The latest outing of The Bit Beyond on 30th August was a roaring success, with hundreds of visitors passing through to buy baked goods, clothing and products, while discovering the unique stories behind vendors such as Jollie’s socks,Sweet Cavanagh, Snact and many others. Check out some pics from the day:
Our ‘pop-up market with soul’ will be returning at the end of the month to support social enterprise and ethical business in East London. The vendors are all social enterprises and ethical start-ups that have a focus that is bigger than simply making money. These are traders who have approached business with the primary aim of making the world a better place; creating great goods for the greater good.
This video below gives a little insight into what the market is all about:
To find out more or to get involved, follow us on Twitter @thebitbeyond or e-mail hello@thebitbeyond.co.uk
I’m looking forward to The Bit Beyond market on December 14th. It’s going to be a great time of celebrating and promoting businesses with ethical and generous principles built into their DNA. Looking at the list of people that have already confirmed and booked their places, including Sweet Cavanagh, Give Me Tap, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, Jollie’s socks, amongst many others, makes me feel like I need not worry about Christmas shopping until then. (Just don’t tell my family).
So signing up to help by writing this blog seemed like something simple that I could do, however I didn’t really count on writing blogs about things that I know nothing about.
I have a group of friends who will delight in telling you the story of the time I got a hole in my socks. Being a ‘Waste not, want not’ kind of guy, thanks to my Nan, I thought I’d try and fix them myself. However despite the heady days of cross-stitching cars in primary school, this was really not my forte so I spoke to those of my friends in the know. Or at least I tried to. They mainly just laughed at me. Possibly at the thought of me trying to thread a needle with my hugely indelicate paws that give me trouble when attempting the deft task of texting, or possibly because I just could not remember the word ‘sewing’ and ended up at the helpfully literal term ‘needle and threading’. I’m not allowed to forget that.
So that gives you an idea of my crafting knowledge. Maybe I need to take one of Cerys Turner‘s workshops? Or maybe I’ll just leave it to the masses. Basically I can’t talk much about the ins and outs of needle and threading, but I’m delighted to talk about how Cerys sources her fabrics from ethical and eco-friendly suppliers and works with small UK businesses to produce her ever popular pieces including the cross stitch tote bag. Having a look through her catalogue, it’s easy to see why she has worked with the likes of Salvatore Ferragamo, Topshop, Forever 21 and Gap (of which even I have heard of three, and the other one sounds Italian so it must be good).
Cery’s products will be hugely popular at The Bit Beyond Christmas market and we’re thrilled to have her on board and help promote another business trying to make the world just a little better.
…but not a drop to drink, goes the slightly misquoted saying. The point of course being that a sailor adrift on a vast ocean with billions of litres of water below him can still die from dehydration.
We are lucky enough in this country to never be far away from clean drinking water. One of those immense blessings that we all, of course, take for granted. Even so, sometimes when you’re out and about, you can feel like it’s some kind of grand anti-establishment statement to drink tap water and not just a basic part of human existence. Being in a pub or restaurant and asking for tap water causes you to turn into a fountain of cold sweat and popping in to the supermarket for a drink can set you back upwards of a pound for something that tastes ‘velvety, soft and refreshing’ or you could even buy a ‘water… that actually enhances life’ according to the marketing. All the time it’s falling from the sky and running under our feet.
Thanks to Edwin Broni-Mensah’s simple innovation, getting that vital drink of water can be made as easy as going to the kitchen again. Edwin is reclaiming the tap.
GiveMeTap have been set up so that when you are on the go, you can simply walk into any of the signed up cafes or restaurants and ask them to fill up your GiveMeTap bottle. If you’re not sure of where the nearest one is, just look on the app. They’ve got it covered. The aim is, that as more locations sign up (currently 200 locations and growing) you need never be more than four minutes from a refill of water, saving huge amounts of plastic from landfill and fuel used in transportation. Not only is this great news for us in the UK but also for those who can’t just pop into a shop or pub for a drink. Edwin has set up this GiveMeTap to really make a difference. Over 70% of the profits are used to bring access to clean water in Africa so when you buy the GiveMeTap bottle you will be helping provide clean drinking water for those at real risk of sever dehydration and disease.
