5 reasons to shop handmade

Why should you be shopping handmade when Amazon delivers anything anywhere in under 24 hours ? Well, here are 5 good reasons to shop handmade !

1 – Support small shops, support the community

As we all know, Mr Bezos and his pals are not really helping the community with all the money we threw at them. They’d rather fly out in space than give back to their fellow humans so, here’s our first reason to shop handmade ! It’s useful to the community.

When you buy handmade, from small businesses around you or even in another country, you help independent workers achieve a sustainable lifestyle and fair wages. They are their own bosses, and often care greatly about their local economy. I’ll take me as an example but this is true for so many artists I know. I buy mostly local grown food, get things done around the place I live. Sure I sometimes order stuff from far away but my focus is on making my community thrive. I walk to school, to the post office, anything that’s doable by walking or biking comes first on my list.

2 – Shopping Handmade is more environmentally friendly

By supporting small shops, local sellers and independent artists, you reduce your impact on the environment. Me and my fellow makers are sourcing our goods mindfully. I use local clay, I buy my packing products in the neighboring state of Ontario and I pride myself on using recyclable reusable packaging goods. Most of it is cardboard brown, 0 plastics and locally made. I use paper filling instead of plastic peanuts, paper tape, and I’m still looking for a local eco-friendly sticker printer. I found one in the UK but it’s really not ideal.

Moreover, 1% of all my credit card sales are going towards carbon capture with the Stripe Climate program.

3 – Get something unique with an Handmade gift

What are the chances that your loved ones shopped there in the past few months ? Very little. The third great reason to shop handmade is that you’ll get a one of a kind gift, if not a completely unique object. In my case, each and every porcelain jewelry piece of ceramic animal figurine is 100% unique. There cannot be two identical ones. Why ? Well, mostly because I’m utterly unable to create twice the same thing 😀

I also work with seasons, I will make pumpkins and bats for fall season, owls and possums year round, bunnies and birds in the spring, bear and fox in winter. So chances are you are never going to see the exact same things each month either.

4 – Human interaction and custom made orders

Shopping handmade also means you’ll interact with a human being and not a system. This is helpful in so many ways ! For example, in case there is a problem with your order, you will deal with a person who knows what they’re doing, and not an answering machine or a robot. By the way, please be respectful, we put all of our hearts into what we do ^^

We will also make each package special. I know I love to receive a package in the mail, I will make yours as I love mine. Simple, environmentally friendly and if I’m able, with a little surprise. Most of the time I’ll add more business card but they’re all different. If you shop a few times you will have a collection of tiny illustrations and pictures ^^ Depending on the order size and what I have available, I will add freebies, more often than not.

Moreover, once a month, I offer custom made orders. This is very special as I will sculpt or paint a pet portrait just for you. ou can check out a few examples like the custom cat portrait or the custom ceramics orders. Most of the people offering handmade products will be able to make your order special. It might be a little word on a card, a sticker, a freebie or a full on custom order : it’s really just for you.

5 – Shopping meaningful handmade gifts

By choosing a handmade piece of art, you also tell your loved one how much you care. You did not go to a random shop and buy the same thing everyone has. You specifically chose one piece as a gift and it will mean the world to them. Sometimes, you will have gone out of your way and waited for a specific shop update or subscribed to a waitlist months ahead. This will truly make things so special !

So, will you be shopping handmade for your gifts ?

All in all, shopping handmade is really the best option for a whole lot of reasons. If you need to make a difference in the way you shop gifts for your loved ones or for yourself, chose handmade ! Of course I am biased, but I also shop mostly handmade and I love it so much more than getting a mass produced good from a big company.

Feel free to browse my shop or my favorite shops for handmade gifts ! I listed my 10 favorite artists’ shops, just for you.