Once again, it has come around to the Who's who interview time of the month and this time it's the turn of Hannah who runs Crafternoon Caberet Club, but I won't say too much, as we want you to hear what she has to say. So, its over to her....
Who are you?
I am Hannah Cox - craft enthusiast, sequin lover, ribbon
hoarder. Thanks for having me on your
blog!
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What do you do?
I run Crafternoon Cabaret Club which is a London based monthly afternoon of making and
watching cabaret acts. It's basically my
perfect afternoon turned into a public event so others can join the fun. Anyone and everyone is welcome - even if you
consider yourself a craft disaster you'll be able to make something from
scratch across the afternoon - and if you're a pro there is a fantastic
materials table to play with to help you create something amazing. The craft changes every month and in the past
has included jewellery, decorations and garlands, pin cushions, key rings,
personalised oyster card covers, ipad covers, fascinators, badges and much,
much more!
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How did you start?
Back in December 2012 I set myself a challenge to start
being more creative and learning new craft skills; I then started my blog to
document that challenge. As I continued
my craft journey I realised the best way for me to learn was with lots of friends
and a bottle of wine! I figured there
must be others like me and Crafternoon Cabaret Club was born. It's all about the process and experience;
making sure that everyone has an incredible time in a really sociable, lively
and energetic setting and that the pressure is taken off the crafting - which
normally means people surprise themselves with what they achieve in the
time. The cabaret acts support this
ethos - building in breaks where everyone can come back together as an
audience, have a pause in their making and start again fresh and energised.
What's Next?
I'm really excited about where Crafternoon Cabaret Club can
go next. It's been a mad year - we've
moved to bigger venues, been featured in Time Out and Emerald Street and won the Creative Idea
award in the Mollie Makes Handmade Awards.
From September we'll be holding events in a new venue; The Book Club, as
well as our regular home The Hospital Club so I'm hoping to reach a brand new
audience. I'd also really like to take
Crafternoon Cabaret Club out to festivals like Latitude, Wilderness, Shambala
or Bestival - I think it would work brilliantly with a festival crowd. And I'm starting to get Hen Party bookings
which is really fun!
What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to
the beginning?
Be confident, be brave and talk to everyone about what
you're doing! Starting an event or
business from scratch can be really daunting but there's lots of support out
there. The first venue I used (the
lovely Library Pub on Upper Street )
got involved after I plucked up the courage to ask them about their upstairs
room when I was having a drink there with a friend. They were really keen and immediately booked
in three events. It's hard to publicise
what you do but word of mouth can be really effective so be confident and tell
your friends - ask them to help spread the word. They may even be able to offer other help or
advise - one friend gave me some fantastic PR contacts which got me my first
piece of press coverage and another artist friend designed my logo (the super
talented Flora Bradwell).
It sounds really exciting and a massive congratulations to Hannah for her Handmade Award from Mollie Makes. The next few events are on 23rd August at The Hospital Club and so just a few days to get booked up and the next one is on 13th September at The
Book Club if you can't make it this week. You can find out more by visiting the Crafternoon Caberet Club website and of course follow them on twitter @crafternoonclub. If you pop along, do tell them you read their
interview here.
H & Sammy
