Finders Keepers was born out of Thornton’s frustration with not being able to find quite the right platform to sell her jewelry designs. “Brooke Johnston (co-director of Finders Keepers) and I had started out own jewelry label and we were trying to find a suitable market, something different to the usual market,” she tells Beat. “We’d done the weekend markets but back then they tended to be bric-a-brac markets that sold cheaper mass produced products or more touristy stuff.” The two wanted to create a market focused on design and locally produced items. “We started small and started at the right time,” Thornton continues. “We started in Sydney with friends and it snowballed from there and turned into its own thing.” It certainly did: in 2009 Johnston and Thornton were listed amongst the top 100 most influential people in Sydney. And the market just gets bigger each year. Thornton says it’s because the Finders Keepers Market has a unique atmosphere of its own. “It’s not just a place to shop. There’s all kinds of food and there’s live music; it’s a community bringing people together.”
The Finders Keepers Markets are unique in the fact that they aren’t open-access markets where anyone selling anything can set up a stall. “It’s a curated market,” says Thornton. How do they choose their stall holders? “People apply by sending us images of their products and the story of their business; they show us what they’re making and let us know what they’re all about. We choose a line-up that’s suitable.” What makes a product suitable? “Original work that’s creative, not too trend-based, preferably made in Australia or hand-made elsewhere. We like things to be ethically-made, that’s an element of the market. Things made with quirky materials or from Australia. We’re not after just any old brand or things that are mass-produced or too commercial. And people appreciate that a bit more these days.”
Thornton says buyers are much more conscious nowadays of the provenance of their purchases. “They are coming to markets looking for things that are ‘hand-made’ or ‘hand-crafted’, those are the buzzwords. Things that are made from recycled products. They want to know that there’s a human making it; people like to know they’re supporting someone, buying from a small business. They want to know how a product affects the environment.” She is noticing a lot of support amongst buyers now for these concerns. “The momentum has built up. Every year there’s something thoughtful and new made from something recycled. This year there are homewares made out of discarded gas bottles, things like stools and bowls, and things made out of up-cycled bicycle tyres, and vintage suitcases made into stereos.”
Thornton’s own background is in fashion design and, as well as running the market she has her own label selling fashion and jewelry. “Brooke and I merged and bought another business. We’re extra-passionate about design.” Thornton says having been a stall holder herself makes a difference when running a market. “We know how to design and we know how to sell as well. We like to help stall holders grow their brand,” she says. Isn’t that creating competition for her own wares? “There’s always healthy competition,” she notes. “It pushes you to keep on top of the ball, to keep making things that are different; it pushes you to be more creative and to start pushing the boundaries when it comes to materials. All the designers buy off each other.”
Although she isn’t interested in trends per se, we ask Thornton whether she has noticed similar things popping up amongst new stall holders. “Plants are the big thing,” she answers. “Terrariums are huge. Hanging plants, plants in concrete planters, planters made from discarded materials. It’s all about plants this year. Someone is selling laser-cut stainless steel and wooden jewelry. People are making their own screen-printed clothing. It’s all made in Australia. A lot of bespoke beauty products; people make them for themselves from natural ingredients, with beautifully designed packaging. We’re seeing a lot of woven items, woven rugs and bowls, and macramé wall hangings are massive.”
Thornton reckons that on the whole the designers she deals with aren’t driven by high fashion trends; however, there are always elements of design that seem to come to people at the same time. Since she’s a fashion designer herself we have to ask her about what to expect on the streets in terms of summer looks. “Bold prints. Screen printed fabric, digital printed fabric, lots of silks and linens in water colour type prints.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
