Dorset Team Christmas Fair - Sellers Spotlight

With less than 1 week to go until our big Dorset Team Christmas Fair, we thought it would be a great idea to place some of the attending sellers in the spotlight!  A real way to get to know both the designer/creator and to also see some of their work.

Our first seller is Natalie Thompson from PYNQ Designs - In her own words;

Type of Items sold

Tea towels
Reindeer necklace
Xmas coasters
Xmas gift wrap
Silk scarves

How and why did you get started. What are your inspirations?

I launched "PYNQ" in 2011 after the birth of my baby daughter Pynq (Pink) whilst on maternity leave! 

My goal was to create and sell products from my digital textile designs.

I am a versatile designer and apply my design skills across a range of products including fashion, jewellery, interiors, stationery and paper products.

I studied at Central St Martins School of Art & Design graduating with an Upper Second in Textile Design.

I am currently the Printed Textiles Technician at Winchester School of Art running the digital textile printer and teaching Photoshop skills in Fashion and Textiles.

I find it rewarding selling on Etsy and seeing my products on a professional and easy to use website.

Top 3 reasons to start an Etsy shop

Competitive fees
Rewarding to sell own creations
Opportunites to collaborate

Top 3 tips for new sellers

Take good clean photographs
Look at items similar to yours to get pricing right
About page- people like to know what you're about
Team up with people in your area

Our second seller is Alison Northern from Doodle Dot Gifts - In her own words;

Type of Items sold

Hand painted Fairy and Elf Doors, cards, prints, hand sewn felt gifts, pocket mirrors and polymer stamps

How and why did you get started?

I have always been a bit of a crafty girl, I can remember being taught to knit on big chunky wooden needles when I was about 6 and was the very proud owner of a vintage Singer Sewing machine at 9. I have always loved colour and turning old things into something new, long before up-cycling became the thing to do!!
I started making hand poured shaped crayons and designing colouring sheets using my own character's which then turned into cards, painted wooden items, hand sewn felt items........and more. I love all things whimsical, colourful and just a bit quirky. We have lots of new ideas in the pipeline and would love for Doodle Dot to be a brand in its own right.

Top 3 reasons to start an Etsy shop

To reach a broader market, 
You can link to you website or social media, 
Etsy does all your invoicing so saves you time.

Top 3 tips for new sellers

Join your local Etsy Team, 
Talk to other Etsy sellers for advice,
Link your Etsy shop to your web page or social media sites.

Description of shop:

Colourful, quirky with a touch of whimsical.

Alison's Social Media Links;

Facebook

Twitter

Meet the Dorset Team Christmas Fair Stallholders - Jill from Trawler Studio

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for reading our Dorset Team blog. We hope that you are enjoying the blog posts.

It has been wonderful to see over the last few weeks our Dorset Team Christmas Fair stallholders getting ready for the fair and the new products they have been making. 

One of the sellers who will be at the fair is Jill who runs a successful Etsy shop, Jilly Bird but has also launched her brand new company Trawler Studio this month and has already been featured in Country Living magazine! What an amazing start.

Meet the seller:

This is Jill, she lives in Bournemouth and her work is inspired by the beautiful Dorset coastline.

Trawler Studio: 

Trawler Studio is a beautiful online shop which sells sells homeware, clothing and prints. 

In Jill's words....

"Trawler is a lifestyle brand with one foot on the beach and the other in the sea. I’ve always lived on the coast so it seemed a logical step to make an Etsy store that reflected this and so Trawler was born. I love using natural materials like linen, wool, denim and cotton and enjoy the way they all improve with time. Trawler also allows me to skip from one discipline to another, one minute I’m printing mugs or drawing in my sketch book and the next I’ll be hand stitching or taking photographs. The Etsy platform is a perfect professional way for me to reach a global audience and at the same time stay connected to the other makers like me."

Jill will be selling her wares at the Dorset Team Christmas Handmade and Vintage Fair in Wimborne on Saturday 6th December. Entry to the fair is FREE. Please click the link above to find more information. There will be 80 stallholders and the fair is the first fair in Dorset to be sponsored by the global online marketplace Etsy.com so is going to be a good one and the perfect place to pick up unique Christmas gifts.

By coming to the fair you are supporting local independent businesses who take pride in their products and they are beautifully made and high quality. You also can chat away to the maker and find out more about their process and find out about how they got started.

Jill made this wonderful video showing the final stages of putting together her cushion covers:



Please be sure to take a look at Trawler Studio on Etsy which can be found HERE!
All information about our Christmas Fair is located HERE

Hope to see you at the Dorset Team Christmas Fair!