GiveMeTap will be joining us at ‘The Bit Beyond’ Christmas market at Christ Church Spitalfields on 14th December. Each day we will be celebrating a different vendor on this blog as they all strive to make a positive impact in the wider world.
Florence Norman started making jewellery while in rehab. The new skills she learned at the weekly craft sessions she attended gave her a much-needed sense of achievement and she found that her self-esteem began to grow. After she completed her treatment, she decided to keep making jewellery. She invited other friends in similar situations to join her, and together they began to discover an opportunity to give more women like them a way out of addiction lifestyles by sharing their new skills.
Two and a half years later, Sweet Cavanagh is an award-winning social enterprise, with a registered charity, a growing workforce and premises in Notting Hill. It specialises in bold, standout jewellery pieces crafted from colourful semi-precious stones and intricate metal work. All the profits that it makes from selling its jewellery are reinvested into purchasing materials and training more craftswomen.
Florence herself can personally vouch for the impact that making jewellery has had on her life; She writes that, ‘at the age of 24 I felt so defeated that the small act of making a bracelet was like a mighty triumph to me, and slowly my confidence began to grow.’ It’s through building confidence that Sweet Cavanagh believes that they can help more women to recover from their personal battles.
Sweet Cavanagh are going to be hosting a table at the Bit Beyond Christmas market on 14th December in Christ Church Spitalfields, and we’re really excited to have them there. You can read more about their story here: http://sweet-cavanagh.myshopify.com/pages/about-us
Picture danish pastries, sweetbreads , sourdough and cakes and you start to get an idea of what Dublane House is all about – baking delicious treats and putting smiles on faces.
Dublane House believes in making things taste better and this passion extends beyond the kitchen. Founder Elan Tamara Mottley wants to build a community using her skills. She plans to teach locals how to bake for themselves at home, and provide cooking lessons for those who otherwise might not have access to luxury classes.
Inspired by the recent revival of British bakeries, Elan loves applying traditional recipes to her modern creations. Her cinnamon buns with a cardamom twist are particularly devour-able (perfect with hot chocolate or fresh coffee).
Experimenting in the kitchen and having fun are fundamental to this outfit, and there’s a sense that new and exciting things are always just around the corner. Sourdough baking is the latest on the list of Elan’s healthy obsessions which can only be good news for her customers
I’ve got cold feet.
Don’t worry, I’m not calling off an engagement. The problem has arisen from a combination of decreasing ambient temperature and the rising ubiquitousness of laminate flooring.
What’s a modern mid-winter renter to do then? Buy squares of carpet to stick to the soles of my feet? No. Of course not, I would lose the fun of the run-‘n’-slide. Fortunately when I asked my friends, it seemed the answer was quite easy: Socks! Lo and behold, when I checked, I had a drawer dedicated to them already. Excitedly fishing out a non-matching pair I pulled them on, only for the excitement to dissipate in a scratchy, polyester based battle.
I needed a better option and fortunately Jollie’s socks have come to the rescue. I’m sure I could recommend these to you solely on the basis of their wonderful warmth and great colour scheme, which mean that you’ll never get an odd pair again. But no, there are more and greater reasons than that.
There’s really only one thing better than ‘Buy one get one free’ at Christmas and that’s “Buy one GIVE one free’. Jollie’s socks are set up as a really simple yet effective way for you to help those less fortunate. For every pair of socks that you buy they will donate one pair to a homeless shelter based near you so you can guarantee that another pair of feet less fortunate than yours, are staying slightly warmer too thanks to this great initiative. So let that warm feeling spread up from your feet to your heart as well.
Thirty days before ‘The Bit Beyond’ makes its Christmas début, we wanted to feature a different vendor each day to promote what people are doing in East London to bring about change for the better.
Each of these vendors will be featuring at our Market in Christ Church Spitalfields on the 14th December and are involved in social enterprise or fairtrade or in some way seeking to benefit the wider community.
Get involved. Come down. Support a great company and do some Christmas shopping. I guarantee it’ll be better than Westfields.
The Bit Beyond 