Happy New Year everyone!
We wanted to say a big thank you for following LMM, shopping at our events and supporting all of these wonderful small businesses. Looking back on 2020, it wasn’t all bad. We have been able to connect with so many amazing people, and build an incredible community of like-minded individuals, who love to support all things handmade.
High fives all round for completing such a tough year!
For anyone interested in knowing more about LMM and how it was created, here is our 2020 monthly break down...
JANUARY
- London Makers Market was born. A platform dedicated to supporting and promoting small businesses, with an eco-conscious drive.
- We visited Top Drawer and listened to some very inspiring speakers.
- We began reaching out to London venues.
- We brainstormed ideas for our logo.
FEBRUARY
- We started to build our website.
- The LMM Instagram page was set up.
- We secured 3 different venues in London and confirmed 4 dates for future markets.
- We received the first maker applications through our website :)
MARCH
- We continued reaching out to venues across London.
- Reality hit and we knew we wouldn't be able to host physical events in London for a while, so we began thinking about virtual events.
APRIL
- We started organising our first online market.
- 'Chats with Makers' was born and we hosted live interviews on Instagram every other day for 5 weeks in the lead up to this event.
MAY
- 'Support Sunday' was created on Instagram to promote and shout about small businesses on our stories every Sunday.
- We organised a live 'Chats Bonanza'.
- We ran our first virtual market, featuring 180 makers via our website catalogue and Instagram stories.
JUNE
- Our May market remained live on the website for one week so that people could continue to shop and support the businesses involved.
- We started 'Chats with Makers' as written interviews on our blog and Instagram page.
- We collaborated with Master Peace London to help them find artists to create their new kids kit designs.
JULY
- We hosted a Giveaway with 5 creatives and ran a 'Chats with Makers' Special.
AUGUST
- We organised the second online event with a curated group of 30 makers, each of whom was showcased on our Website and Instagram, it was great!
- This was the first time we hosted an auction through Instagram live, selling products from the makers via the comments...it was good fun.
SEPTEMBER
- Was for planning, prepping our makers for the next event, organising the charity auction bundle and getting everything ready for the beginning of October.
OCTOBER
- We hosted The Eco-Conscious Online Market. Although our aim is to promote eco-conscious makers across all of our markets, this event concentrated solely on sustainable businesses and products.
- Alongside this event, with the help of the creatives involved, we organised a charity auction and raised money for Friends of the Earth.
- Geogina Wilson-Powell, the Founder & Editor in Chief at Pebble Magazine, joined us on Instagram Live to talk about sustainability and her new book 'Is It Really Green'.
- We launched our market Gift Guides.
- We collaborated with Bianca from Mindful Market UK who organised virtual well-being workshops alongside our October event.
- Strykin x LMM - we organised a live stream shopping event with Strykin and 8 independent businesses.
NOVEMBER
- Our November Christmas Market showcased 35 independent makers and was our final online event of 2020 - it was fantastic!
- This event was featured in Stella Magazine's 'Stella Loves', The Sunday Telegraph!
- We hosted a live 'Show and Tell' to run through some products from the amazing businesses.
- Like all of our virtual events, the market catalogue remained live on our website for one week after the event so that customers could browse and shop at a later date, and our makers could benefit for longer.
DECEMBER
- Small Biz Advent Calendar - we revealed a new maker on our website and Instagram stories every day for 12 days.
- Still on a drive to support small businesses before Christmas, we were lucky enough to get spots at a few physical markets in London to sell goodies from some of our makers. We had never thought that LMM would be a stall holder, but it happened, and it was super successful. A brilliant end to the year, thank you so much for visiting!
Here's to a happy and healthy 2021, filled with new connections and eco-conscious makes. We have so many ideas brewing which we can't wait to share with you soon.
Thank you again for all of your support!
Take care everyone.