Category: Match + Maker

Friday, February 6, 2015

Make your match with Match + Maker

Last February we played Match + Maker and 100 makers around the world submitted to be matched up based on location and make new local friends. It was amazing to pair people up who lived on the same block in a major city or who lived minutes away from each other in small towns but had never connected. From my little house in rural Canada I got to match up makers from Philadelphia to the Philippines. This February we are playing a bit differently and being matchmakers together! All month long we’ll be publishing your wanted ads for creative connections on OMHG and matching each other up with new connections. Maybe you are looking for a new best friend to talk handmade revolutions with, a business collaborator with a specific skill set, a mentor you can trust as you start a new adventure, or another work from home parent to offer peer support and accountability – whoever your maker match might be we want to help you find them!

[gravityform id=”27″ name=”Match + Maker” title=”false” description=”false”]

How it works:

1. Fill out the form to submit your Match + Maker profile and join the fun!

2. Help spread the word to get more makers involved and find matches from around the world.

3. Your profile will be formatted like the one below and published on OMHG during February.

4. Watch for the Match + Maker posts, find new friends + play matchmaker!

Sample Profile: LOVELY IN LUNENBURG

Jessika Hepburn | @ohmyhandmade | Email | Lunenburg, NS

About: Cooperative director of Oh My! Handmade, cheerful activist, handmaker mentor, community advocate, believer in goodness.

Seeking: Kind comrades interested in creative adventures and supportive communities.

Loves: Small towns, kitchen parties, talking to anyone (and everyone), being helpful, reading expansively, paying attention to all of creation.

Makes: Friends easily, community connections, a simple life, time for you.

Match: Dedicated to handmaking a life of meaning + willing to collaborate on tender mammoth projects + fellow lover of community and cupcakes!

Keep your eyes open for the first Match + Maker posts and pair people up by suggesting new friends who you think are a perfect match! Find new friends by reaching out to makers you have something in common with, say hi on social media, or email them to see if they want to hang out. Even start a meet up if there are enough of you in one area! I’ll lend a hand by introducing people if a perfect pair comes to mind. Ready to play?

Monday, February 17, 2014

Match + Maker: Meet Your Creative Match!

Have you ever had a tough time making new creative friends in your community? Lots of makers have! The wonder of the internet is that it allows our global handmade/small biz community to meet kindred spirits all over the world but sometimes we’d really just like a friend near by to meet up with for tea, make dates, business collaborations and hang outs. Often we don’t even know where to start making a friend like that or shyness keeps us from reaching out to someone we’d like to meet. Enter Match + Maker!

Inspired by recently being matched up with a local artist, Mariko (check out the story + studio tour here) by Janine of Uppercase Magazine + my long time love of connecting people who I think will love each other. Our new series will match up compatible makers for visits and an interview/studio tour to be published on OMHG. We get a cool post, you both make an awesome new friend, and the creative community gets a little bit friendlier! This service is open to all makers/creative entrepreneurs of all levels and abilities who are open to making a new offline friend. Just fill out the survey below, share it with your networks & wait for your match to be made. Ready?

Just fill out our Match + Maker survey to get started!

[gravityform id=”11″ name=”Match + Maker” title=”false” description=”false”]

Hooray, thank you for joining in (you did, right?)! Once a compatible match is found I will email you both to make the introduction and share info about how to submit your Match + Maker posts so you can tell us all about your new friendship.

I would love to hear what you think about Match + Maker in the comments & now let the matchmaking fun begin!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Match + Maker: Mariko + Jessika Studio Tour

Mariko Paterson of Forage Studios

Last month I got an email from one of my Canadian creative icons, Janine Vangool of Uppercase Magazine, asking if I would like to interview a ceramic artist living in my very own town for Issue #21 coming out in April. After doing my thisisreallyhappening happy dance I speedily said YES with likely a little too much eagerness! Once the scary chaos of January ebbed I put on my winter boots, grabbed the camera, told my nervousness to shush and headed the four blocks through lovely snowy Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to meet Mariko of Forage Studios. I expected we would talk about her work and hopefully connect but imagine my joy when I realized Janine had paired us perfectly, we were totally kindred spirits! What are the chances of finding another creative, multicultural, from Vancouver, collaborative, tattooed lady in our little town? I don’t know but thankfully they were in our favour! During our interview I learned about her detailed process and journey as a maker and our conversation roamed exuberantly through her work, life, community, love and back again. By the end of it we were talking about more visits, collaborations & hosting some creative gatherings in our town! Before I left Mariko asked if I was up for swapping taking some photos of her work for an upcoming show which got me to thinking about our Skill Swap theme this month…

It was pouring on the walk home but my fuzzy new friend feeling kept me cozy and I had this fun, wacky idea sparked by Janine’s amazing matchmaking skills + Mariko’s Red Bird match maker mug + Valentine’s Day + how awesome it is to meet new makers for visits and hugs. I thought: why don’t I start a series of posts & match up makers who live close to each other for an interview or studio tour? So last week on a perfectly blue day I took a pile of photos of Mariko’s studio and asked if I could share some of them with you for our very first instalment of our Match + Maker series. I’m not going to spoil my Uppercase interview by sharing our conversation. Instead come with me for a tour of the bright studio of my lovely new neighbour and invite you to fall in love with her creative talent & beautifully illustrated and detailed ceramics too!

Come on in!

Inside Mariko’s sunny studio

Mugs from Mariko’s ‘Strong Men’ series!

Even the bottoms of Mariko’s bowls are gorgeous!

Mariko & Angus one of her three mini-daschunds

While we wait for our Uppercase interview to be published in April (go get a subscription if you don’t have one already!), come meet Mariko, say hello & get yourself some of her ceramic handmade goodness!

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST

Want to be part of Match + Maker and sign up to be paired with your creative match for visits and interviews? Let’s collaborate! If you are a community member pop into the forums today to be the first to sign up or visit us on Friday when I share a sign up page + more info here for Love Day.

Today let’s show Mariko & her mad maker skills some love in the comments! We’d also love to know what do you think about Match + Maker?