Spreading Their Wings: My First Christchurch Market

It was against that backdrop that I packed up the Eco Cloths and took them on the road for the first time, down to Christchurch for the Garden City Mākete. It felt right, in a way — the cloths spreading their wings a little, going somewhere new, the same as I was. It wasn’t a small trip to make, between the vendor fee and flights, and there were a few nerves in the lead-up, not knowing how many people would stop or how much stock to take.

What a trip it turned out to be.

The market itself was quite different to what I’m used to — two sides of the booth open to people, which meant twice the chatting and twice the juggling. I was glad to have a helper with me; managing both sides alone would have been a stretch. It was lovely to catch up with Cat from Silver Point Art Supplies again, and to meet Beck of Beck Designs, set up just across the way. Beck kindly filmed my husband and I having a bit of a rock and roll before things kicked off on Saturday morning — just to get the body moving before a long day of standing still.

There were a lot of people through, and so many good conversations. One family were off to New York soon to see relatives and picked up cloths as gifts. Others were headed to Germany, and some to the UK for Christmas — it’s nice to think of a small cloth travelling that far. Quite a few people already knew the Swedish dishcloth and were keen to top up their supply, and it was lovely sharing the stories behind the designs — the New Zealand birds and the red mushrooms were clear favourites on the day. It was a genuinely good day, and one I’d happily do again.

Sunday was for family — a catch-up with my granddaughter, glorious sunshine, and snow still sitting on the Alps and the ranges in the distance. A lovely way to finish the trip.