Festive Makers Market at The Little Christmas Box, Plymouth

<p>Bringing together work by around 20 emerging makers from <strong>BA (Hons) Craft &amp; Material Practices</strong>, <strong>MA Glass, MA Craft &amp; Material Practices</strong> and <strong>BA (Hons) Textile Design</strong>, the Arts University Plymouth Makers Market at The Little Box will offer visitors the chance to discover and buy original, hand-crafted gifts created just a stone’s throw from The Box.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Makers Market will feature a changing selection of small-batch work produced in the university’s specialist workshops and studios. Visitors can expect raku-fired ceramics, Shou Sugi Ban wooden vessels, glass-fused jewellery, recycled and repurposed glass, playful textile-led gifts and mixed-media decorations that turn nostalgia and childhood memories into keepsakes. Many of the pieces are rooted in sustainable making and the stories behind their materials, from salvaged commercial window glass elevated with metal leaf to recycled objects transformed into characterful, one-of-a-kind Christmas treasures.</p> <p dir="ltr">Makers taking part include Saltash-based potter <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tamarpottery/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Beth Williams</a>, whose raku-fired vessels and decorative painting bring characterful faces and patterns to the surface of her work, and glassblower <a href="https://www.instagram.com/glasstemplar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kate Templar</a>, whose bold colour and pattern are inspired by the fauvist art movement and traditional British glass blowing. Plymouth maker and workshop facilitator <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kizzybudd/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kizzy Rose Budd</a> brings a performative, dance-inspired sensibility to her pottery and textiles, while multimedia artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sj.hooker/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SJ Hooker</a> combines scorched wooden vessels and bowls made from repurposed window glass to explore transformation and material reuse.</p> <p dir="ltr">The work has been developed as part of a live brief that asks students to consider not only materials and making, but also presentation, audience and how their work operates in a real-world retail context.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Tim Gundry, Principal Lecturer and Assistant Dean for Student Experience at Arts University Plymouth said</strong>: “Projects like the Makers Market at The Little Box give our students a genuine insight into what it means to be a professional maker. They have to develop ideas into resolved products, think carefully about how their work is priced and presented, and then see first-hand how people respond to it. For our undergraduate and postgraduate students, that experience is invaluable preparation for life in the creative industries.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Contributing makers this year include David Beasley, Isabel Kolb, Beth Williams, SJ Hooker, Lauren Duncan, Charlie Steele, Kate Templar, Bee Bedford, Ella Dudley, Bonnie Culver, Kizzy Budd, Silvia Avila-Parcet, Rosie Eagle, Kat Berwick, Fin St John Cooper, Meg Holsey, Kaia Reeve, Flo Edwards, Emma Keast and Karen Green.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Located directly opposite The Box, Plymouth’s award-winning museum, gallery and archive, The Little Box has become a recognised space for student and community projects. The Makers Market builds on the close relationship between Arts University Plymouth and The Box, which together contribute to a vibrant cultural cluster in Britain’s Ocean City.</p> <p dir="ltr">Students from across the university engage with The Box through live projects, exhibitions and professional experience. This includes postgraduate students on MA Museum Studies, who benefit from learning in a city-centre environment surrounded by galleries, archives and creative organisations. The Makers Market extends these opportunities by placing student work in a public-facing retail setting visited by residents, families and visitors to the city.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Opening during the festive period, the Arts University Plymouth Makers Market at The Little Box invites visitors to support local creative talent while exploring distinctive, handmade alternatives to mass-produced gifts. For many of the makers, this project is a first opportunity to test how work rooted in personal stories, mixed heritage, movement or environmental thinking lands with a public audience.</p> <p dir="ltr">For students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, the Makers Market offers a platform to test ideas, refine pricing and presentation, and build the confidence and professional skills needed to sustain a creative practice after graduation.<br /></p>

<p><strong>Dates:</strong> Saturday 6 December to Sunday 14 December 2025<br /><strong>Opening hours:</strong> 10am to 5pm daily <br /><strong>Location:</strong> The Little Box, Tavistock Place, Plymouth (opposite The Box)<br /><strong>Payment:</strong> The market is expected to operate on a card-only basis</p> <p>To explore creative degrees in craft, material practices and textiles at Arts University Plymouth, take a look at our specialist undergraduate courses.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-craft-material-practices">BA (Hons) Craft &amp; Material Practices</a></strong> supports students to experiment across ceramics, glass, metals, wood and digital fabrication, developing confident material knowledge and real-world making experience through live briefs and industry-standard facilities.</p> <p>Our <strong><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-textile-design">BA (Hons) Textile Design</a></strong> course enables students to develop technical and conceptual skills in dyeing, embroidery, knit, print and sustainable processes within our dedicated Fabric Studio and textile workshops .<br /></p>