At some point in 2010, Kirstie Allsopp will be back with a second series of Kirstie’s Homemade Home. The lovely team that produces the show are keen to include arts and crafts that you, the viewers, would like to see.
This is your chance to directly influence the series, and to give a platform to a craft or skill close to your heart. It’s all rather exciting, quite frankly.
Post your craft suggestions in the comments form below, and they could feature in series two of Kirstie’s Homemade Home…
You heard it here first – Kirstie Allsopp is looking for contributors to take part in series 2 of Kirstie’s Homemade Home.
If you’re fed up with flat pack, had enough of the high street and want your home to ooze individuality, get in touch and you might be selected to get Kirstie’s help transforming your interior. Kirstie will enlist the services of skilled craftspeople from across the UK, to give your house its own signature homemade style.
You can find out how to apply for Kirstie’s Homemade Home here, and follow the programme’s makers on Twitter.
I recently received an email from the organisers of the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, a Manchester event set up a year ago to showcase cutting edge craftmakers in the north of England, many of whom struggle with the costs and logistics of exhibiting down south. read more
Since the programme started, we’ve been inundated with comments about what’s proving to be a divisive series. At a guess, I’d say 80% of comments have been glowing, with the remaining 20% scathing in the extreme!
Of course, no TV show can please everyone (some people even dislike Grand Designs, would you believe?!) The majority of feedback focuses on the programme giving people the confidence to try crafts themselves. Kirstie’s mission statement was to get more people into traditional crafts, so I think we can be content with a job well done.
The most satisfying comments and emails we’ve had are from people who run craft supplies stores, or teach classes in traditional skills. For example, Megan who runs www.cumbriancountrycrafts.co.uk emailed me to say, ‘Recently my orders have gone through the roof… now my sales are great.’
Similarly, Dorothy from www.sheepishwoolshop.co.uk got in touch with the following: ‘You really have inspired my customers and created such interest in the art of knitting. I own a wool shop and your program is certainly the topic of the moment. Customers who have never knitted and are now hungry to learn. Thank you for the inspiration!’
In times when tales of economic woe prevail, it’s a refreshing escape to hear stories of businesses flourishing in what’s rapidly becoming a mini crafts renaissance.
if you’ve loved the show and would like Kirstie’s help turning your house into a homemade home, you can apply to be on Kirstie’s Homemade Home here.
Catch Kirstie’s Homemade Home tonight at 8 on Channel 4. 4Homes will be tweeting live during the show – join in the conversation at twitter.com/4Homes. You can catch up on any missed episodes over at channel4.com/catchup
Having spent the last hour watching tonight’s episode of Kirstie’s Homemade Home, I think it’s fair to say that Kirstie’s efforts at interior design this week are more palatable than in the bathrooms episode we saw last Thursday. For me at least, the bathroom suite Kirstie chose was beautiful, but aside from that the style of her bathrooms wasn’t something I would go for. Of course this is purely subjective, and the majority of feedback we’ve had from you viewers has been very positive indeed. read more
The irrepressible Miss Allsopp crams a lot into her show this evening.
I particularly enjoyed this episode because of the art deco theme that runs throughout, from Kirstie’s gorgeous reclaimed bathroom suite (it’s just about my perfect buy) to her Burgh Island Hotel visit. Though I’ve never seen this magnificent building for myself, I remember it featuring on an episode of BBC2’s Coast and falling in love with the place. Kirstie’s there to grab some art deco inspiration from their wonderful interiors, before hot-footing it over to a stained glass maker to have a go herself.
Later in the show Kirstie gets her hands dirty with some wallpaper screen printing, and makes herself some scented candles to fragrance the beautiful bathroom she creates. On top of that, she somehow manages to secure access for a film crew to go inside top designer Anouska Hempel’s home – it’s not to my taste, but then who am I to criticise a woman of such impeccable design credentials?!
It’s a jam-packed extravaganza of craft, and by this evening we’ll have a wide selection of related guides on 4Homes so that you can have a bash at home.
Kirstie’s Homemade Home is on tonight at 8pm on Channel 4.
Since Kirstie’s Homemade Home started, we’ve done our level best to provide step-by-step craft guides to lots of common, fun and relatively simple activities.
Inevitably, there are loads of crafts out there that require equipment and skill only available at dedicated classes. Fortunately, there are countless opportunities for you to get stuck in to everything from glassblowing to pottery. Here’s our advice on how to find a craft course – I hope it can be of some help to anyone who wants to learn or develop arts and crafts skills, but doesn’t know where to start. We’ll be adding to it each week, and within the feature you can find the contact details for the artisans featured in Kirstie’s TV show.
Click here to find out how to find a craft course.
Has Kirstie’s Homemade Home made you want to take up a new hobby? Are you already into crafts, and if so what do you think of the programme? Please leave your comments below…
Author: |Posted: 10:37 am on 17/04/09
Category: Design & Style, Uncategorized, craft
Last night saw the first episode of Kirstie’s Homemade Home, in which Kirstie Allsopp does up a house in deepest Devon, using, where possible, local materials and craftspeople, and her own enthusiastic but untested craft skills.
So what did you think? For what it’s worth, I think it’s refreshing to have anything on tv that isn’t about making money from your home. I’m not nearly fresh-faced enough to believe that the programme will do anything to change the way we think about our homes – we’ve all invested too much (financially and emotionally) in the whole housing process for us not to look at a house as an investment, even if it’s a long-term one. And with savings rates being as low as they are, many of us still think it’s best to sink hard-earned cash into property rather than put it in a bank.
That said, having done up six houses myself, it’s great to see someone approaching a renovation in a way that doesn’t involve a) trip to DIY store, b) trip to giant furniture store to buy roomset and c) trip to supermarket to buy ubiquitous products to accessorise with. I’m not knocking any of these approaches – we all go to Ikea, for example, because their furniture is cheap, just about stays together AND you can buy a whole room’s worth of furniture that looks really quite good together. The only hassle is getting it through the check out.
However, that kind of room, while stylish, swish, modern and, importantly, affordable, is never going to be unique, individual and one-off – and that’s what really makes a home interesting. And while I don’t want to put anyone out of a job at these bigger high street or retail park stores, I do think it’s high time we all supported local British craftspeople who work really hard, for little profit and almost no national recognition. And if the show does nothing else but to inspire us to think a little bit more imaginatively about how we design and decorate our homes, it will have done a good job.
What do you think?
Author: |Posted: 8:50 am on 31/03/09
Category: Design & Style, On TV, Style, craft
As most of you know by now, Kirstie Allsopp is going to hit our screens very soon with a new series in which she transforms a house using traditional crafts and reclaimed furniture. Thanks to Kirstie’s Homemade Home, we’ve all got the craft bug at 4Homes – more so now that we’ve spotted that the largest craft exhibition of its kind in Europe is on in Hertfordshire shortly. The 2009 Festival of Living Crafts, Art, Design & Innovation is a chance to see – and support – crafts and makers from all corners of the British isles. For more details, visit the website.
