Urban Makers at Old Spitalfields — Wednesday 30 September
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
Crumb & Cranny
Food & drink
I bake with a sourdough starter I have kept alive for nine years and a stone-milled flour from a farm in Suffolk.
Foundry Fern
Jewellery
I do my own casting, which most makers at my scale send out.
Grogged
Ceramics
I use heavily grogged clay, the coarse stuff meant for sculpture, and throw it anyway.
Lost Wax Lane
Jewellery
I carve wax models under a magnifying lamp, which is how I lose whole afternoons.
Quiet Hammer
Jewellery
My whole range is forged from a single gauge of square wire, twisted, tapered and curled into bangles, ear cuffs and open rings that you squeeze to fit. Because it is all one material there is very little waste, and offcuts get soldered into chain links. I work in brass for the affordable end and silver above that. The finish is deliberately dark, brought back with beeswax rather than lacquer, so it keeps ageing after it leaves me.
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. Those textured sheets become domed pendants, wrap rings and long earrings. Then I oxidise everything and polish the raised parts back so the pattern reads clearly. Nothing survives the mill twice, so a pattern is only ever used once. I have been trading at London markets since 2019 and most of my customers now come back for the next one.
The Balm Room
Bath & body
I infuse oils with herbs for six weeks in a sunny window before I make anything, which is the slow step everybody skips. Calendula for a nappy balm, comfrey for aching hands, plantain for bites and stings. From those oils I make small pots of balm with beeswax from a beekeeper in Kent. Everything is safety assessed by a cosmetic chemist and batch numbered, because I take that part seriously even at this scale. Tins are aluminium and I refill them at markets for a discount.
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. Everything I dye is shibori: bound, folded or stitched before it goes in, then unpicked wet to reveal the pattern. I dye linen napkins, cotton bandanas, silk scarves and a small run of cushion covers. The blue oxidises from green to indigo in front of you as it comes out of the vat, and I bring a small vat to markets to demonstrate.
Organised by
Moderate refunds. Full refund available until 7 days before the event.
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