About
So. You wanna know about Made in the Shade? Well now. Let’s see… Made in the Shade is run by us – Carrie Maclennan and Clare Nicolson. Our business is a dinky two-gal operation – but it’s dynamic and exciting and we love it.
Made in the Shade is a fun and accessible retail platform for indie craft & design. It is a quirky little cosmos of vintage lifestyle and culture that lives and grows by a ‘make do and mend’, DIY ethos.
The Maisonette
The Maisonette was our real-life shop in Glasgow’s westend. It was dedicated to offering customers an eye-popping variety of handmade homewares, wearables, gifts, art, stationery and crafty lifestyle products. Established in October 2009 and closed in January 2012, The Maisonette stocked work by designer makers and small indie labels from all over the UK and beyond. Not only did The Maisonette introduce visitors to the delights of shopping handmade for quality covetables, but we used our shop as a means to help guide young businesses and would-be suppliers through the process of working with retailers.
Business Boogaloo
Forget stuffy networking evenings, ‘missing-the-point’ meetings and dull business guides. Whooo-yeah! Do the Made in the Shade Business Boogaloo! You want straight up, no nonsense advice about starting and growing a DIY craft business, right? You want information that’s bang-on relevant to indie craft & design and you want that information to be presented in a fun, waffle-free format. Right? Right. We deliver lively, fun, to-the-point presentations on everything from craft fair dos and don’ts to fathoming retailers’ terms and conditions – and everything in between. Made in the Shade also publishes dinky zines crammed full of hints, tips and insider secrets to help you find your feet in the craft world AND we host seasonal online Business Boogaloo parties to keep in touch with long distance pals. Business Boogaloo ain’t no ordinary approach to business advice. You probably guessed that already. To find out more, visit the Vendor section of the site or email us at: boogaloo@wearemadeintheshade.com
Hire Us
Don’t be shy. If you would like the Made in the Shade gals to speak at your next event or if you’d like us to write a guest blog post or feature for your publication – just ask! If we think we can help, we will. If you would like The A’Maisonettes to provide the soundtrack for your party or if you would like to collaborate with us on fun projects, then drop a line to mail@wearemadeintheshade.com and we’ll get right back to you. We do love to get out and about and we really enjoy making friends with likeminds.
The Made in the Shade Boutique Shopping Event
The Made in the Shade boutique shopping event launched in Glasgow way back in 2008. By combining all of our favourite things in one big space, we offered up a super-fun, fresh take on the ol’ craft fair and gave customers in our home town a new reason to shop indie! By the end of 2009 we’d won over customers and crafters in Edinburgh too.
Bringing together vendors from all over the country, customers enjoyed browsing and buying the wares of indie designers, vintage sellers and crafty troubadors. From upcycled furniture to fabulous millinery, fashion, ceramics and handmade textiles, Made in the Shade quickly became a veritable handmade hotspot!
The Made in the Shade goody bag got the visitors a-smiling, the handpicked rock’n’roll soundtrack got them a-shimmying, refreshments from Nora’s Bake Sale and Auntie M’s Cake Lounge kept ‘em sweet and The Made in the Shade Music Matinee prompted a foot stomping ruckus on the odd occasion! Seasonal event features and gala-style silliness helped make sure each event was different. By adding workshops and interactive stalls to the mix, we’d made ourselves a rockin’ and boppin’ handmade shopping party.
We’re pleased to say that Glasgow has well and truly embraced updated versions of the craft & vintage fair in the last three years. The local craft & vintage market calendar is choca-bloc with options. So, for now, our shopping event is taking a well earned rest while we plot and plan our next indie shopping idea. You’ll know all about it when we’re ready to unveil it.
Aswell as all that, we like to get out and about when we can.
We’ve hosted craft-in-the-pub parties, travelled to London to play some of our favourite songs at The BUST Craftacular, collaborated with some swell organisations and even presented a lecture on selling creative work at Glasgow School of Art.
