Posted on

GNCCF online: Spring Edition 21-22 May

 

At Mark Lowe we are proud to be part of the GNCCFonline in May

This Spring sees the return of an online edition of Manchester’s award-winning Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. GNCCFonline will be an opportunity to buy unique and exceptional contemporary craft direct from over 60 specially selected makers over the weekend of 21-22 May 2022.

Do you love contemporary craft but can’t wait till the live show in October? Do you have presents to buy or feel the need to treat yourself?  The GNCCFonline: Spring Edition is for you. As ever, the exhibitors have been handpicked by a panel of craft experts to ensure the best in handmade design and beautiful craftsmanship – with jewellery, fashion accessories, prints, furniture, functional pieces and objects for the home. The show will feature makers exhibiting for the first time as well as some familiar faces, who will be showcasing and launching new collections.

Fair Director, Ann-Marie Franey said: “Buying presents from the GNCCFonline, or indeed treating yourself, means you are giving or receiving something truly special and unique. It shows you care for the people you’re buying for, whilst supporting the independent designer-makers you’re buying from.”

Angela Mann, one of the fairs co-founders added: “As well as lots of fabulous work to buy throughout the weekend, there will also be the opportunity to ‘visit’ makers virtually in their studios and watch them demonstrate their craft. Watch out for further details of this via the GNCCFonline website and via our social media platforms.”

GNCCFonline Spring Edition goes live 8am Saturday 21 May 2022 at the fair’s website www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk.  Watch out for special fair offers and maker open studios over the weekend on social media – follow #GNCCF.

For an opportunity to buy work before the general public, anybody who signs up to the mailing list via the website will get an exclusive invite to the Preview evening on Friday 20 May 2022 from 6pm.

Posted on

‘EDIE’ OAK COAT STAND

‘EDIE’ OAK COAT STAND

Oak coat stand handmade in small batches in our Nottingham-based design studio and workshop

 Made with sustainable timber

The bespoke coat stands are made with FSC-certified European oak from sustainably managed forests. The wood is treated with natural oil to celebrate its imperfections and grain.

 Four hand-shaped pieces of oak have four curved hooks, which are carved with smooth grooves for coats to neatly slot into without snagging or damaging garments.

The oak coat stand is ideal for hallways and open-plan spaces to hang everything from cagoules to flat caps and to keep boot bags and umbrellas off the floor.

It is designed in the quintessential coat stand shape and updated with modern angles, making it a beautiful freestanding piece of furniture for an entranceway.

Made to order

The four small acrylic discs at the base of the hooks can be selected in a choice of eight different colours – choose from black, white, green, red, blue, yellow, orange or pink, or a bespoke selection of various colours (select ‘multicoloured’ and enter your choices in the ‘customer requirements’ box when you’re at the checkout).

Notes from Mark
Mark: “The coat stand’s vertical and horizontal lines are inspired by De Stijl furniture and they intersect to create interesting angles. We wanted to develop these classic design principles and apply them to a sustainable material and really celebrate the wood’s natural beauty with the simplicity of the form.”

Dimensions

Width of legs (folded out): 600mm x 600mm

Height (folded out): 1755mm

Width of legs (folded in): 230mm x 230mm

Height (folded in): 1800mm

Packaging

The Edit Coat Stand will be delivered in sustainable but durable packaging.

It comes folded up in a compact shape and opens with ease.

Delivery

We hand make each coat stand to allow for your choices. Please allow 4 weeks for delivery.

About Mark Lowe
Mark Lowe is a design studio and workshop creating bespoke handcrafted homeware through sustainable and honest design.

The husband-and-wife business is based in Nottingham, England and the brand was born from a desire to make bespoke everyday objects that are designed to be enjoyed. They started as lighting designers and furniture makers, but over time their business has evolved into homeware and accessories. Read more about Mark and Marianne’s story.

Mark Lowe is featured in many magazine and newspapers including The Metro 

Posted on

We are feature in this months Delicious Magazine

We are pleased and excited to be feature in this months Delicious magazine. This month we are part of the ‘HOTLIST’. All the products are chosen by the editor Karen Barnes. Our Edward Charcuterie board is feature along side a select few interesting and beautiful products.

We are always very happy when we are featured in a magazine as we carefully expand and enjoy the fact that many people are seeing our products in a variety of high quality publications.

Keep your eyes peeled for more of our products pictured in a magazine near you!

All the best

Mark

Posted on

Complimenting Habbio

We were very happy to supply our lamps to Habbio

We were very happy to supply our lamps to Habbio for the photoshoot for their new range of sofas. We have had a great relationship with Habbio’s parent company for a few years now and were only too happy to supply our products for them to use. In many ways they have the same ideals as us; using materials from the UK and thinking about their environmental impact at all times. We also love their simple design philosophy as well as the choice they offer. It’s always nice to work with other likeminded companies and ultimately people. This is a relationship we are proud to maintain.

From them..

Sustainability starts at the end.

Furniture can be most harmful to the environment at the end of it’s life. 90% of furniture sold in the UK ends up in landfill because it doesn’t last, or isn’t recyclable or biodegradable.

That’s why all Habbio furniture is 100% recyclable. And because we believe it’s our responsibility to make sure our products do no harm, we collect and recycle them for you when the time comes. We can even collect your non-Habbio sofa to make sure it avoids landfill too.

