Our makers.
Meet the artisan makers who make each day of our markets truly unique.
With markets held regularly between April and October we are proud to showcase a wide variety of artists, designers and makers throughout the year.
Some stallholders exhibit for the full weekend, whilst others join us for a single day making each of our craft fairs truly unique.
Here are just a few of the makers who attended our markets in 2022 and 2023.
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A self taught artist, Karen uses alcohol ink pens and drops of neat alcohol to create vibrant floral pieces.
In 2021 Karen also introduced her Wild Collage Collection which combines elements of her original paintings along with isolated drawings and photographs of wildlife to create a representation of nature in motion bringing her artwork to life.
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Sadia’s passion for making was inspired by watching her Mum and Gran sewing. Her quest to find the perfect handmade pieces for her own daughters bedroom led her to start her own small business.
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Ian had been keen to produce art from a young age. He started with graphite sketching and moved onto water colour and acrylic paintings. He now specialises in drawing wildlife using coloured pencils. These enable him to produce the textures, detail and realism he loves.
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Sarah’s creative business started almost by chance after she used embroidery as a way to focus and nurture herself whilst coping with chronic illness.
She now designs and hand stitches a variety of different embroidery hoops and cushions featuring positive affirmations and mental health messages and she also has a range of cards and brooches.
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Toni graduated from Derby University with a First Class BA (Hons) degree in Textile Design. During lockdown she also turned to polymer clay as a way to experiment with pattern and colour. This lead to a new range of jewellery and accessories.
At heart a constructer of things, Toni’s pool of inspiration is eclectic. The running themes in all of her work are saturated colour, pattern and interaction with light.
This can be seen clearly in both her weaving work and polymer clay jewellery and sculptures.
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Victoria takes much of her inspiration from her hometown of Stoke on Trent famous for the pottery industry.
Her unique range of jewellery includes a mix of hand painted and polymer clay pieces.
The perfect range for anyone who loves to express their own quirky style!
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Sharon had always wanted to try throwing pottery on a wheel, after being disappointed by slab work at school.
After attending a half day course with the owner of a studio whilst on holiday, she was hooked and has never looked back!
Sharon uses high quality white clay for all of her creations with different techniques for decorating. Most of her creations are still wheel thrown and she loves the anticipation of not knowing how the finished piece will turn out until the kiln is opened.
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Billie-Jo stood at her first market at the age of 13!
As well as being a qualified joiner, she also studied welding and fabrication and now designs and makes all of her own products using FSC responsibly sourced timer and thick gage bar.
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Inspired by nature and folk lore Kimberley took up pottery almost 4 years ago. Folk art, green men, pixies, mythical birds and flowers often feature in her work and she now sells her work at art and craft fairs, festivals and exhibitions.
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Having had a keen interest in low tech forms of photography since undertaking an art foundation course in 2005, Sophie’s passion for horticulture led her to start her own creative business in 2022.
Using flowers she has grown herself from seed, Sophie creates unique cyanotypes and adds a touch of liquid gold leaf to highlight details of the image.
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In 2013 Vicky purchased a smalll flock of sheep and wanted to find a craft that would allow her to utilise their wool in a way she would enjoy. When she discovered needle felting she was quickly hooked!
After their annual shearing Vicky carefully washes and combs the fleece by hand before she can begin needle felting the wool. Her sheep now provide the majority of the wool that she uses and knowing that she can thank Patchy, Bracken, Bramble and Primrose for the raw material (just to name a few!) makes it even more special.
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Phil has lived and worked in the Peak District for many years and he has a great passion for the place he lives.
Although his surroundings are a great influence in his work Phil also photographs further afield. He loves to use the outdoor world as his studio, making the most of the many backdrops at his disposal - from wonderful green hills with natural tones of outcrops of rocks, to the light and shade of the ancient woodlands that the Peak District has in abundance.
In 2021 he was chosen as one of the 70 most influencial people in the Peak District to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Peak District National Park.
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Denise has always had a love for pottery but never dreamt it would become her passion!
She loves to make tactile, functional pottery from her home studio overlooking her greenhouse, vegetable beds and fruit trees.
Mugs and bowls are the thing she loves most as everyone can use these on a daily basis.
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Having grown up in the countryside, Christine moved to Leicester while studying for a degree in Silversmithing and jewellery.
She went on to work for a jewellery manufacturer in Worcester with her designs being sold in shops all over England, but after a while she really craved the freedom and scope to do her own thing.
Christine now has her own workshop in Leicester where she creates jewellery in Silver and Enamelled Copper. Each piece is completely handmade and unique in it’s appearance.
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Julie has always worked with real flowers but after being asked to make two artificial flower centre pieces for a wedding a whole new world opened up for her business!
Julie now creates a variety of one of a kind arrangements, using high quality artificial flowers and foliage, which she tailors for the coming season.
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Suzanne is lucky enough to live in the Peak District National Park where she is surrounded by countryside everyday. She loves nothing more than exploring the landscape with her camera as she catches fleeting moments, that exist only briefly but nevertheless make her heart sing.
Suzanne’s work has been featured in BBC Countryfile Magazine, and Visit England, as well as being used in the BBC Countryfile range of greetings cards available nationally.
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Taking inspiration from the great outdoors Carrie uses locally sourced materials as much as possible and she also tries to reuse and repurpose where she can to ensure no scraps go to waste.
What started out as a way to channel her creativity and make unique and personal gifts for family and friends soon became a business allowing her to work around her family and share her creations with a wider audience.
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After achieving two City and Guilds qualifications in Textiles, Sue was keen to use her skills to start her own small business.
She creates artwork using a combination of her watercolour skills and free motion embroidery.
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Inspired by the traditional roses and castles style, Andy and Maureen work together to create beautiful canal art pieces.
All of these upcycled items are first cleaned by Andy before each individual element is carefully hand painted by Maureen.
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The Two Madges are Trish and Anne, Two sisters inspired by Madge, their multi talented and characterful Nan.
Their floral watercolour designs are made into cards and fabric which they then sew to create scatter cushions, tea towels and lavender bags.
Their branding centres around a photograph of Madge who was the the creative link in their family.
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Like many crafters, what started as a hobby, soon became a little business.
Jenny has been jewellery making since 2011. She is proud to work with genuine gemstones and still enjoys discovering new stones as well as incorporating old favourites in her pieces.
Jenny has also now branched out into silverwork and stone setting.
Interested in having a stall?
A lot of time and care is taken when curating our markets. Our detailed application process allows us to visualise the aesthetics of each stall and get a true picture of the products each stallholder wishes to sell on the day. This helps us to allocate the best position in the room.
