christmas gifting with craftmongers
It’s that time of year again. Cars pass by with trees tied to their roofs, wreaths adorned with winter greenery appear in shop windows, string lights glitter against the early evenings, and the high street bustles with people in search of Christmas treasures. We adore the busyness and excitement that comes with the season’s festivities.
The gentler ways to celebrate are our favourite. Ways that embrace the traditions of years gone by. Crafting our own decorations from foraged plants and natural fibres, wrapping gifts in simple brown paper dressed with twine, and choosing presents from small independent makers all help us reconnect with the wholesome nature of the season. Choosing gifts in this way puts money back into our local economies and make each pound spent feel more meaningful.
All of our treasures are handmade, forged, and imagined from the stories and dreams of the person that made them, stories that will be carried through the generations in the hands that cherish them, and by those inspired to pick up tools, brushes and pens and begin their own. That to us is a magic worthy of the festive season, but also something we strive to keep in our everyday.
We’ve gathered a few suggestions for thoughtful Christmas gifting this year — from handmade Scottish knitwear to prints by Cornish artists and soaps crafted from natural botanicals.
And of course, if none of these quite fit your needs, our shop is filled with unique, handmade wares. If you are near our local lands of Devon, we always recommend a visit to our beautiful town and shop. The striking living windows of Craftmongers shift and change with the seasons, ochre and umber dried leaves scatter the floor and birch trees are nestled between spruce and hanging treasures; as you walk through the doors you find that this adoration of the natural world is woven into every aspect of this inspiring shop. Dried flowers, lichen laden branches and wild feathers perch between fine art and earthy pottery. Wooden vases formed from ancient gateposts, hand-carved spoons, spatulas, and magnificent knives and axes made using local sustainable Ash trees. Glimmering silver and gold jewellery forged into wild natural curves, leaves, hoops, moons and wild creatures. The shop captures the kinship between these talented craftspeople, artists, designers and authors, as their work blends so harmoniously together.
Every purchase supports not only us, a small & independent Devon-based business, but the artists and makers behind each piece who keep the magic of crafted, considered objects alive.
