Tag: Crafters

Crafting books in Guimarães

Posted in Crafters, Judy, Small businessTagged , , , ,

Hello better people. I know its been quiet here for a while. I’ve relocated to Portugal, to a little town called Guimarães which turns out to be a place where creativity of all kinds flourishes. (Lucky me!) So I thought I’d share some of my adventures here just to inspire you all. Look how pretty it is.

If you wander up this awesome street (Rua de Santa Maria) you will find a  tiny shop on the left called Pedra Flor. It’s a short (and ridiculously picturesque) walk from my apartment.

This creative place is housed in a long narrow space that is shared by four small businesses. It sells a curious range of products that includes owner Helder Magalhães’ own hand-made (and sometimes even hand-written) books as well as eco-friendly brand Babu. You can check it out on Facebook.

Pedra Flor is situated right at the end of the space, furthest in from the street, which was a good move as it adjoins a tiny courtyard. This was the site of my latest adventure – a bookbinding workshop.

I spent a glorious Saturday morning learning how to construct a book. It’s a bit of a different perspective, focusing on the physical object, rather than the words. (Makes a change from writing.)

We learned how to make a three-quire book from scratch – folding the paper, making holes and stitching to create the inside of the book. The spine is glued and re-enforced with twine that runs across the three quires and is secured inside the cover. Attaching the cover was a challenge as that twine has to be teased out and “shaved” to get it to lie flat under the end pages of the book. We got to decorate our books with carefully pressed plants and wild flowers.

Helder’s hallmark seems to be “care”. Both in the attention he lavished on the book binding process, but also in his lovingly presented shop. My favourite part was when we got tea with an apple and cinnamon cake, made by Helder. (I actually miss having to bake for Better events.)

It was great to learn (at least a bit about) another craft. I’m inspired, in Guimarães, by how many crafts there are to learn and how many people here still make things. There are shoe-shops with actual cobblers making shoes, clothing stores where tailors make the clothes and I live above a pottery studio.

What about you? Have you attended any interesting craft workshops lately? Are you running one? Comment below to share your experiences with the Better community.

Crafting

Posted in Artists, Crafters, EventsTagged , , , , ,

Creating is about joy; the satisfaction when you stand back and look at what you have made. Something exists where it did not exist before and you have made an impact (even a small one) on the world.

I’m not talking about great artists and architects. I’m talking about ordinary people who create because they don’t want to be consumers. They want to produce, to “make their own stuff”. They know that the homebaked pie with the slightly burned edge is better than store-bought perfection. These people cook and sew, knit and crochet, write and blog, draw and illustrate, code and tinker, perform and play, not professionally, but for themselves, for their families and friends and for each other.

Making with other makers multiplies the happiness. Sharing creative projects is an opportunity to forge links towards the common goal of a better world, rejecting mass-production for the individual, the hand-crafted, the expression of human ingenuity and capacity. We want to build a better, connected world.

Better is a gathering place for productive people. Come and meet your tribe here. Bring your thread and fabric, your needles and yarn, your pens and laptops, your brushes and ink or your dancing shoes. Come and share the joy with other makers.

The makers gather at Better every third Saturday of the month for a day of crafting (from 10am to 4pm). Bring your latest project or just come and experiment with the tools and equipment we have on hand. Chat to others and find common ground. We provide basic art and craft materials, sewing machines, some tools and inspiration (full list here). Bring specialist materials with you or buy from our kiosk (list of stock here).

Drinks (tea, coffee, wine, beer) are on the house, there will be rolls and sandwiches for sale or pack a lunch if you prefer. We have a great garden to picnic in.

R150 or a Better membership gets you in. Pay by EFT, cash or card at the door.

Booking essential.

Membership options at Better

Posted in Andrew, Better, Crafters, Freelancers, Memberships, WritersTagged , , , , , 3 Comments

Make Better your regular work and play space by becoming a member of Better.  We’d love to have you join our community. Here we explain our membership options.

The free stuff

All members of Better get, for free

  • fast WiFi,
  • coffee, tea and snacks,
  • access to books and curated information, and
  • the use of a range of creating equipment and materials.

Members can attend many of our events free and get discounts on workshops and training.

The membership options

There are three tiers of membership:

As a starving artist (tier one) you want access to Better more than four times a month, but your budget is tight. For R550 per month, you get:

  • access Better up to ten days in the month
  • 5 pages of printing free each day, and
  • a discount on one guest per day.

If you are at the point of creating every day, and want a place to work regularly, leaving your stuff overnight, then the regular maker (tier two) option is for you. You pay R1200 per month for

  • access to Better as often as you want
  • 10 pages of printing free each day,
  • a discount on two guests per day,
  • off-street parking, and
  • your own locker.

If you run a successful freelance business and want, not only a place to work, but the kind of services that will free up your time for more important things, then we consider you a creative agent (tier three). At this  level, for R2600 per month you enjoy

  • access to Better as often as you want
  • 20 pages of printing free each day,
  • a discount on four guests per day,
  • off-street parking,
  • your own locker,
  • 8 hours exclusive use of a meeting room in the month
  • 12 free secretarial services in the month
  • 2 hours of tech support in the month

There are no contracts. Our memberships run from whatever day you sign up to that same day in the next month. We’d like you to renew each month, but only if you love being here.

You can pay for 3 or 6 months at a time, and we’ll give you a discount of 5% or 10% respectively.

Sign up here.

The pay as you go option

You can also pay R150 per day to come and use the space. Once you are inside, you will have access to the free stuff for members. You can also pay for other services as follows:

  • Printing R1 per page
  • Locker RR30 per week
  • Meeting room R200 per hour
  • Secretarial services R110 per task
  • Tech support R400 per hour

The discounted rate for guests of members is R100 per day.

Or sign up here.