Markets: What I Value Most

I want to end 2025 with some gratitude and reflection, and one of the greatest things I am thankful for in my creative journey has been markets. It’s helped me to grow. It’s strengthened my confidence and self-worth. It’s helped me to be who I am today.

It sounds cheesy. It sounds overused. And I’m sure it’s the biggest cliche that anyone could write. But markets wouldn’t be markets without the people. In fact, markets wouldn’t BE (full stop) without the people.

Customers, stallholders and market organisers alike - they all make up the events you know and love. Without the customers, there’s no reason for stallholders to come. Vice versa, there’s no reason for customers to take time out of their day without stallholders. And without market organisers, who put their hearts and souls into advertising, promoting and interacting with their market community – the events wouldn’t be possible.

There is something so beautiful about markets, especially in a hurried world.

Fast fashion. Quick transactions. Next day delivery. More. More. More.

Markets feel like a chance to take a breath and to connect with something deeper. The people coming to meet you don’t have to be there - they choose to drop past.

A snapshot of the October 2025 Vine and Dine Market; photos taken by the wonderful Jess from Dell Artistry.

It’s an intentional decision - even if it wasn’t planned until mere moments before they walk into the event. It’s seeing a post online, looking at the calendar, walking a dog and noticing a cluster of gazebos.

It’s about connection. It’s about learning. It’s about laughter. It’s about experience. It’s about everything that human nature was meant to be, but got messed up along the way.

It’s taking the time to slow down, to explore, to take away a handmade piece of someone and treasure it as your own.

Met a friend at the One Tree Hill Country Market.

It’s about a breath of fresh air. It’s about telling a joke or being told one in turn. It’s about a revelation, a revolution, a return to something more meaningful, even if just for a brief moment.

You talk.

You laugh.

You cry.

You form connections.

You ask for advice.

You extend a hand.

You make friends. You find family. You meet your people, however fleeting your time together might be.

It’s hard work. It’s meaningful. It’s expensive. It’s intentional. It’s collective. It’s exhausting. It’s worthwhile.

It’s more than Temu.

It’s more than SHEIN.

It’s more than eBay.

It’s a story.

It’s value.

It’s handmade.

The support we receive never goes unnoticed:

A friendly chat. Taking a business card. Following us on social media. Reading the blog.

Liking. Commenting. Sharing. Saving. Recommending us to others. Reaching out. Placing commissions. Buying something.

Every action - no matter how small, no matter how ‘insignificant’ - is wind in our sails.

For us, markets have been a place of new beginnings. A place where the worthless are now valued, where the unloved can find connection, where the unwanted are now treasured.

There won't be a day that I do not appreciate and treasure our found family; the ones who inspire us and stand beside us through thick and thin. Jules' Joules is among our market family!

I often think back to times that regular customers disappeared for some time, and they were overjoyed that we recognised them through the crowd as people - not price tags.

I think back to the day I arrived at a market in a sling, and customers shared their concerns. And two months later - thanks to a flare up that forced my absence - they were relieved to see me well and sling-free once again.

I think back to the time that I first opened up about our history with domestic violence, unsure if anyone was truly reading the vulnerable history that I was sending out into the electronic ether. And at our next market, a patron came to us in tears, taking the time to say how sorry she was and proud that we had shared such a painful thing with the world.

Markets aren’t perfect. Nothing in the world ever is. Not yet, not ever. But they are a vital piece of community. And community, in the time of unending disconnection, malice and violence, is worth everything in the world.

Thank you for being here. For reading, for buying, for supporting, for caring, for everything you offer to fuel our crafty adventure!

Kimberley (they/them)

Accessories by Antoinette