Craftivism

Merseyside Etsy Team: Paper House Hunting

From the Archives – 2016:

“On Saturday 18th June the Merseyside Etsy Team will be filling the city with craft and asking people to come #PaperHouseHunting with them in aid of the Whitechapel Centre. Using shared skills, team members will be creating papercut and origami houses bearing the hashtags #MET and #PaperHouseHunting, which will then be hidden around Liverpool on the afternoon of the 18th. MET members will share clues as to the hiding places of the paper houses through their own social media (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter). Use the hashtags, spread the word, look for the houses – and if you can afford to donate a little money we’d be super grateful! The Mersey Etsy Team is a 450 member strong team comprising artists, designers and makers in the Merseyside area, all of whom sell via craft website Etsy. Huge thanks to Hannah (of Etsy shop JoyfulArray), and Carol of (of JackdawandJay) for their origami and papercutting expertise.” From Merseyside Etsy Team Fundraising page.

As part of Merseyside Etsy Team, I took part in a fundraising craft event ‘Paper House Hunting’. Members donated to The Whitechapel homeless charity to join in the craft party where we brought and shared cakes and drinks before making origami paper houses. We distributed the houses around Merseyside with stickers attached explaining to person who finds them their purpose and a link to donate to Whitechapel. The awareness message was spread though social media with the hashtag #papaerhousehunting. I was really pleased when my houses were found and the person engaged with the project by sharing the found house on Twitter. Team leader Becka Griffin was also interviewed about the campaign on BBC Merseyside radio station. The day was great fun, and a success in terms of fundraising as we raised £207.43 for The Whitechapel Centre.