It's June 1st, the start of pride month, and as a proud queer trans-masc person myself, what better time to shout out some of the coolest LGBTQIA+ small businesses I know?
- Sonia Tyrna is a talented ceramicist who specialises in spectacularly textured, hand sculpted rodents and critters. Be sure to follow her on Instagram @soniatyrna to find which markets you can find her at. She also does some lovely community family LGBTQ+ events for Derbyshire LGBT+ charity which, frankly, I think is bloody amazing.
- Weird Wednesday are a Cardiff based, proudly queer, duo making clothing, accessories, stickers and stationary. They're political queers vocal about trans rights and fighting oppression so definitely check them out. Ps I recently bought their trans tie dye socks and they're lush.
- Disir Jewellery is a jewellery company run by the immensely talented and kind Nicole, who carves intricate silver pieces inspired by both gothic windows and Norse mythology. Her wax-carving patience knows no bounds!
- Sofftpunk is an incredibly cool online shop run by Hash, a queer, trans artist of colour who makes bold artwork and apparel in the themes of pride, community and fierce self-love. I'm proud to have a number of their pieces myself and can highly recommend them.
- Ms Moo Make-up / Moo Doodles are both run by the fabulous Sali - an award-winning make-up artists who offers make-up lessons for trans and gender diverse clients, but also makes really bright, cute and quirky prints and stationary!
- Conscious Euphoria is the inclusive lifestyle brand created by Ocean, an incredibly sweet and talented trans illustrator. They create gorgeous prints, custom artwork, sculptures, stickers and many more lovely things all with one theme in mind - trans joy. I actually commissioned Ocean to illustrate a piece to mark my wedding date and they did a fantastic job of it - it's now framed in my living room!
- DesignShedCymru do a pretty great job of summing themselves up in their Etsy bio - Their shop was "started by one gay who struggled to find every day cards that were fully inclusive for anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community". It's clear that the rest was history because if you can think of a queer occasion that needs marking, they've got you covered!
- Hagstone Art make beautiful stationary, stickers, prints and more inspired by queerness, inclusivity and equality for all - all in a lovely and colourful folk style. Again, I'm a huge fan of their designs and have a few stickers and badges that I love.
- Jade Muat-Dodd has also summed up her work in such a perfect way that I can't beat it so here we go: "Feminist, left-wing & body positive. Funny, sassy & cute. Silly, frilly & pink". So there you have it! Jade is a Merseyside based illustrator who designs and hand makes all of her gorgeous wares herself! My personal recommendation is her Fuck the Tories range ;)
- Crafted in Chaos is another stunningly pink creative business run by the lovely Meg! Her designs are in the form of prints, painted wood slices, 3D ghosts, jewellery, stickers and more! You can get pretty much any of these in your chosen pride-flag colours too - very cute!
So there you have it! 10 amazing queer-run brands to go spend your hard-earned cash with!
HAPPY PRIDE SEASON EVERYONE!!!
~ Riley x