread man - and our new Biscuit Greeting Cards to join our existing range of Biscuit Cards. We are also very much in Royal wedding mode and gearing up for the big day - our Royal Wedding tin is very popular and proving a big talking point which is fantastic.

Long may the reign continue! Check out the full website at www.biscuiteers.com

Bowled Over By Thrift-ola!

A handful of years ago I came across the online shop Lady Luck Rules OK and became obsessed with the diary blog detailing their adventures selling their wares at amazing venues like the Victoria & Albert museum in London. As the business evolved LLROK became renowned for their personalised handmade jewellery depicting everything cute, kitsch and cult from tattoo artwork to Russian dolls, each printed with a name or word of your choice.

But with creativity comes many pitfalls which Leona and her team found when big businesses stole their intellectual property and started mass producing cheap copies of their made with love products.

On February 28th 2010 Leona shut down the LLROK shop saying that the business no longer reflected who she was or her passions and that she wanted to dedicate her time to a new solo project.

And finally, just over one year on, I am proud and excited to let you take a sneak peek at what Leona's been getting up to over the last 12 months!

Launching soon, Thrift-ola will be an online showcase of vintage goodies for you to buy...and the best part is they won't be over-inflated 'vintage' prices.

Let's pass over to Miss Leona Thrift-ola herself to tell you all about what you can expect:

"The Thrift-ola online shoppe is a super fun second hand store bursting full o' kooky kitchenalia, ace accessories, fun homewares, vintage books and oodles of insane bric-a-brac. It's like your favourite flea market except you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and spend hours seeking out the ace stuff - I've done that for you".

Having seen pictures on the LLROK blog of Leona's Superette boutique store as well as images from her flat in the book Fashion Market II I know we share at least one love - vintage Babycham paraphernalia - so I'm super excited to check out Thrift-ola in a couple of weeks and I'm sure there'll be another post soon after detailing everything I loved (and hopefully purchased).

Leona will also be setting up a blog detailing her crafting adventures and showing her readers how she's bringing unloved found objects back to life.

To sign up for the Thrift-ola newsletter and make sure you're the first to know when the store opens head over to www.thrift-ola.com and check out more preview pics on the Thrift-ola flickr stream here.