Urban Makers Weekend Market — Saturday 24 October
By Urban MakersUp to 30 independent makers in the covered hall at Old Spitalfields. Free entry, 10am–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
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.
Hedgerow Millinery
Textiles & accessories
I block hats on wooden forms with steam, which is hot, damp work and completely absorbing. My materials are wool felt for winter and straw braid for summer, sewn in a spiral by hand for the straw hats, which takes a full day per hat. Trims come from my own dyed ribbon and the odd found feather. I make a wide-brim, a small cap and a bucket shape, and I can adjust a fitting on the stall since almost nobody has the head size they think they do.
Mended & Made
Textiles & accessories
I weave rag rugs and mats on a peg loom using strips torn from worn-out bedsheets and shirts. Tearing is the noisy part and my neighbours have learned to live with it. The rugs come out thick and heavy with a shaggy texture, and because the fabric comes from whatever I am given, colours arrive in accidental combinations I would never choose deliberately. I make bath mats, runners and round door mats. Everything is washable, which matters for something that lives on a floor.
Selvedge & Stitch
Textiles & accessories
I buy end-of-roll fabric from London factories, usually thirty or forty metres of something a brand over-ordered, and cut it into aprons, tote bags and simple wrap tops.
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.
Wool & Wander
Textiles & accessories
I hand-knit hats, mittens and long socks on double-pointed needles, in undyed wool from a flock of Shetlands I visit once a year in Cumbria. The natural fleece colours give me eight shades without any dye at all, from near-white to a proper charcoal. Patterns are traditional Fair Isle motifs I learned from my grandmother, worked in the round with no seams. A pair of gloves takes about fifteen hours. I bring the wool undyed and knitted side by side so people can see the connection.
Organised by
Moderate refunds. Full refund available until 7 days before the event.
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