“Our Creative Community is Vital”: Welcome Spring with the Finders Keepers Markets in Brisbane
- Words by Peppermint
images AUTUMN/WINTER SEASON. PHOTOS BY SAMEE LAPHAM.
Hold on to your hats shoppers, the Finders Keepers markets are back for a bright and beautiful spring/summer season! With the smell of jasmine in the air and sunny skies, over 90 local and interstate makers will be blooming at the Brisbane Showgrounds from 2–4 September!
We’ll be there with our latest issue, our best outfits and, as always, good chat! Swing by and document the day with a shot in front of our fabulous floral photo wall, grab a subscription special or a sewing pattern and then rest your weary market feet as you flick through a copy of Peppermint at the Read and Refresh Lounge.
Tickets are on sale now (just $5) and when you buy a ticket, you’ll go in the running to win one of five subscriptions to Peppermint! Happy days! Head to the link here for all the details.
To get you excited about all things Finders Keepers and help you curate your shopping list, we caught up with a few fantastic Brisbane stallholders!
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Retritus
We’re thrilled to be joined at our space by Norton Fredericks from Retritus (you might recognise his pieces from our amazing Issue 51 cover). Norton will be selling some of his gorgeous wares and also spinning yarn live during the weekend!
Tell us a bit about what you make…
I am a queer, Indigenous, sustainable fibre artist and workshop facilitator based on Bullongin Country, who specialises in felt-making and natural botanical dyes. I create wearable pieces, soft furnishings and large-scale tapestry art. I can also create custom work that utilises leftover floral arrangements from life events like weddings or funerals to create extra special memory cloth.
What are you looking forward to most about the Brisbane market?
I am most looking forward to meeting new people and connecting with a broader audience. I have been creating new products, especially for this market, and I’m excited to see what people think of them!
Why is the creative community so special?
The creative community is so special because we love to uplift and support each other. I love having deep conversations with other creatives about their practice. It’s so inspiring.
Rose and Reggie
Tell us a bit about what you make…
Hi, my name is Rose and I make clothing. Fun, bright and ethically made clothing!
What do you love about The Finders Keepers?
I love the people that attend Finders Keepers; both stall holders and customers. Everyone is so supportive, they all have such great style and it’s a big weekend filled with amazing conversations.
Connecting with the Finders Keepers community really fills up your cup and keeps you motivated to keep going.
What are you looking forward to most about the Brisbane market?
I can’t pick one thing, I love the whole weekend. I love the set-up, meeting new customers, eating great food, showing off our new styles and making new friends.
Why is the creative community so special?
Because they are so supportive. Sometimes it’s hard work being a creative. Connecting with the Finders Keepers community really fills up your cup and keeps you motivated to keep going.
Lauren Rogers
Tell us a bit about what you make…
I am a proud Australian Ngarabal visual artist. My artistic vision and inspiration come from my adventures around the country. I like to use layers of fine dotting, linework, colour gradients and Aboriginal symbolism and iconography. I love bright colours that show extreme contrast and capture imagination.
What do you love about The Finders Keepers?
The Finders Keepers is a space for creatives to connect, learn and celebrate! I love that the Finders Keepers is leading a conscious shopping marketplace and that it embraces, celebrates and provides a platform for local artists to showcase their craft!
What are you looking forward to most about the Brisbane market?
Meeting all the fabulous makers from across Brisbane, seeing their beautiful creations and feeling inspired!
Why is the creative community so unique?
Art has been a part of human culture for many centuries. It has been used to express emotions, to communicate ideas and it has been a way to pass down knowledge from one generation to another. Our creative community is vital in continuing the story and keeping our imaginations running wild!
The Finders Keepers is Australia’s largest curated marketplace of makers, designers and entrepreneurs. Online, and via their major market events, the Finders Keepers is where communities come together to shop, explore and discover the very best from designers, makers and entrepreneurs in our country.
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“My piece of advice for makers and designers? Run your own race… make sure your key decisions stay anchored in your brand’s core beliefs.”
- Bec Bligh
Quick show of hands: who’s opened a water bottle expecting a refreshing sip… and instead been greeted by the unmistakable whiff of uh-oh?
Because for something that follows us everywhere (desk, car, hikes, yoga…), the humble drink bottle is strangely prone to becoming a science experiment. Hard-to-clean corners and gaskets. Mystery smells. Bec Bligh and her husband Tim know it well. A six-month sailing trip along the Queensland coast left them with a lifetime of memories and one stubborn annoyance: mouldy water bottles they couldn’t properly clean.
