Introducing our new loyalty card...

Saturday saw not just the celebration of our third birthday but also the launch of our new loyalty card scheme. If you were in the shop over the weekend hopefully you'll already have one of these cards in your wallet, if you don't then all you need to do is pop in to the shop and make a purchase over the value of £10 - this will get you your card and your first stamp. 

Stamps are available for every purchase of £10 or over, and the reward for filling your card is a (free) fab Fabrication tote bag - handy not just for future purchases from us but also to keep in your handbag / manbag / car to avoid the new carrier bag charge from larger shops.

Happy 3rd Birthday to us!!!

What a difference 3 years makes! Today marks Fabrication's third birthday, the perfect time to look back at how far we've come.

In the beginning it was just a shell of a shop, with marks on the wall left from the previous occupants:

But it took shape, and in October 2012 we were proud to open our doors to the public with 40 sellers:

180 sellers have joined us since then. Our shop in The Light is brimming with beautiful handmade goods from our 83 sellers, some of whom are still with us from that first day:

In celebration of our shop going from strength to strength we have filled our windows with items from each of our sellers, and there is of course birthday cake to share the celebration with our customers today.

We are also launching our brand new store loyalty card, as a thank-you to all our customers for keeping on supporting us. 

Here's to the next three years!

 

Spotlight On The Seller... Spatchcock & Wurzill

Spatchcock & Wurzill lovingly create beautiful musical instruments using reclaimed and recycled materials.

All our creations are designed with three guiding principles, playability, aesthetics and durability resulting in unique instruments that not only look good but are robust and a joy to play.

We produce instruments for all musical abilities from the easy to play 1 String Canjo to Guitars, Dulcimers and Ukuleles.

It's The Most Fun You Can Have With An Old Tin Box And A Chair Leg.

 

Commissions Welcomed

www.spatchcockandwurzill.com

Spotlight On The Seller... Font Not Found

Font Not Found was created by husband and wife designers Lucy & Greg Shaw. Both have a life-long love of words, type and big letters, oh and T-Shirts and drawing. So naturally they’ve put together a range of type T-shirts based on their letter sketches.

Lucy is originally from Somerset & Greg from South Yorkshire but both studied Graphic design at college before meeting each other on one of their first Graphic Design jobs in Bradford. They both enjoy working (scribbling) together from their home in Bingley. Lucy constantly has to resist the urge to spell rude words out in product shots.
 

 

Font Not Found currently have two fonts available across kids, women’s and men’s T-shirts, tote bags and gym sacs as custom orders. We’ve been in the fabulous Fabrication shop since June with a selection of our kids T-shirts, where you can also make an order for your letter of choice.

Spotlight On The Seller... Clavis & Claustra

I've always loved heritage, whether it's a crumbling ruin surrounded by ancient trees, an engraved pocket watch passed from one generation to the next, or even the gravitas of Latin with its immense linguistic legacy.  I grew up amid the majestic mills of Bradford and after over a decade in Oxford and London studying literature and working in publishing, I have returned to the magnificent Yorkshire countryside to set up on my own.

This is a very small me, outside Keighley's Cliffe Castle Museum

Clavis & Claustra, 'key & lock' in Latin, represents for me the excitement of discovery, of unearthed secrets, of unlocked treasures, but also the necessity of cherishing and protecting those things which we prize, be they precious relics, people's life stories or the natural world.  Conservation and sustainability are very important to me, which is why my products feature designs which evoke the romance of bygone ages; it's also the reason I upcycle and love chic reusable tote bags.

This is one of my Shuffle the Deck greetings cards made using pre-loved playing cards

This is one of my Quotelets, handmade using upcycled pages of some of my favourite novels

My new supplier of tote bags and aprons is a fantastic company called Vandanamu which I came across at the Women of the World festival.  Their business is invested in cultivating sustainable livelihoods and a thriving community for their workers.  Community means a lot to me, whether it’s supporting my local shops, joining Fabrication, or nurturing links with other businesses and organisations who have goals similar to mine.  There is something uplifting about connecting with a group of other people who share common purpose or interest.


When I come to publish children’s books next year, I will be engaging directly with the audience: I want to foster a close relationship between author, illustrator and reader, and to hear ideas and responses from the children themselves.  The first book explores the importance of welcoming outsiders into your community and including those who are different, all through the eyes of funny little creatures (more details later this year - watch this space).  Celebrating diversity, especially in children’s literature, enables us all as readers to be enriched by a broader range of experiences.

These are two of my suffragette goodies: a Notes for Women notebook and a Deeds Not Words to do list pad

Underpinning my love of diversity is a lifelong belief in equality of all people.  Honouring those who have fought for equality led me to create the suffragette series - that, and a weakness for puns.  In fact, if you’re reading this and you too love a pun, or anything else I’ve mentioned, it would be great to hear from you.  Send me pictures of your favourite heritage sites, fun facts about suffragettes, memories of learning Latin at school, or whatever you fancy.  Because life is more exciting when you share your treasures.


#ShareYourTreasures

Spotlight On The Seller... Cocoa Bliss

Hello and welcome to Cocoa Bliss created by Sonia Cooper. The idea to create chocolate gorgeousness was first born in May 2014 but it wasn't until September 2014 that Cocoa Bliss was launched. From May to Sept there were many trials and errors I was quick to learn that working with chocolate was not as easy as it looked and there was many times when I was certainly ready to give up!

There was a lot of research to do about tempering chocolate and there was a lot of factors to get right – the temperature of the chocolate to begin with, the melting point and the cooling point. My first thought was chocolate is so temperamental, one slight mistake and it all goes wrong! 

Sometimes I temper chocolate by hand which still does sometimes go wrong (which is not good for my waistline!!) And sometimes I temper in the tempering machine which makes sure your chocolate is perfectly tempered the machine was my first purchase which meant I was one step closer to succeeding but with a standard fridge in my kitchen at about 3-5c it just wasn't setting the chocolates correctly a bit more research and I found my perfect fridge which could be set to fluctuate between 8 and 10 c the perfect temperature for chocolate to cool at now cocoa bliss is flourishing and is very proud to be in fabrication Leeds.

Spotlight On The Seller... Word Perfect

 My company name is Word Perfect and I do word art and personalised items for all occasions.

The word art can be any shape and colour and can say anything you like to make it really personalised.

I have been doing this for just over a year now, first of all doing it for fun and then for family and friends. I am very excited to join Fabrication and look forward to working with such a great enterprise.
 
The most popular items are for weddings and babies. I also do other personalised items such as on this day items for special events.

If anyone has any special requests I can be contacted on sarateal@outlook.com or 07429 408254 Orders are ready in one week and will be dropped at Fabrication for the customer to collect and pay. Prices are £20 for small £25 for medium and £30 for large.

I also have a number of items that are not personalised and available to buy off the shelf.