Super + Super

Today I'd like to introduce Brighton's first craft hub,- Super+Super. Opened in March 2012, Super+super offers plenty of lovingly restored vintage wears, kitsch home wares and quirky jewellery alongside regular crafty classes. I wanted to know more about the fascinating concept and young creative entrepreneurs of Super+Super and had a little chat with them..

 

 

First of all, tell us, who are you and what do you do?

Super+Super is a creative venue at 7 Kings Road, Brighton just round the corner from the Lanes and a stones throw from the sea. Super+Super houses studio space for creative freelancers as well as a teaching space where we run crafty workshops, craft parties plus regular events and networking evenings.

 

 

What is the concept/story behind Super+Super and who are the creative minds behind this idea?

 

Super+Super was an idea born over many a cup of tea (and gin) by craft extra-ordinaire Miss Amy Phipps and vintage style blogger ‘She’s called Claire’ aka Claire Culley. We realised there wasn't a place in our fair town for us to do all of our favourite things under one roof. A place to work from, learn from, craft at, shop in and events where you can just hang out and chat basically. An excitable, and I might add questionable, dance-off later and Super+Super was born.

 

 
What coworkers do you collaborate with? What classes do you offer at Super+Super?
 

We have a totally mixed bag of co-workers in the building ranging from illustrators and print designers to tech whizz's and graphic designers. And that's just in our permanent desk spaces. We also offer flexible co-working Tuesday - Friday each week too so we open the doors from 10am - 6pm for freelancers to either come in just for the day or purchase larger packages to use as as when they wish.

Our classes are totally varied and range from sewing, crochet, knitting, papercutting, macrame, upcycling workshops and screen printing sessions. We also invite local tutors to come in and teach their own classes such as darning, pattern cutting theory, vest making, enamelling and many more besides!

 

Who are your crafty classes aimed at?

 

Our classes are aimed at all ages and all levels, both ladies and gents! We are really lucky that we have such a variety of people at every class.

I have read, that you also organise various events - tell us more about this!

So far to date we've organised letter lounges, vintage pop up shops, clothes swaps, stitch & bitch's, charity events, talks, meet and greets, networking events, film nights, music gigs and a fair few Super+Super soirees! And that's just within the 8 months we've been open so far. Who know's what we'll be cooking up next!

We also offer craft parties at the HQ so whether your having a hen do, a birthday shindig or just want to get all your pals together to hang out, we cater special craft parties or groups of 5 or more. We're talking craft + tunes + fizz (BYOB!) + joy.

 

What makes you love crafts or why is it so important for you?

 

Our love of all things crafty comes from the idea of being able to make and fix things for ourselves. Using our hands to create beautiful and functional items as well as inspiring others to do so whilst revitalising lost skills and traditional ways of thinking. We want to show people that its cool to make and upcycle our own clothes, to thrift, swap and fix and to move away from an over saturated mass produced consumer led throwaway society. Less is more and being able to embrace skills that are no longer the norm and taught at school at a young age is important. Being able to give a dear friend a gift and have the confidence to say I made that and it was hard is why we love craft. Sharing some old school joy.

 

 

What do you find most rewarding about running Super+Super?

 

The most rewarding thing has to be that we are operating a building that is so full of creativity (cheesy we know!). It's amazing to offer a creative platform for freelancers to flourish from as well as being able to teach people new skills and give them the confidence to learn about something they are interested in. We find that most people who come to the HQ find it so inspiring to be around like-minded enthusiastic and encouraging people and this is something we really want to continue to build on as we continue to grow.

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Are there any thoughts or anything else you would like to say?

We would love to invite everyone to take a peek at our website - or join our mailing list.

Or why not follow us on twitter @supersuperHQ or like us on facebook to keep in the crafty loop!