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Development of products and Etsy revamp news

Good Morning

Development of products and Etsy revamp news.

I just thought I would do a quick check in this morning. I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. We are trying our best to keep busy and are looking at aspects of the business that, for various reasons, have been low on the to do list.

I hoping to continue work on a few products that have been put on the back burner including my forever ongoing Overhead lamp. I’ve got some of the development work at a positive point but it feels like there is loads to go. I generally  think products end up much better when you take time to develop them. I tend to have a good few sessions on one and then leave it for a while. When I come back to them I can soon see what bits have worked and what was not good (I was too immersed in it at the time). So, we have a long way to go but hopefully we can creep nearer over the next few weeks. – I’ll keep you updated.

We’ve also been working on our Etsy shop over the last week. It was set up a couple of years ago but had not been our best form of outlet. We had a few sales through it recently so thought it would be worth a bit of time. We will be doing some exclusive promotion through Etsy very soon, so keep your eyes to the ground.

Cheers all

Mark

Posted on Leave a comment

Being Sustainable with all our packaging

At Mark Lowe we are always trying to be as sustainable as we can. A big part of this is being sustainable with all our packaging. We are always working on how to make our products more sustainable. We know that our customers are not the type of people to buy and then throw away objects after a year or so. Our customers buy our products to last for many years maybe even forever!

When it comes to packaging we want to do the same. Most of our products are posted in some way (see a previous blog on me driving to south Wales for an alternative). We have to make sure that whatever has been ordered will survive the journey, therefore we have to use enough packaging to protect your precious cargo.

We have updated our packaging over the last 6 months and now only use paper packaging for all our products – our shades do come in a plastic bag as this comes from our shade manufacturer. – We have found a good alternative to bubble wrap through a company called Kite packaging which does the job very well. (see picture below).

So, we will continual to work hard and be sustainable with all our packaging.  I think we are doing well so far.

Mark Lowe

 

Sustainable packaging at mark lowe

Posted on Leave a comment

Working with Georgia Lloyd photography

As a follow up to the previous post I did regarding working with Georgia Lloyd photography, I wanted to do another one as we now have the photos and are really happy with them.

We had a great morning taking loads of shots mainly of me in the workshop (and quite a few without me thankfully). Georgia then went away to pick and edit them. She then supplied us with a very large number to use for ourselves. Because we had a good variety of shots it allows us to use them for all different contexts. I don’t feel like we will run out of different shots to use.

So thanks again to George Lloyd photography for her skill and enthusiasm and for providing us with so many amazing shots to use. I have and will enjoy working with Georgia Lloyd Photography

Please go to her website or follow her on Instagram or to our for more shots. I am always happy to recommend her.

Posted on Leave a comment

Really happy to have new lamp shade colours and shapes.

Really happy to have new lamp shade colours and shapes.

We are really happy to have some new shade colours available as well as an overall new shade design. To add more options we have had a new shade shape made for our standard lamp. As with the current shade it is large but this one has a slight taper to it. The name for this shape/design is a French Drum and we feel it fit with our own designs very well indeed. We have also added to our colour range adding a new Yellow on linen with gold lining and a completely new colour of Aqua Blue with a copper lining which are both available in any of our shades. They have proved very popular. We will continue to introduce new colours as we seek to be ahead of the colour trends. Thanks to Jack Neville for the excellent shots

Posted on Leave a comment

Primary Christmas Pop up

Primary Christmas Pop up market

Come and Visit Mark Lowe at the Primary Christmas pop up

We are pleased and excited to be part of the Primary Christmas pop up again this year. Based at the Primary Studios on Seely Road, Nottingham this event always attracts a lot of top quality makers. it has become very popular over the last few years with lots of people attending to enjoy browsing, buying, eating and drinking. Each year Universal Works has had a end of stock sale throughout the 2 days. As well as makers there are food and drink sellers that make the highest quality produce. Based in the building are Lane homewares who will have a sale throughout there studio. Alongside them are the award winning Small food bakery who have a café based within the building and specialise in sourdough bread as well as many other treats.

We will be there with all our products. So if you love what we do but have only seen us online or through Instagram come and see the real thing. There will also be 10% off throughout the weekend.

Come along and visit Mark Lowe at the Primary Christmas pop up and experience all of this on Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December.

Mark

Posted on Leave a comment

Pleased to have an article in The Beestonian magazine

We are pleased and proud to have an article about us in the Beestonian magazine. The new addition of The Beestonian. The is a local magazine that’s been running since 2011. The magazine is put together entirely by volunteers. It runs entirely on sponsorship and well-wishers and is also available online.

Thank you to Debra Urbacz for spending time with me and then managing to write an article from what I’d said and putting together such a well written and beautifully presented piece.

We are also please to be part of this magazine because of it’s ethics and real passion for promoting all things local.

The article on line is –  https://issuu.com/thebeestonian/docs/beestonian_66?fbclid=IwAR29DKvbgp81NADSwobwUux6a8ktDX1oCJHpUy8gHffDzz-ZKVLcECGqE14

The Beestonian’s web address is  – https://beestonian.com/

Enjoy – Mark – http://www.marklowe.co.uk