THE CREATIVE DIRECTORY
This is a side project that we have been working on for a while… We’d like to introduce you to the Creative Directory.
What is it?
The Creative Directory is an online community hub for local artists, crafters, makers, designers, musicians, and more.
‘The Creative Directory showcases our homegrown talent right here in Northern Ireland.
Independent businesses don’t just magically appear; they all have wonderful stories to tell and we want to show the rest of the world just what we’re made of. Whether they’re a crafter, baker, designer, or maker, there’s a lot more to us than the Harland & Wolff cranes and Donegal landscapes.
With the growing awareness of ‘Small Business Saturday’ and the importance of supporting local businesses, we find that people of all ages want to keep their money within the community rather than buying from large chain stores.
By shopping local you’re helping to keep our community unique, you’re supporting local jobs, you’re giving a thumbs-up to entrepreneurship, and you’re making a difference in someone’s life.
Shop local, support local, and help keep the dream alive!”
The Creative Directory is an online community hub for local artists, crafters, makers, designers, musicians, and more.
‘The Creative Directory showcases our homegrown talent right here in Northern Ireland.
Independent businesses don’t just magically appear; they all have wonderful stories to tell and we want to show the rest of the world just what we’re made of. Whether they’re a crafter, baker, designer, or maker, there’s a lot more to us than the Harland & Wolff cranes and Donegal landscapes.
With the growing awareness of ‘Small Business Saturday’ and the importance of supporting local businesses, we find that people of all ages want to keep their money within the community rather than buying from large chain stores.
By shopping local you’re helping to keep our community unique, you’re supporting local jobs, you’re giving a thumbs-up to entrepreneurship, and you’re making a difference in someone’s life.
Shop local, support local, and help keep the dream alive!”
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Local businesses are categorised to make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for!
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Photo source: Pinterest
Why do we need a Creative Directory, we hear you cry!
Since opening Ink Monkey we always had people asking questions like “I’m looking for someone to draw my dog,” or “do you know anyone who makes wedding stationery” or “I need a name stamp made for my granny.” We knew there should be an easier way to find these people…
Picture this:
Perusing around the local arts + crafts market, you spy a stall and fall in love with their products. You can’t purchase today, so you take a business card and put it in your shopping bag. A week or two later, sitting at home on the sofa, you remember about said stall and go to get the business card, only to find you’ve misplaced it…
Or maybe you’ve gotten engaged and need to start planning your big day, but the wedding fairs don’t start for another 3 months. So you now face having to trawl the internet for cake makers, florists, invitations, bands, photographers, videographers, etc, etc…
What about when you want to adorn your walls with some local art? You’ve been to all the nearby galleries but can’t afford to pay £650 for an original piece, and don’t like the idea of the gallery getting 50% of the profit…
Within the creative community of greater Belfast we have identified 15 craft collectives, most of which have some sort of directory or list of their own. Some are small groups of hobbyists and others are incredibly popular. What the creative community of Belfast (and beyond) is lacking is a single community hub that encompasses all of these collectives.
We have spent the last few months researching our bums off and currently have a list of over 700 independent creative people and their businesses. At present we are focusing on Belfast and greater Belfast (with the odd exception), but we hope to expand outwards across the Provence as our research continues.
Using this list, we’ve been curating the work of each creative on Instagram. Head over and give it a follow @creativedirectory.
Since opening Ink Monkey we always had people asking questions like “I’m looking for someone to draw my dog,” or “do you know anyone who makes wedding stationery” or “I need a name stamp made for my granny.” We knew there should be an easier way to find these people…
Picture this:
Perusing around the local arts + crafts market, you spy a stall and fall in love with their products. You can’t purchase today, so you take a business card and put it in your shopping bag. A week or two later, sitting at home on the sofa, you remember about said stall and go to get the business card, only to find you’ve misplaced it…
Or maybe you’ve gotten engaged and need to start planning your big day, but the wedding fairs don’t start for another 3 months. So you now face having to trawl the internet for cake makers, florists, invitations, bands, photographers, videographers, etc, etc…
What about when you want to adorn your walls with some local art? You’ve been to all the nearby galleries but can’t afford to pay £650 for an original piece, and don’t like the idea of the gallery getting 50% of the profit…
Within the creative community of greater Belfast we have identified 15 craft collectives, most of which have some sort of directory or list of their own. Some are small groups of hobbyists and others are incredibly popular. What the creative community of Belfast (and beyond) is lacking is a single community hub that encompasses all of these collectives.
We have spent the last few months researching our bums off and currently have a list of over 700 independent creative people and their businesses. At present we are focusing on Belfast and greater Belfast (with the odd exception), but we hope to expand outwards across the Provence as our research continues.
Using this list, we’ve been curating the work of each creative on Instagram. Head over and give it a follow @creativedirectory.
We believe that our creative community should be easily accessible to the public no matter where you are. By taking the travel aspect out of the mix, there are no limited spaces, there are no extortionate commission fees, and we don’t mind if your print is in a £5 frame or a £250 one, or whether you have an art degree or not. As long as you are doing something that you love, we feel that you’re worth shouting about.
This is hopefully only the beginning of the Creative Directory. For now please help us to celebrate our amazing creative community by liking and sharing and spreading the word far and wide!
This is hopefully only the beginning of the Creative Directory. For now please help us to celebrate our amazing creative community by liking and sharing and spreading the word far and wide!
