www.frugalcool.co.uk
Stash and Treasure Party
Thursday 12 August
6pm to 8pm
A fun event especially for designers and makers.
Join Frugal Cool at Loretto Gallery Musselburgh on Thursday 12 August for our first Stash and Treasure Party.
Bring your lovely unused stash and start swapping and selling. Meet other makers and designers.
Remember ... that bag of old watches and box of tin cans is gold dust to some of our eco designers.
There'll be refreshments, a prize tombola and lots of sunshine music.
We'll be asking everyone for a donation £3 to Unicef.
Find us
Loretto Gallery is located at Racecourse end of Musselburgh's High Street, next to Loretto School. Look out for the beautiful pillared entrance, and of course, our signs.
» Map
Frugal Cool's Summer Fête and Eco Market
Loretto Gallery, Musselburgh
Friday 13 to Sunday 15 August 2010
10.30am to 5pm
Stash Swap and Sell : Thursday 12 August 6pm to 8pm
Our big summer event - Frugal Cool's Summer Fête and Eco Market - takes place at Loretto Gallery, High Street, Musselburgh from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 August 2010.
We are inviting ethical makers and designers who live and/or work within 35 miles of Musselburgh to promote their work during our summer celebration. As always, we welcome designers who remake, upcycle and re-invent - or use only natural and ethically sourced materials - to create stylish and inspiring products.
This summer, we want to celebrate our children. So we're especially looking for fabby back-to-school accessories, and treats and inspirations for all the family. We'll be having lots of fun too, with a tombola, colouring-in and maybe a game or two.
If you're interested in joining us at Loretto, first check the eco criteria below, then please email or call me on 07751 596549. I look forward to hearing from you.
The gallery of Loretto School is part of a small Georgian house at the racecourse end of the High Street in Musselburgh.
It's a lovely exhibition space with white walls and sanded floors, comprising two adjoining rooms, 22m² and 19m².
In Room 1 - the first room that visitors enter - there is generous space for 4 makers.
Each space will be approx. 1.2m x 1.6m (to 2m), but they're all slightly different. Three are against the wall, and one - a beautiful old round table - is placed in the central position of Room 1. This maker will also get a small wall space, and one window alcove near the door.
We're looking for gifts, jewellery, toys, fashion, home accessories, artworks and vintage. It should be handmade, recycled, fairtrade, organic and/or natural.
This is a programmed event, and spaces are limited. Tables are available for individual days or multiple days.
Cost: One day £30. Two days £54. Three days £71.
This covers venue hire and marketing. We welcome two or more designers sharing the cost and space.
Artworks only: If you'd like to display artworks, there is some wall space in Room 2. We will sell on your behalf on a commission of 10%.
Room 2 will host beautiful fairly traded products from the Green Gift Company plus a few great green gadgets and handmade items from Frugal Cool. We introduced fair trade to the April market, and it was hugely successful. Believe it or not, some people aren't seduced by handmade! I know, who'd have believed it. Yet they walked out with something cool and ethical, and we were all very happy.
Which day's best and how many days? Good questions.
In our previous markets (last November and April), we've had 100s of visitors on all days, even Sundays. We work hard at marketing our events (see below) and you know, people simply love the idea of upcycled and remade products. Frugal Cool's reputation is steadily spreading beyond Musselburgh.
Of course it can be quiet, although when the rain comes down, it can be busy. We just don't know. It's still is school holidays here, most people are back home, and looking for something different to do with their children. We'll also be in the middle of Musselburgh on the Fringes, a programme of events to coincide with the Edinburgh Festival.
Set up is from 8.30am each day.
Eco Criteria
Frugal Cool promotes and sells well-made eco crafts. We will offer work for sale at the Eco Market which is:
• locally made
• made by hand
In addition, resources and materials should also meet at least two of the following criteria:
• non-toxic (this includes materials substantially made from petrochemicals)
• locally sourced
• re-cycled (or upcycled), re-used and re-cyclable
• natural
• organic
• cruelty-free
• fairly traded
• low energy in production and use
• designed to be practical and/or enhance wellbeing and reduce carbon footprint
100% sustainability is an ideal, and one to which Frugal Cool aspires. We live in the real world though, and we accept that compromises may be made.
Marketing Support
I believe that marketing is a shared responsibility. We should all spread the word however we can. It's tried and tested now too. We had over 700 visitors in November. Although numbers were slightly down in April (well, it wasn't Christmas), we still collectively took £3000 in just three days.
Our green marketing focusses on networking, although we will use traditional activity to support this. There will be some print material (on FSC certified paper). An A5 poster/leaflet will be distributed locally by Frugal Cool. We'll also be asking all contributing designers and makers to distribute within their neighbourhood too.
Good signage is essential, at the venue and on all approaches into Musselburgh. We've invested in well designed, re-usable signage, which will be in place from Sunday 7th August.
Networking involves online as well as word of mouth activity. We tweet and facebook and send newsletters. There will be ongoing press contact and general PR will target existing networks, from business to church and community.
Keep in Touch
I hope you love this idea as much as we do. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call Nicky on 07751 596549, email frugalcool@hotmail.co.uk or twitter @frugalcool. You can also find us on Facebook.