The Spark of an Idea
Back in September 2020, in the heart of lockdown, I (Sophie) started to wonder if there were any other makers who had samples and seconds building up and nowhere to sell them. I was screen printing piles of t-shirts and prints with slight mistakes (as I learnt to set up my own studio at home) and normally I’d have popped them in a bargain bucket at a craft fair and sold them off cheap – but in 2020 that wasn’t an option!
So, I reached out to a few printmaker friends and it snowballed from there – three weeks on from coming up with the idea as something fun to do, Super Seconds was born and amazingly over 250 makers took part! What started as a tiny idea quickly grew into something much bigger than I could have imagined.
Building a Community
It was never just about clearing space on studio shelves, it was about connection between the makers too. Creatives who were missing the buzz of craft fairs suddenly had a place to share their work. Shoppers who loved handmade items could pick up beautiful pieces at lower prices, and in doing so, support small businesses at a time when things felt really uncertain.
This community of makers is what keeps the Festival going, when many other online ‘lockdown markets’ stopped running. I love helping the makers prepare each time and each festival has such a sense of shared community spirit.
The Festival 5 years on
From 2020 onwards, Super Seconds began to take on a life of its own. What started with a few screen-printed t-shirts and prints turned into a community of hundreds of makers across the UK and beyond, all united by the same values: sustainability, creativity, and making handmade more accessible.
Now, we’re about to run the 10th Super Seconds Festival and I couldn’t do it without the support the makers and Abby, my right hand woman who keeps everything ticking along behind the scenes!
Check out the makers involved this October 2025 from Saturday 20th September, when the Maker Lineup will go live!