Artelium’s Sussex Christmas Makers Market
Saturday, 30th November
10 am - 4pm
Join us in the barn for our annual Sussex Christmas Market.
We are thrilled to bring together a community of likeminded makers, producers, and artisans for another unforgettable Christmas Makers Market, our contemporary showcase of local craft and produce - ideal for gifting (or self-gifting).
Join us as we curate a selection of the finest, luxury crafts and products, all under one roof. Discover unique, one-of-a-kind items, handmade with passion and skill by talented creators from across Sussex.
With a diverse range of items from ceramics and textiles to jewellery and homeware, our Makers Market is the perfect place to immerse yourself in the creativity and craftsmanship of our talented friends and discover the stories behind each and every piece.
We’ll have food and drink flowing all day, with complementary wine tastings taking place in our tasting room, keeping you fed and watered.
MEET THE MAKERS
ORIANA JEWELLERY
An independent jewellery maker from Lewes, specialising in hand-made and bespoke silver and gold necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Her designs take inspiration from nature and the life stories of those around her. Oriana understands that jewellery traverses a lifetime; a new story added with each wear. When making each piece, she imagines a whole lifetime of moments distilled into the metal. All her pieces are highly textured, so she works by hand, exaggerating hand-made, organic marks. Oriana says: ‘When we wear jewellery we build a relationship with each piece by touching it, holding it, wearing it, and that informs every blow of my hammer and every scrape of my file.’
JOANNA MYLES
Joanna Myles is printer, painter, and potter working from her Sussex studio to create beautiful handmade art, wallpaper, and objects. Her work explores human relationships with the patterns and objects we gather and keep in our homes and the landscapes we live in. Her work begins with observational drawing of objects, landscapes and interactions, which are then developed into marks and patterns in her printmaking practice. Jo mainly works with relief printing methods, producing limited edition lino prints inspired by nature and her surrounding Sussex landscape. The patterns she designs and print in turn inspire the pottery she creates.
TANVI KANT
Tanvi Kant creates tactile, sculptural jewellery using reclaimed textiles, clay and found materials. She is interested in how repetitive actions of making impact her materials, enjoying low intervention techniques such as knotting, wrapping and coiling. Many of Tanvi’s materials and colour references are related to her British-Gujarati heritage, repurposing and reusing materials to create new pieces. Her interwoven pieces create complex shapes which are contrasted with the simplicity of the materials and her use of block colours.
LAURENCE MORACCHINI
Laurence Moracchini creates wood-turned and hand carved bowls, vases and objects, made from locally sourced, reclaimed wood. She affectionately calls wood “a noble and unpredictable material,” as un-treated pieces will continually surprise her. The internal knots, twists and breaks means that Moracchini must have a dialogue with her material. She may start off with an idea of the final form, but the wood might disrupt this by splitting or cracking, encouraging her to respond by fixing it with copper splints or changing the design altogether. These imperfections and individual qualities of the wood are often expressed in the texture of the pieces, with the natural grain and surfaces highlighted in various ways.
J. COCOA
J.Cocoa make carefully crafted Chocolate from scratch. The project was born from the curiosity of founder James, who asked: 'why don't chocolate companies make their own chocolate?'
James set about ethically sourcing cacao beans from around the world, hand-roasting, stone grinding & conching in his factor at the foot of the South Downs. Every J.Cocoa chocolate variety has its own unique flavour profile, naturally occurring through the use of different cocoa bean varieties, grown in different countries, regions, soil and climates. James only uses organic ingredients and all J.cocoa packaging is zero waste.
KATHARINE RABSON STARK
Katharine is an artist and ceramic maker from East Sussex. Using the pinch and coil method, she makes hand-built decorative clay vessels, inspired by the surrounding landscape and the gentle rhythms of everyday life. Katharine creates her vessels from dug Sussex clay and stoneware, smoke-firing them using materials gathered on walks such as bracken, thistledown and dock seeds.
She says of her process: “The shape of my hand, and the mood I am in, influence the finished pieces. I seek to capture the time that this slow method of making encapsulates.”
KATE MCMINNIES
Kate McMinnies’ work explores ideas around connection and communication, the curving contours of her work representing the undulating hills and furrows of the Downs, ever changing with light, season and perspective.
Kate also responds to her landscape by using local, foraged materials. She will be bringing a selection of hand-thrown vases made from warm-coloured South Downs clay, along with elegant porcelain Christmas tree decorations which also utilise local, felled wood.
