For Keeps: Fresh finds at The Finders Keepers Market

Some relationships are worth making official. After nearly two decades of playing matchmaker between independent makers and the people who adore their creations, The Finders Keepers is taking things to the next level. There’s a brand new Fan Club,a YouTube channel and a mini magazine! Yup, things are getting serious. In a fun way, of course.

The newly launched Finders Keepers Fan Club comes with plenty of perks for devoted market-goers, from weekend passes to all The Finders Keepers markets and free entry for a friend to discounted coffee, free drinks meet-ups, a Fan Club keepsake and a creative community that keeps the conversation going all year long. You can even gift a membership to your crafty bestie!

Meanwhile, Found, a limited-run mini print mag, is giving the people, ideas and stories behind our favourite handmade treasures room to spread their wings and share their inspiration. Issue 01 is sure to be a collector’s edition, so reserve your copy and collect at the Sydney market in November! Plus, the new Youtube channel offers a more in-depth look at Australia’s independent creative scene, with candid conversations, inspiring studio visits and a glimpse into what makes our favourite makers tick.

And what better place to celebrate all things shiny and new than at the upcoming The Finders Keepers Sydney Design Market? From 13 to 15 November, more than 170 independent makers will take over Carriageworks in Eveleigh, offering plenty to discover, admire and possibly take home. (Who are we kidding: not possibly, probably!)

We had a chat with general manager Katie Smith and communications manager Ashleigh Stallard for the inside scoop.

We’re not sure it’s a secret, but it’s this massive creative community that keeps the spark alive in all we do! Starting with the stallholders who design and make their wares and are constantly coming up with unique goodies (using their enviable skills), and the tens of thousands of people who come through our market doors to support them.

We can see more people are becoming interested in hand-made – or should we say human-made – in this age of constantly questioning “is that AI..?”. And we couldn’t be more here for it. We recently saw almost 60% of visitors discovering our market for the first time!

We’re pretty excited to be expanding our impact in celebrating Australia’s independent creative community with the launch of our mini-mag Found, plus longer stories on our new YouTube channel.

In Sydney this November, we’re welcoming junk journaling queen Martina Calvi and her Tiny Store for a pop-up, plus a special meet and greet and book signing event with Martina (Friday night only). We’ve also got junk journaling and snail mail workshops hosted by Scrap Society across the weekend, and free drop-in snail mail activities for all visitors.

Also, we’re stoked to be hosting a special pop-up store and fun space with Merry People! They’ll have their gumboots and new waterproof sandals there to try on, plus a colourful community photo wall designed by illustrator Yan Yan Candy Ng.

Our Finders Bar is back with drinks by our stallholders (sip them there, then choose bottles to take home) and live DJs spinning market tunes all weekend. DJ C-Man and Ben X have kindly created a playlist so market-goers can take the tunes home with them too.

We had so many stories from this community, we simply burst into this zine!

Basically, we needed another outlet to share all the wonderfulness, and stories we thought deserved a little more time and space. We’ve been hitting the road between markets to interview creatives all over the place, and if you can’t get a copy of the mag we’ll also have their video stories on The Finders Keepers’ YouTube too!

In this first issue you’ll find our seasonal mindful gift guide with goodies from our sellers, adventures with oysters, our visit to artist Julie White‘s studio, creative business (and life) advice, and so much more. Keen beans can collect a copy at the Sydney market – we’re going IRL only for this!

We knew there must be so many market lovers (tragics?) like us out there, so we created a club! We needed a support group for ourselves as much as anything, so now regularly host drinks meet-ups at the markets so we can chat and share our favourite finds. It’s not too late to join Fan Club, and our Sydney meet-up on market Friday! Drinks are included, as is your plus one.

Ooh, we love this one! Our Sydney countdown gift guide is featuring some slightly unexpected, but really cool finds this season:

• Junk journaling and lettering: think unique illustrated stickers, book marks, washi tape, embroidered patches, cards and mini prints.
• Australiana: there’s something nostalgic about only-in-Australia designs and we’re seeing this trending! Think outside the box, like Australian opal jewellery, eucalypt-leaf ceramic dishes, banksia wool artwork, and Australian fauna prints and lino-cut artwork.
• Wow, ceramics! Rock climbing cups to monster bells and smooth-as-molten candle holders, we’re seeing so much goodness in the handmade world of ceramics, you won’t actually believe they’re made from clay!

We absolutely live to see the connection that happens at our events. When we’re not doing event-y things with walkie talkies, you can find us people gazing: just watching visitors’ faces light up as they catch up with a friend, spot something they didn’t expect, concentrate in a workshop or have a conversation with a maker about their process. It can’t get any better!

PEPPERMINT IS PROUD TO BE THE MEDIA PARTNER FOR THE FINDERS KEEPERS MARKET. THE NEXT MARKET WILL BE HELD 13–15 NOVEMBER AT CARRIAGEWORKS EVELEIGH, WARRANE/SYDNEY.