Our Story
…we are founded on an intrinsic and deeply rooted love of the natural world and the incredible artisans working, crafting and creating in harmony with it.
Welcome to Craftmongers…
“A truly magical shop… filled from floor to ceiling with a myriad of artisan goods and everyday treasures.”
Curating beautiful local craft, art, nature inspired books and sustainable homewares...
Craftmongers is a shop founded on an intrinsic and deeply rooted love of the natural world and the incredible artisans working, crafting and creating in harmony with it. Founded in 2019, by Toby Strong and Jodi Lou Parkin, and later joined by Lauren Wiig-Aspland, our wonderous shop now has far reaching branches within the craft community and carries the creative manifestations of more than 50 local makers and artists. Nestled in the foothills of Dartmoor National Park, Craftmongers is situated in the very heart of Ashburton; a beautiful, independent town renowned for its hive of antique shops and exquisite eateries.
Our living window shifts and changes with the seasons, spring bulbs emerging through russet autumn leaves, summer meadow flowers sprawl and clamber upon the Birch trees; as you walk through the doors you find that this adoration of the natural world is woven into every aspect of our shop.
Gentle music drifts through, as does the calming fragrances of natural incenses and locally poured candles made with the finest essential oils. Botanical skincare and soothing tinctures and tonics are amongst the foraged delights to be found on the shelves.
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, rustic beads spill from sculptured vessels surrounded by handcrafted brushes, leather journals, forged hooks and fronded ferns.
An extensive collection of beautiful books harness stories and journeys inspired by the natural world, and handmade deckle-edged papers and art supplies encourage visitors to embark on their own creative adventures.
The shop captures the kinship between these talented craftspeople, artists, designers and authors, as their work blends so harmoniously together.
Since the dawn of 2025 Craftmongers is now solely owned and guided by Jodi Lou Parkin with the support of her incredible creative team – Rose-Marie Caldecott, Orjana Rudeloff, Judy Clark and Ella Whittlestone. Jodi has co-directed Craftmongers since first opening in 2019 and is excited about the next chapter:
“I have learnt so much in these past few years, particularly about the importance of art and heritage crafts- how the people that practise their gifts and callings, that share them, teach them, write about them, these people are incredibly humbling and brave, and are a leading light to follow in a world that has often felt so very out of touch with our natural native roots. I feel deeply moved by the creative community that continues to grow around us and I am honoured to be able to support them, and privileged to have their faith and enthusiasm in return. The love for the shop and the work of our makers is overwhelming and beautiful, and fuels us to keep doing what we do. 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 me is magic, and it is magic that we strive to hold on to.”
Meet the Mongers
We are a small close-knit team of creatives, all with a background influenced by craft, and a love for the community that surrounds us here in the South West. We are all passionately invested in preserving heritage crafts and supporting the rebirth of a more localised and circular economy. We strive to protect and honour our natural world, and this instinct falls at the heart of all that we do here at Craftmongers.
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Jodi is an artist and photographer following a path running closely beside the natural world, tracking along the wilder reaches of our landscapes, both here in the South West of England, and further afield, in the remote stretches of Eastern Europe. Finding herself most at home out on the wide expanses of unfolding Moors. Jodi has worked alongside farmers and vets as a nurse, incredible horse men and women in both natural and classical horsemanship, and as a wildlife rehabilitator for the RSPCA. She studied her BSc. in Environmental Resource Management after an FdSc. in Wildlife, Education and Media. During her research she identified a missing link between the arts and environmental sciences, and the importance of bridging the gap to enhance and encourage an understanding of our natural world and our limited resources.Combining her love for nature, ecology, sustainability, and the creative arts; Jodi is now the sole owner and guardian of Craftmongers, having co-directed Craftmongers' evolution since day one alongside Toby Strong and later joined by Lauren Wiig-Aspland. As a new mother to a beautiful baby boy and with the support of her incredible team, and growing community of creative makers and artists, she is looking forward to the future and what it holds here at Craftmongers.
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Rosie first became part of our shop as one of our makers, selling her prints and cards that feature her paintings of illuminated trees connected in the dark. Her art practice explores the landscape of grief and the possibility of finding light and connection in the darkest of spaces.
Through her passion for craft and nature, she found herself gradually becoming a core part of the monger team over the past few years. Her favourite part of the job is playing with the display and taking photographs of all the treasures for our website. It’s probably the painter in her that loves the fluid process of finding balance between shapes, tones and colours on a table or shelf.
Outside of the shop, Rosie spends the her time painting, writing (and sometimes performing) songs, hanging out with her nephews and nieces, and walking with her trusty hound Samwise. Their favourite place to walk is in the woods and by the rivers on Dartmoor. She loves noticing the incredible colours through the seasons on the moor, spring being her favourite, and loves picking bilberries, grasses or flowers. Her favourite kind of bouquet is a miniature one, from the tiny moorland flowers…
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Ella is an artist with a background in teaching and environmental arts therapy. For many years she has been filling journals with strange and surreal faces, figures and forms, following a fascination with drawing as a way to access the unconscious. She can often be found adventuring on Dartmoor with the different dogs that she looks after, pausing to inspect tiny creatures and curiosities, or taking a dip in the river. Ella is also a poet, singer and aspiring songwriter, alongside supporting the work of local creatives in the Craftmongers and elsewhere.
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Judy joined the Mongers team in 2024 after leaving a career in literacy education to pursue her passion for gardening and storytelling. She loves to create with nature; growing and drying flowers to capture, celebrate and share their natural beauty. Storytelling itself comes in many shapes and forms for her. In reading, telling and writing but also in the traditions and heritage of craft making, makers and materials and their place and importance in families, community and culture. When she’s not with us, she works as a gardener at a local flower farm and lives in a tiny house on the moor with her lurcher Blu, Nico the cat and an enormous pile of books on myth and folklore.
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Orjana is a curatorial researcher and broadcaster who has been a part of the shop since moving to Devon in 2021. Having grown up in a family of craftspeople, she has a huge appreciation for everything hand-made and interest in the stories embedded in the objects we surround ourselves with. Outside of the shop, Orjana researches contemporary artistic practices that engage with the colonial roots of climate change and ecological crises. In her free time, she likes to swim in the Dart, read, and walk in the woods.