Merry Christmas and A Review of the Year
Written: 22 December 2017
A Review of the Year
It’s been quite a year for Made by Hand Events. Made by Hand, Cardiff welcomed 4000 visitors to City Hall. Our director, Sarah is a very proud Welsh person from Cardigan, and we are delighted that we continue to be the largest and finest contemporary craft fair in Wales. The Contemporary Craft Festival, our flagship event in Devon, is heading into its 15th year and we're so excited to launch Made by Hand, Cheltenham in the New Year. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of all our events.
At the end of November, we were thrilled to be awarded Gold for Festival of the Year 2017, for The Contemporary Craft Festival for the 3rd time.
We have entered the awards 3 times and it’s the 3rd time we have won Gold. Obviously, this a reflection of the truly exceptional makers that we represent and the jaw-dropping array of craft activities, workshops, children’s activities and entertainments that make the Craft Festival such an award worthy event.
Made by Hand Cardiff was an exceptional year with more visitors than ever.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate this year’s award winners once more.
Congrats to Jin Eui Kim, Best Maker in Wales, Janine Partington, Best Stand, Fern Robinson, Best New Business, Vinegar & Brown Paper, Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre Showcase Award. Highly commended awards for Best Stand were awarded to Grace & Favour and Takahashi McGil.
Meet The Team:
Our team got a little bigger earlier this year. Nina, Kate & I were joined by Fran Moorhouse. We have worked with Fran for a number of years in her role as Event and Marketing assistant at Mercedes Benz, who sponsored the Festival for a number of years. We were delighted when Fran joined our team, bringing her extremely positive and professional approach to working on sponsorship, press and marketing.
Nina Fox, has been our Project Manager for 12 years. She manages many of the logistical elements of the Festival including sorting out parking suspensions, traffic management, site planning and ensuring all the stands fit into CIty Hall! Nina also puts the selection day together with the hundreds of applications that arrive each year. She also has the unenviable job of issuing invoices! Nina is the linchpin of the organisation and we would basically be lost without her.
Kate Martin is our Financial Manager. You might know Kate from her many years at The Devon Guild. She has moved on from the Guild and we’ve managed to hang onto her for a day a week. Kate keeps us out of trouble, paying VAT, sorting out wages, paying Tax and National Insurance. She’s a total rock and someone we turn to if you want a sensible solution to a range of issues.
That leaves me, Sarah James, Festival Director. I’ve worked on the Festival since October 2003, which was the same month I moved to Bovey Tracey in Devon. Being born and bred in Cardigan in West Wales I am so proud of Made by Hand, Cardiff.
I do a variety of things and am generally the public face of Made by Hand. I plan the marketing campaigns, meet and build relationships with sponsors, book the music and entertainers, curate the education programme and trade stands, recruit & train volunteers, lecture to students and makers at Preparing to Sell around the country, meet with all the various organisations and local landowners and I try to keep everyone happy!
We’re a non-profit making company, which means that we budget to break even and if we have any money left over, we give away to charity and plan to do more the following year. I’m very proud of what we have achieved and since The Craft Festival began in 2003, we have run Made by Hand, Cardiff since 2014, Nourish Festival in Bovey since 2014 and our latest event Made by Hand, Cheltenham will premier in March. Which, you will be pleased to hear, keeps me out of trouble.
We hope you have a very Merry Christmas from Sarah, Nina, Kate and Fran.
Need a gift for the person that has everything? Give them tickets to the Made by Hand, Cheltenham
CLICK HERE to Buy Tickets
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