Research commissioned by Amazon Handmade has revealed that last year Britain saw the biggest increase of new handmade artisans in a decade, with a 33 per cent increase in self-employed crafters recorded between 2019 and 2020 alone. This growth contributed to an overall rise of 21 per cent more makers setting up handmade businesses over the last ten years.
Amazon Handmade – a store for handcrafted personalised products, supporting local artisans – conducted the research which identifies Birmingham, Edinburgh, and London as Great British craft hotspots. Birmingham and the West Midlands saw more growth during the pandemic than any other region in the UK, and Edinburgh (home to 18 per cent of Scotland’s artisans) and London (31 per cent of Britain’s artisans) host the highest number of artisans nationally.
It’s not surprising that during the pandemic there was a rise in crafty entrepreneurs. Whilst at home people were picking up new hobbies and trying to find ways of working from home to increase finances.
The growth shows no sign of slowing as Amazon Handmade found lockdown crafting has inspired a wave of creative side hustles among Brits. One in five (18 per cent) of those who took up creative hobbies during the pandemic have been inspired to leave their 9-5 to sell their own handmade goods, with over 80 per cent of people under 35 who took up craft during the pandemic now selling products they make themselves either full or part-time.
“Last year was a record for number of self-employed artisans across the country, showing just how resilient Britons were in the face of a truly unique time. With the huge rise, we saw that people took to creative outlets to express themselves and created so much with their craftwork that they began selling their handmade goods, and even created their own businesses. The entrepreneurial Brit is growing, and we want to support our local artisans as much as possible this festive season and beyond.”
– Lisa Butters, Global Store Manager, Amazon Handmade
