Bryony is the founder of artists and makers collective, Made in Bristol – Helen Martin meets Bryony and they discuss all things independent, creative and horticulture

When you’re very passionate about something, it’s easy for your words to flow out in a rambunctious ramble. As we sit down with a cup of tea, I find that Bryony, the founder of Made in Bristol, far from delivering a waterfall of words, is very good at clearly articulating her line of work. While retaining enough passion to thwack you with a burst of desire to be weaved into her projects.

Or the ‘collective’s’ projects – Bryony is at the helm of a big Bristol creative ship, holding 300 artists and helping to shout out, curate and promote them. She tweets, Facebooks, sends out press releases, has dedicated a website, creates shops and fairs, encourages and welcomes new talent into the city and generally is the voice behind the “Royal ‘we,’” of Made in Bristol. Bryony laughs: “I can’t help but refer to myself as ‘we’ – it’s ingrained in me now.”

Though she doesn’t like to refer to herself as an entrepreneur in the traditional sense, Bryony has started something that people connect, treasure and prosper with. She works alongside makers to provide the exposure that can turn a tiring journey to ‘get yourself out there’ – oh exhausting phrase that is – to a fun and supported adventure. A guiding light for the mothers who have always had a dream to start their own creative business – “kitchen table business” – and weren’t able to return to work after maternity leave. The employee made redundant and now wants to turn their penchant for knitting into something that will earn more than a buck or two.

It’s about making a living with your creative enterprise. “It’s having confidence; respecting and giving your art the space it deserves,” says Bryony. “The Bristol creative community are an innovative, positive and hardworking community. They give Bristol the colour and life that we so love.” Bryony wants to – and does – shout out about our vibrant artful surroundings and those that create it, as well as crucially, by buying local, reducing our gift miles too.

Made In Bristol comprises of the shops; Paper Scissors Stone and Made In Britain in Quaker’s Friars – open from Easter through to Christmas Eve. “Paper Scissors Stone is a colourful cornicopia, while Made in Britain is a slightly older sister,” says Bryony. “It’s a family and hopefully it will continue to evolve.” There’s also the gift fair at Colston Hall and the Christmas Design Temporium open from November 23rd to December 23rd, taking over the Architecture Centre. Not to mention a new project marking Clifton Suspension Bridge’s 150th birthday next year.

“The next stage is for a range that is inspired by the city of Bristol. It’s our 150th birthday coming up. So, the Avon Gorge – Leigh Woods on one side, Clifton on the other – grows species of plants that don’t exist anywhere else, including the Bristol Whitebeam. A beautiful tree with silver leaves on the bottom, green on top – and slightly furry.

“I’m going to go off now. You can feel the passion. The gorge has a small ecosystem, so it stays quite solid, but there are invasive species like brambles and in a truly Bristol sustainable solution, the conversation group bought in six billy-goats. They are the champions and eat all the invasive species. They live in the gully and it’s a test project, but it’s working well.”

Bryony trained in retail after she left nursing. She was born in Bath, then moved to Salisbury before arriving in Bristol where she has remained the whole of her adult life. Bryony started work at the Guild as a Christmas temp after leaving nursing “a privileged job,” she says, and then worked at Fresh and Wild, where she experienced various retail roles, including marketing. Bryony enthuses: “I realised that marketing is the best job in the world if you believe in what you’re selling. There are also similarities with nursing, believe it or not; including staying calm under pressure and keeping short and long term goals in your head both at the same time.

“It’s also about looking calm, so that people will come with you.” Bryony sat on her idea for a local gift fair, for a year; “I thought jobs were what you looked for in the paper,” she says. Markets she observed, are fantastic for that direct contact with the customer, but a seller invests everything in one day. She was surprised that there wasn’t anything celebrating the same localism as we do with food. Items that are unique and the customer loves, but also environmentally and ethically sound in terms of production and air miles.

She spoke with Colston Hall and found that they could also see that their foyer was a perfect market venue. “Incredible lighting, five whole stories and it’s modern, so it has the accessibility a venue needs,” she says, illustrating with her arms reaching wide, then her hands layering on top of each other. “We now take over four floors and have about 100 sellers throughout the three days. It’s a challenge to programme such an unusual space, but I love it.”

Six years ago Bryony could be found on every arts trail and market, meeting artists and communicating her idea of a gift fair and shops run by artists and makers. “I told them; you guys will be in the shop, talking to your customers, you can create while you’re there. Don’t worry about marketing or display.”  Now with two shops, gift fairs and the Temporium – among other projects – the community has grown together and flourished. “I enjoy creating a cohesive collection of beautiful things. We wouldn’t be in Cabot Circus for three years if we didn’t fit in.”

Not everyone who buys from the Made in Bristol shops know that what they have purchased is locally made, some even wonder if the artist shop assistant has in fact made every single product. Of course, the dedication to create each one of the products on sale is enormous and can’t be lost within mass production. Perhaps the recession has highlighted the quality and skill found in handmade products, as well as illuminated localism. This in turn has resulted in people coming together. Artists like to reinvent the world; creativity within the difficulty. In Bristol, our independent and creative heart beats hard and like the Bristol Whitebeam, it has its own ecosystem and champions.

http://madeinbristol.blogspot.co.uk/

Made in Bristol Gift Fair – Colston Hall
Sunday 7th December – from 10am
Saturday 13th December