Brilliantly British Things

With the Jubilee celebrations over the weekend and the countdown the London Olympics well underway it’s no wonder that everyone is feeling all patriotic – I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much bunting as I have in the last few weeks! To help fly the flag for British made products British Things have created a special brand identity for British crafters, designers and makers to use to promote their British credentials. I was lucky enough to hear about this when I blogged about their fantastic event run by Keep Calm events in May and recently I got to talk to Dave exclusively about his very patriotic idea.

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SO: Where did the idea come from?

DS: An American Etsy customer once revealed that the reason she bought things from Britain was because she loved seeing the Queen’s head on a stamp. This got me thinking that I wanted to produce something crafters and makers could use to promote their British origins, so I trawled the net for ideas, and then stumbled upon something interesting. It appears that there had been a competition in 2011, run by Stoves, to design a standard marque for Made in Britain products. I’d not seen the logo being used and I quickly discovered that the winning design wasn’t exactly popular.

SO: So you liked the look of one of the runner up logos, how did you go from there to a usable mark?

DS: When I looked at the other entries, one in particular jumped out at me as being totally British. A simple round design, with a look of something like a makers stamp on fine china or a seal on a package, this was perfect for the job in hand and it appeared it was incredibly popular, yet hadn’t won. So I contacted the designer Melissa Reilly and struck a deal to licence the design. She also created a Handmade In Britain version for me. We had to make a few tweaks along the way particularly to the crown, but the smaller, Keep Calm & Carry On inspired graphic actually worked better for us – giving us room to create buttons etc.

SO: You’ve created a range of products with the logo on for crafters and makers to use, what is in your range at the moment and where are the items made?

DS: They are all made in Britian, of course! I found a stamp maker, a button maker and a printer of vinyl seals - the button maker dates back to the mid 19th century! We have a range of options for stamps, seals and embossers. There is a stamp for impressing into clay that the potters and polymer clay users will find useful, and a craft stamp for using with dye based inks, for embossing lettering onto card products, gift boxes and more. Not forgetting the modern world, the design is available as a digital file, for free.

SO: Where can we buy your lovely stamps, seals, buttons and embossers?

DS: The Made In Britain items are available in both our Etsy and Folksy shops. The Handmade In Britain items are exclusive to our Folksy shop, because qualification criteria are the same as for Folksy itself. To use the Handmade in Britain logo you must be a maker of goods, or art, or a designer based in and working from Britain. The exclusions cover anyone who buys in their made goods and assembles them in Britain, but more importantly, all of the overseas sellers who fake a UK presence to sell online, but who send the goods directly from abroad. A process which is commonplace on the likes of eBay. So if you are a Folksy seller, or a maker who fits the same criteria, then you can have the rarer Handmade version to use as you wish.

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Huge thanks to Dave for taking the time out to chat with me. As a special offer to my blog readers (that’s you!) Dave has some sample seals that were made as prototypes for the project, these are going to be collectable as they cannot be sold or used commercially, so he’s giving them away to the first 60 buyers who mention this blog by name.

All buyers can ask for free digital versions of the logo for their website, blog, business cards or letterhead at no additional cost via Dave’s shops, BritishThings on both Folksy and Etsy or you can contact him via email to ask for more information on the range.

I’ve been using the stamp for a few weeks now and they are amazing quality, so crisp and I get a perfect print almost every time. So if you are a maker, handmade or otherwise and would like to show off your British credentials then go grab yourself a bunch of British Things products and wear your Britishness with pride. And please look out for the logo when you are shopping online, at craft fairs or on the high street and use your consumer power to support British designed and made products.

Hoorah, merry Jublympics everyone