So they did something about it.
Enter @EverVessel. Thoughtfully designed borosilicate glass and stainless steel bottles that keep things beautifully simple: durable materials, wide openings, easy-to-clean parts and none of the techy gimmicks that tend to age badly. Turns out simplicity, done well, is pretty powerful stuff. (Their many design awards agree!)
And lately they’ve added a little extra delight: the Artist Series, where creatives like Paola Castro, Ben Miners and Martin Thompson transform these everyday companions into tiny travelling artworks. There are more colabs in the works, too: hydration, but make it joyful! 🎨💧
We chatted with Bec about the sailing trip that started it all, the philosophy behind Ever Vessel, and why the most sustainable product is often just the one you keep using.
Tap the link in our bio to read the full conversation. 🚰
#EverVessel #ReusableWaterBottle
Pull up a chair… there’s room at this table!
For the first time, Feast for Freedom is bringing people together for a spectacular long-table dinner as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
A Longer Table is exactly what it sounds like: one beautiful shared table inside the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (@Asrc1), piled with generous dishes inspired by this year’s hero cooks, Noha and Nige.
From 6 to 9pm on Wednesday, 25 March, this is what you can expect:
🍽 A three-course shared feast
🍷 Matched drinks
🎶 Live entertainment
✨ A room full of good humans
Your ticket doesn’t just buy you a delicious dinner. It supports the ASRC’s vital work and helps create a fairer future for people seeking asylum.
Seats are limited, and long tables have a way of filling up quickly – head to @MelbFoodAndWine’s website to book now: feastforfreedom.org.au/mfwf
#FeastForFreedom #MelbourneFoodAndWineFestival #LongTableDinner #FoodForChange
Sew versatile! 🪡
Another great make from Lisa from @SunnySewsEveryday:
My #PeppermintWaratahWrapDress is finished and I’m so proud of it. It has been designed not to flap open and flash your pants in the wind, so I feel confident it will be a great wheelchair or standing dress in English weather.
#PeppermintPatterns #WrapDress #WrapDressPattern
Frame your face with the Peppermint Bucket Hat!
Stay safe and stylish in the sun with your very own self-sewn and self-drafted wide-brimmed bucket hat. This beginner-friendly sew is perfect for a sunny day. Get out your pencils – this pattern is created using equations and maths!
This DIY project was featured in Issue 53 and now you can access it for the lovely low price of only $5.
Sun-safe chic is always in style. ☀️
Find it via the link in our bio!
Photos: @KelleySheenan
#PeppermintPatterns #PeppermintBucketHat #BucketHat #BucketHatPattern #DIY
✨ INSTANT CLASSIC ✨
The Peppermint Myrtle Shift Dress is a beginner-friendly make with a few special details based on the ever-stylish shift shape – the perfect dress you need in your wardrobe right now!
Myrtle cuts above the knee with options to customise the length. Don’t think she’s reserved for hot weather either: try a heavier-weight fabric to turn your Myrtle into a pinafore-style garment for layering.
For our fabrics we chose two from our lovely sewing partner @Karmme_Apparel – the bold Rottnest Stripes in a lightweight, soft-drape cotton, and the quality linen in the handpainted Mexico Collection.
Get making the Myrtle – the only question is, can you stop at just one?
Link in bio 🪡
Fabric: @Karmme_Apparel
Sewist: @Laura_The_Maker
Photos: @KelleySheenan
Models: @SerahSews and @Pins_And_Tonic
Location: @ShareTheDignityAustralia
#PeppermintMyrtleShiftDress #PeppermintPatterns
It’s time to Feast!
Some recipes travel a long way before they land on your table to delight your taste buds. This year’s Feast for Freedom invites us to gather our friends, cook something delectable and raise funds for the incredible work of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (@Asrc1) while we’re at it.
The 2026 Feast features recipes shared by two remarkable cooks: Noha, who brought the flavours of Palestine with her when she arrived in Australia, and Nige, a Sri-Lankan Tamil cook whose journey with food began in the most unexpected of places.
You can host your own Feast up until 30 April – simply register online and get planning! Host a dinner, organise a workplace lunch, or gather your community… However you do it, the idea is simple: cook, connect and celebrate the cultures and stories that shape Australia.
Want to find out more? Head to the link in bio to meet Noha and Nige, learn more about their stories, and discover a delicious recipe to try.
#FeastForFreedom #PeppermintMagazine #FoodForGood #ASRC
