Folksy is the home of British craft – and we think it’s the best place to buy and sell handmade in the UK. It’s run by us – James, Aaron, Doug, Camilla, Sophia, Sarah, Clare, Kim and Ethan – a small team based in Sheffield on the outskirts of the Peak District, who are passionate about craft. (Meet our team here >)
We’ve been spearheading the handmade movement in the British Isles since 2008 when we set up Folksy to offer artists, designers and makers a friendly place to sell their work. We’re now the largest UK marketplace for craft and handmade.
Folksy is intentionally not curated, so there are no gatekeepers deciding who or what is “good enough” – everyone is welcome to sell on Folksy, whether they work in a professional studio or at their kitchen table, as long as their work is original or made by hand.
Why do we ‘do’ Folksy? We mainly do it because we believe in:
- Craft skills. We love craft and design skills, the process by which people use their creativity and talent to make beautiful work. Most of all, we love making.
- Strength in numbers. Professional, portfolio and hobbyist designer-makers can reach a mainstream audience, test markets and grow their business more effectively on Folksy rather than through costly galleries and boutique shops.
- Cottage industries. Small scale production and handmade goods offer ways to be creative, manage resources effectively and support local economies.
- Meritocracy. Any designer-maker can list their work as long as it is hand crafted (no vintage or mass manufactured work is allowed). This creates a meritocracy where great work made at the kitchen table can rub shoulders with the best from established makers. The work should stand for itself.
- David not Goliath. :)
Folksy is run by James Boardwell and has been since it started in 2008. The inspiration for Folksy came from seeing the energy in the craft communities in the UK as well as North America and Australia in the early 2000s. At the same time the web was offering ways to crowd source solutions to problems and James, having worked in researching and designing digital services for the BBC decided to build a great place for people to showcase and sell their craft work.
Folksy launched in summer 2008, employed its first member of staff in 2009 and has since risen to become the most popular UK site for independently crafted and designed gifts and supplies with over £1 million in sales and a community of 13,000 or so designer makers and a bazillion* buyers.
We don’t have millions in VC funding. We’re not a hot start-up. But we do have the support of a wonderful community of British designers and makers who believe in the same things as us. Join them and open your own Folksy shop today or explore the wonders of the UK craft scene and buy from genuine artists and makers at Folksy.com – the UK’s biggest online craft fair!
(*OK, not a bazillion – how much is a bazillion anyway? – but a lot).
