Design@HEART

Well, the world may be going to hell in a handcart, but here at Design@HEART we have plenty to look forward to in 2021. For starters, we have set a date for our Christmas Fair and we’re going to take a punt and say it will happen. So, get your diaries out and mark Saturday 13th November as the day you start getting serious about your Christmas shopping! Applications for stalls for that event will open after Easter.

We’re still in discussion with the HEART Centre, but it’s looking very hopeful that we can also have an outdoor summer fair in June. What a lovely way to blow away the cobwebs of lockdown, where we can browse gorgeous handmade art and craft and chat with our stallholders. So much nicer than online I think. And there will be bunting… oh so much of it. I think we need bunting right now!

Speaking of bunting, Design@HEART is working with the HEART Centre on a community arts project in celebration of HEART’s 10th Anniversary. (Can you believe it, the centre has been open 10 whole years!) We will be inviting participants from among all users of HEART to stitch, dye or fabric paint a section of bunting. There will be packs of materials and instructions, online sewing clubs, and hopefully even real life group activities. And when everyone has submitted their mini flag, we will sew them all together in one huge string, to be exhibited and then used in HEART over the coming years. Watch out for more details of this in our newsletter and in HEART’s newsletter.

We’ve all dealt with this past 12 months in different ways, but I think two things we all need more than ever right now are hope and connection. Perhaps if we can plan just these little things – a visit to a market with friends, an involvement in a community project, or whatever plans you have for yourself, your family, your work – we can get through these next few months. Keep connecting, keep planning. And if all is well come next winter, we’ll throw a great big Design@HEART party to celebrate – and that’s a promise…..