Our BUST Christmas Craftacular winner!

A few weeks ago we ran a competition for Folksy sellers to win a free stall space at the BUST Christmas Craftacular event that is taking place at the Islington Metal Works on December 14. We had entries from some seriously great designer-makers and after much deliberation between team Craftacular and team Folksy we chose I Am Acrylic as the winners for their inventive and individually hand-cut designs in this much-loved material. Victoria Woodcock, curator of the Christmas Craftacular, tells us more about their winning entry and some of the other Folksy stallholders who will be there…

Acrylic cheeseboard necklace, anyone? Or perhaps a countryside scene is more your thing? Having seen I Am Acrylic at other events, I am super-excited to see their set-up, complete with felt trees or possibly a snow-capped mountain, on December 14.

Ruth and Brendan’s range of hand-cut jewellery includes a cheeseboard necklace and mountain scenes

I am thrilled to have Ruth and Brendan selling their wares at Craftacular for the first time (and by the sounds of their email, they are pretty stoked too: “Woo Hoo!! Thanks so much! This is totally like Christmas coming early! Not only were we accepted as a vendor but we won the competition too – we’re so happy!”), and even more excited about the workshops they are going to be running throughout the day beside their stall. For £10, attendees will have the chance to saw and sand their own acrylic design and turn it into a professional-looking keyring or necklace – complete with a jewellery box for their creation.

If we had runners-up prizes, they would have gone to Mabel and Bird – a very cool range of hand-printed monochrome homewares and accessories created by Emma Pearson in Oxfordshire, who first heard about Craftacular via this competition – and Bel’s Art World, charmingly quirky illustrations by the talented Craftacular regular Belinda Chen.

The runners-up were Bel’s Art World and Mabel and Bird, pictured clockwise from top-left along with other brilliant Folksy sellers who will also be at the BUST Christmas Craftacular, Kate Broughton, Miss Knit Nat, Caren Barry, KekeKaKa and Dawn Painter

Other Folksy sellers not to be missed at Craftacular are Kate Broughton (illustrations turned into everything from writing sets and badges to colouring books and nail decals), Caren Barry (delicate floral patterns on textiles and stationery), Kekekaka (we especially like the printed cotton Mini Friends), Miss Knit Nat (machine-knitted accessories by Natalie, who has just launched a lambswool triangle-design snood) and Dawn Painter, who is attending the event under the aegis of The Family Inkwell, a collective of illustrators also featuring Stewart Easton and Claire Scully of The Quiet Revolution. We are particularly excited about the ‘bird boxes with beautiful pyrography embellishments’ that Dawn is currently busy making. They are sure to literally fly off her stall!

The BUST Christmas Craftacular takes place on Sunday December 14 at The Islington Metal Works, 7 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ, directly behind Angel tube station.

For the full Craftacular line-up, see http://www.bust.com/craftacular/london.html
To take part in the I Am Acrylic workshops, sign up at their stall on the day.