Black Friday - an event brought to you by the nation that just elected Donald Trump for a second time - is upon us again. As an online seller the pressure to engage in this festival of consumerism is huge. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. I am haunted by grainy CCTV footage from Walmart cameras showing masses of bodies violently clambering over each other to get discounted electronic goods.
I know a lot of people think they’re getting one over on Amazon and the likes by getting expensive items for less but if Black Friday wasn’t making these companies vast amounts of money they wouldn’t do it.
As is now tradition my prices are staying the same and all profit from the day will be donated to the World Land Trust.
If you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket this weekend why not support some independent creators? The following are some gift ideas from some of my favourite indie businesses. I am not being paid or sponsored to link to any of these. I just like them.
Turbo Island
Named after the infamously wild hub of Bristol's Stokes Croft, Turbo Island’s work is similarly anarchic and vibrant. Tweaking the familiar visual detritus of late 20th century Britain into unashamedly silly puns and playful nods to beloved cult musicians.
Jen Orpin
etsy.com/uk/shop/JenOrpinPaintings
Jen Orpin sells signed prints of her familiar yet otherworldly oil paintings of British motorway bridges. Favourites include the M6 "Smoke Pies" bridge and iconic brutalist landmark Forton Services.
Beef’s World
Aleia Murawski and Sam Copeland create satisfyingly neat dioramas for their pampered pet snails to inhabit. They then light them beautifully and photograph them perfectly turning what could have been just another Instagram pet page into bona fide works of art.
Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives
spellingmistakescostlives.com/shop
Darren Cullen blends surrealist humour with barely concealed rage as he takes pop shots at the apocalyptic cesspit of neoliberalism. His shop features a mixture of his fiery political work and absurd artefacts such as the Jigsaw Jigsaw
Trunk Records
Trunk Records is treasure trove of kitsch mid-century audio rarities run by the legendary Jonny Trunk. Releasing lost film scores, television sound tracks and library music gems and selling them alongside vintage T-shirts and prints of beautiful snack wrappers. Much of it is out of stock but you never know what new (old) delights might crop up.
Hidden Britain Sign Co.
Wicker Man hats, prints of the Threads warden, a working 80s BBC 1 ident clock… Hidden Britain has a great selection of tasteful British folk horror adjacent artwork.
Ffimini
Ffion Morgan is a talented model maker and stained-glass glazier. As well as preserving and framing wedding bouquets, she also makes tiny intricate replicas of her client’s houses. All her work is presented in bespoke stained glass. Whether it’s a childhood home, a first property or a favourite pub, a model of a building can make a thoughtful, emotionally charged gift.
Unbound
A fantastic book publisher whose unique model combines crowd-funding and a generous 50% royalty (as opposed to the usual 10-15%) with all the design, production and distribution benefits of a major publishing house. Home of Jim Moir’s Birds, Dan Sheehan’s I Am Not A Wolf and Kate Lister’s A Curious History of Sex among many others.
Slippery Jack
Richard Wells’ carefully composed medieval woodcut style lino prints of folk horror iconography are so well observed that he has become something of a muscle-for-hire for film and TV producers needing authentic looking historical art props. His reasonably priced signed prints feel like relics from a darker age.
Badly Drawn Animals
“Unconventionally” drawn animal portraits are a whole mini genre in themselves. Here are some of my favourites
Harriet Lowther
madebyharriet.co.uk
Pet Portraits by Hercule
herculevanwolfwinkle.co.uk
A Poorly Drawn Bird
apoorlydrawnbird.bigcartel.com
Dogecore
dogecore.com
Peak 2010s internet absurdism distilled into somehow-very-cool T-shirts and baseball caps. By far the highest rate of 'I wish I'd thought of that' designs of any of my fellow online T-shirt sellers.
Apologies to any of my creator friends who I overlooked. There is so much great stuff being made out there. Supporting small businesses at this time of year is a great alternative to funding the dystopian business practices of Chinese monoliths such as Shein or Temu or making Jeff Bezos even more disgustingly rich.
