The push for the Gungahlin hand-made market

Please contact me @ either http://www.handmademarket.com.au or info@handmademarket.com.au

I would love to hear from you.

Cheers

Handmademarket said :

Thanks to everyone for all the interesting comments & support.

I have put a lot of time and thought into the planning of this market. I have been disappointed with the lack of originality at other markets in the ACT and surrounding districts and want to offer local designers & artists an opportunity to showcase their original, handmade designs. This is a similar philosophy to Etsy as in handmade or designed but with a human element that can be very rewarding to the designer & shopper. This will be set out very clearly in the application process and then followed up at every market.

Being a local resident I am also aware of the need for something special at Gungahlin if it is to stand out from other local community town centres. The market will also look to support local community groups and schools etc in providing free sites for fundraising and local awareness. The town centre will have an opportunity to become the meeting place for everyone at not only Handmade Market but also at the Community run markets.

The Handmade markets are not about putting any one or any other event down, it is not about politics, it is not about making millions of dollars it is about what I saw as missing in the community and doing something about it! Just like any one else can. Please don’t make more of it than that.

I am very interested to hear from everyone who has great ideas about what they would like to see at this market.

Cheers and thanks again everyone

I belong to a small local craft group who may be interested in your market. How can I contact you ?

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

why can’t Gungahlin have something good for once?

Because they’re cursed. Until they return the last piece of Inca gold, they’re doomed to dwell in enormous but tasteless cells on tiny blocks of land, wander endless mazes of narrow roads and say things they don’t really mean like “We’re just as good as anywhere else in Canberra – we’ve got a Big W.”

jealousy is so ugly.

Thanks to everyone for all the interesting comments & support.

I have put a lot of time and thought into the planning of this market. I have been disappointed with the lack of originality at other markets in the ACT and surrounding districts and want to offer local designers & artists an opportunity to showcase their original, handmade designs. This is a similar philosophy to Etsy as in handmade or designed but with a human element that can be very rewarding to the designer & shopper. This will be set out very clearly in the application process and then followed up at every market.

Being a local resident I am also aware of the need for something special at Gungahlin if it is to stand out from other local community town centres. The market will also look to support local community groups and schools etc in providing free sites for fundraising and local awareness. The town centre will have an opportunity to become the meeting place for everyone at not only Handmade Market but also at the Community run markets.

The Handmade markets are not about putting any one or any other event down, it is not about politics, it is not about making millions of dollars it is about what I saw as missing in the community and doing something about it! Just like any one else can. Please don’t make more of it than that.

I am very interested to hear from everyone who has great ideas about what they would like to see at this market.

Cheers and thanks again everyone

Partially correct Genie. The Gungahlin Regional Community Service do run a markets and are looking at going fortnightly in the new linear park area.

The new proposal would also run fortnightly – on the other weekends from the GRCS one, so would dovetail well.

As a strictly local hand crafts market, it would not cross over with local retailers, and I think would more likely aid local retailers by bringing more people into Gungahlin who might otherwise go further afield.

As for commercial, running a good market takes full-time effort. GRCS is a community organisation, but have paid staff who coordinate their market. This new market would be run by the proponent (Julie her name is) on a full time basis, and she has explained she would pay herself a wage, then additional revenue would be distributed to a selection of charitable causes.

I don’t see much difference between the two models, and neither did our meeting when Julie put forward her proposal (and at which Andrew Barr was present when he was “acting Hargreaves” – i.e. the responsible Minister. Reps from GRCS were also present at that meeting, as were some retailers and one Shopping Centre Manager.

With appropriate controls written into her permit, GCC sees no reason the two markets (and static retails) can’t co-exist symbiotically. It just needs who.ever is holding it up in TaMS to get their butt in gear.

There currently is a handmade/craft market held at Gungahlin, on the 4th Saturday of every month in this location. They are in the process to make it fortnightly. This market is operated by the Community Centre.

As far as I’m aware this person has made an application for a COMMERCIAL market. To be held on the opposite fortnights to the current market.

utah said :

Etsy’s a website, so if you’re selling “Etsy-styled” goods, why not just sell them on Etsy?

Because not everyone wants to buy stuff on the internet. Some people enjoy the sense of community in going to a physical place like a market and meeting the maker in person. And it’s nice to bump into your neighbours while you’re there (even more so when you discover they’re a stallholder and have a real talent at creating things).

If we can afford to have a bland, tasteless shopping mall in every district of the city, why not another craft market or two?

I had never heard of an Etsy before now, but having heard of it, I would much rather buy something handmade in person. That said, if people think that Gun-ga-lin need a market such as this, who cares? I am unlikely to be there when they on.

Etsy’s a website, so if you’re selling “Etsy-styled” goods, why not just sell them on Etsy?

why can’t Gungahlin have something good for once?

Because they’re cursed. Until they return the last piece of Inca gold, they’re doomed to dwell in enormous but tasteless cells on tiny blocks of land, wander endless mazes of narrow roads and say things they don’t really mean like “We’re just as good as anywhere else in Canberra – we’ve got a Big W.”