City Matters Edition 013

CITYMATTERS.LONDON 14-20 December 2016 | Page 15
Shopping Matters
20 YEARS ON AND OXO TOWER REMAINS A MECCA FOR INDEPENDENT MAKERS
Better by design
creative flair:
Snowden Flood
WHEN the famous Oxo Tower
was reopened in 1996 as a complex
of low-income housing, designer
workshops, eateries and community
offices, it became one of the first major
mixed-use city buildings in Britain.
The Independent lauded the iconic
development as one “that defies the
laws of planners, bankers, pension fund
managers, the majority of property
developers and the whole deadly culture
of ‘men in suits’.”
Twenty years on and SE1 rents are
skyrocketing, retail chains are muscling
in, but the building remains resolute in
its role as a community hub; thanks in
no small part to the makers who have
managed to turn levels two and three
into a mecca of independent design.
The 30-odd glass-fronted studios
ringing the building house all manner of
makers from jewellers to ceramicists and
Archipelago’s textile designer Doreen
Spending
soars by a
whopping
15% as small
firms get in
the spotlight
THE fourth annual Small Business Saturday
achieved sales of £717million this year, up 15%
on last year’s figures.
The event on 3 December encouraged
consumers to “shop small” and favour their
local independent stores over high street
chains.
According to research by American Express
in the 36 hours following Small Business
Saturday, an estimated £717m was spent with
small businesses across the UK, with more than
50% of respondents saying they were aware of
the day and spent more than usual.
Positive consumer sentiment and support
to small businesses was echoed through social
media. Over 130,000 tweets were sent on the
day itself, reaching more than 120 million people,
with Small Business Saturday UK trending
at number one in the UK and at number five
globally.
Michelle Ovens MBE, campaign director of
Small Business Saturday, said: “Small Business
Saturday has once again delivered a sustained
increase in spending with Britain’s small
Gittens, who has been hand-weaving
scarves on a loom in her workshop since
the building opened.
Snowden Flood has made her name
designing and sourcing high-quality
homewares and gifts, most with a nod
to British life and all manufactured in
the UK. After years working out of her
south London home, the decision to
move into the complex was a no-brainer.
After all, how else does one land an office
overlooking the Thames without a job in
finance?
Landmarks
The river’s daily milieu of traffic is one
attraction – “I’ll often stop mid-sentence
with a customer to point out some
barge or boat I haven’t seen before” –
but Snowden also credits her location
with influencing the evolution of her
business.
What started as a few cushion covers
featuring British landmarks, created
as souvenirs for friends in New York,
grew into crockery, glassware and lamp
shades, but she moved into stationary
and prints because they were easier for
tourists to carry around town with them.
“So many would be searching for
unique, locally-made pieces to take
home – that’s not easy to find in central
London – and because I know lots of
designer makers I began to stock their
items too.”
Like most of her creative neighbours,
shine a light: Hash Hirji of
Urban Species welcomed new
customers on Small Business
Saturday. Photo by Patricia Niven
independent businesses. To see the spend on
Small Business Saturday reach £249m more
this year than on the first Saturday in 2013,
an increase of 53%, is fantastic and confirms
the positive stories we are hearing from small
businesses in communities across the UK.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan was out and about
throughout the day, starting with a hearty
breakfast at famous East London greasy spoon
E Pellicci.
He dined with members of the East End
Trades Guild (EETG) to talk through strategies
to protect traders in East London from
skyrocketing rents.
Traders all over East London held special
events, activities, talks and tours to showcase
independent businesses and their contribution
to the area’s local character.
EETG director Krissie Nicolson said she
hoped the Mayor’s appearance would be the
beginning of a constructive relationship.
“Sadiq is very pro-business and we are all
confident he will do what he can to help traders,”
she said.
Snowden’s is a small scale operation,
but one that Oxo Tower Wharf’s owner
Coin Street is determined to make space
for in central London.
“The ethos for Oxo Tower Wharf was
to create a centre for design excellence,”
Coin Street’s Louise King says.
“Our small designer-maker studios
are available at affordable rents to help
to provide a platform to those working
in this field.
“We are really proud to have helped to
create a destination for people interested
in design with many unique studios and
products available.”
For Snowden, the story behind
these products is as important as the
aesthetics, which have turned her tiny
shop into a riot of colour. Her ceramics,
for instance – bright silhouettes of
scenes from city life – are created in
Stoke-on-Trent by a group of women
apprenticed at Wedgewood.
“My ceramics all look quite simple
but up to 20 people are involved in the
making of each piece; the mixing of inks
to the screen printing and decorating.
“The girls – they call them ‘the girls’
but they’re all actually really old – have
all got such phenomenal skills, it’s really
quite amazing to watch them work.
“It’s nice to hear there are still
people around who are making things
with quite a lot of integrity and I’ll do
anything I can to support them.”