Urban Makers at Old Spitalfields — Wednesday 14 October
By Urban MakersOur weekly midweek maker market in the covered hall at Old Spitalfields. Free entry, 11am–5pm.
About this event
Where
Old Spitalfields Market
16 Horner Square, Spitalfields, London E1 6EW
Good to know
Free entry
No ticket needed — just turn up. Bring a bag for life.
Step-free access
The whole market is step-free with accessible toilets on site.
Getting here
Please travel by public transport or bike — there is no visitor parking.
Meet the makers
Clay & Canvas
Ceramics
I throw everything on a small wheel in a railway arch, mostly in a speckled stoneware that fires to a warm oatmeal. My range is built around daily things: deep breakfast bowls, tumblers that sit right in the hand, jugs for milk or for wildflowers. I mix my own glazes from oxides and wood ash, so every batch shifts slightly. I also paint slip decoration freehand, which is where the canvas half of the name comes from. Markets are where I test new shapes before they reach the shop.
Crackle & Glaze
Ceramics
I chase crazing on purpose. My glazes are formulated to craze finely, and after the second firing I rub in a tea and oxide wash so the whole surface shows a delicate web. I throw bottle vases, wide fruit bowls, and a tall carafe with two beakers that ends up on people's bedside tables. A white stoneware body keeps the crackle legible. Interiors get a stable liner glaze, so everything stays watertight and properly usable rather than decorative.
Endgrain & Co
Woodwork
My speciality is end-grain butcher's blocks, where the wood is cut into cubes and glued standing up so the knife goes between the fibres rather than across them. It keeps an edge sharp for far longer and the board heals itself. A single block is around two hundred pieces, glued in two stages, flattened, then oiled seven times over a week. They are heavy, which people always comment on. I also make smaller trivets and coasters from the same process at a friendlier price.
Grogged
Ceramics
I use heavily grogged clay, the coarse stuff meant for sculpture, and throw it anyway. It shreds your hands but the finished pots have a wonderful sandpaper edge. My range is planters, kitchen crocks for utensils, and big salad bowls that get passed around a table. Interiors are glazed in glossy cream or deep blue, outsides left raw so they darken with handling. I work in runs of twenty and rarely repeat a glaze beyond a single season.
Ink & Iron Press
Print & illustration
I print letterpress on an Adana platen press that weighs more than I do, setting each line from trays of metal type.
Pickle Parade
Food & drink
I make the pickles I grew up eating in Poland, plus a few my English wife has talked me into. Dill cucumbers in a salt brine, sauerkraut with caraway, pickled beetroot, and a mustard piccalilli that is not remotely traditional but sells beautifully. Vegetables come from a wholesaler in Leyton and whatever the allotment gives me. Everything ferments in food-grade barrels in a cold garage, then goes into jars I sterilise myself. I bring open jars and cocktail sticks and expect people to try before they buy.
Riverbed Jewellery
Jewellery
I roll-print my silver using dried grasses, feathers and lace collected on walks, running them through the mill under enough pressure to leave a permanent impression.
Slipstone Studio
Ceramics
I make functional tableware for people who cook a lot.
Soot & Saffron
Candles & home fragrance
I hand-roll incense the way my aunt taught me, mixing powdered woods, resins and gums with water into a stiff paste, then rolling it onto bamboo sticks and drying them flat for a week. Nothing is dipped in fragrance oil, which is how most incense is made and why so much of it smells thin. My blends are frankincense and orange peel, sandalwood and saffron, and a heavy oud for winter. I sell them in bundles of thirty with a small ceramic holder.
Wednesday Woodblock
Print & illustration
I print mokuhanga, Japanese water-based woodblock, using cherry plywood, rice paste and a baren rubbed by hand. There is no press involved at all. Each colour is a separate block, registered with cut notches, and a print with six colours means six carvings and six passes. The ink sinks into the paper rather than sitting on it, so the surface stays matt and soft. My images are quiet: rain on water, folded laundry, a bowl of plums. Editions of twenty, printed in one sitting.
Woad & Weft
Textiles & accessories
I keep an indigo vat going in my back yard and feed it like a sourdough starter, which is exactly as odd as it sounds.
Organised by
Moderate refunds. Full refund available until 7 days before the event.
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