CHALK WOVENS
Chalk Wovens is a textile design studio based in Brighton, offering contemporary wool products designed and made in the UK. The designs are woven on a hand loom in their Brighton studio where their designer, Kerry, can explore different ideas, patterns and colourways. Once finalised, the patterns are sent to the mill, where skilled craftspeople weave them into wide widths. After the weaving and finishing process, the fabric is sent back to Brighton, where it’s made into cushions, throws, lampshades and hot water bottle covers, completing the Chalk Wovens collection.
ROUNDED BY
Lucy Thomas creates modern, custom footstools using 100% natural and recycled materials; these pieces, simple and useful, are made for life, not landfill.
Her upholstered footstalls feature wool uppers in a range of rich and vibrant colours, along with an exposed birchwood frame, creating a clean, contemporary feel. Alongside making bespoke footstalls, Lucy runs fantastic 1-day footstall workshops at The Paddock Studios in Lewes. It’s a laughter and learning-filled experience, with attendees leaving with their very own hand-made footstall. At this year’s makers market, Lucy will be selling footstalls, pin-boards and workshop vouchers.
RUTH WATERS
Ruth Waters is an artist and illustrator, whose work is often inspired by her local landscape of Sussex. Her charming prints, cards, illustrations and original artworks are created by collaging individually painted paper cut-outs, using rollers, brushes and sponges to create unique textures. These paper segments are layered together to build her re-imagined landscapes and street scenes, creating depth and detail. Ruth will be bringing a range of work with her to this year's market including collaged landscapes, limited art prints, greetings cards, mugs and coasters.
MENTEATH
Menteath is an award-winning British made organic skincare and fragrance brand. Meneath believes that skincare is an immersive sensory experience. Their approach blends the artistry of aromachology with an ancestral connection to fire and wood, creating products that nourish the skin and provide a sensory journey for the mind. Smoke infusion is central to all of Meneath’s products. Smoke adds depth and complexity to their products, evoking our primal relationship to fire and wood, inviting users to reconnect with nature and tradition.
HEDGE KNIVES
Hedge knives is run by Ralph, a self-taught knife-maker from Penzance, West Cornwall, who now works from his workshop in North London. Ralph creates high-end kitchen knives made from sustainably sourced and recycled materials, inspired and informed by Japanese styles. The knives, which range from small paring knives to weighty Nakiri knives for veg prep, are hand-made from start to finish. Ralph also offers a knife sharpening service and will be hosting sharpening demonstrations throughout the day of the Makers Market.
NEOMA DESIGN
Neoma creates a selection of contemporary leather bags and gold and silver jewellery, each piece inspired by nature’s organic forms. The name ‘Neoma’ is derived from the Greek for ‘new moon,’; both the bags and jewellery sport sculptural lines and curvatures inspired by changing lunar cycles, creating pieces which are the essence of elegant simplicity. Neoma bags are made from buttery leather tanned with vegetable dyes, whilst the jewellery is forged in Argentum Silver, offering durability and elegance, along with Sterling Silver, Gold and stainless steel.
BRYONY MAE FLOWERS
Bryony Mae Flowers is a creative floral design studio, specialising in natural, romantic wild-style flowers for weddings and events.
Bryony’s style is loose, natural and a little wild, celebrating flowers which are full of joy, colour, texture and fragrance. She uses British flowers wherever she can, sourcing from local Sussex flower farms and growers near Hassocks. Her arrangements are inspired by the Sussex countryside, and she is always on the look-out for wild treasures on her walks to add into her evocative bouquets.
MATILDA GROVER
Matilda Grover is a Sussex-based designer, maker and basket weaver. She creates baskets from foraged natural materials: willow taken from surrounding trees, hazel found on woodland walks, and rush collected from the banks of rivers. Matilda’s designs reflect her personal style and interest in functional, understated products, taking inspiration from historic global crafts.
TANYA GOMEZ
Tanya Gomez creates fluid porcelain vessels. She is inspired by natural phenomena, observing the shapes, form and colours of the world around her and referencing landscapes and oceans experienced on her extensive travels. Her work holds the undulation of landscape and references the glimmering ripples of the sea. Her surfaces are animated through throwing and glazing, having impact both individually and as a group. By observing the lines and dimensions of the pieces, Tanya is able to create vivid landscapes and fluid architectural forms.
LÖFFEL
Löffel is run by Felix, a Sussex-based wood worker, who creates hand-carved utensils from sustainably foraged, local wood. Working with traditional tools, primarily and axe and a knife, he transforms fallen branches into unique and functional pieces. His process celebrates the unpredictable nature of his materials, adapting to the knots, organic curves and imperfections of the wood to reveal its character in each design.
With a wealth of wines to choose from, we’re asking the experts (i.e. the Artelium team) their perfect wine picks for Christmas Day.