With a passion for heritage crafts and working with sustainable materials, our Friday Feature this week is none other than Rosa Harradine. Recently chosen as one of The King’s Foundation’s “35 under 35”, Rosa hand-makes brooms and brushes that are both practical and beautiful.
We asked Rosa some questions to get to know more about her and her creative small business…
Definitely! Before I came to craft, I trained in music, so I’ve always been creative in some way. I can play the clarinet, saxophone and piano, although I don’t have much time for playing instruments at the moment! In general, I love to make things, and I believe that I’m capable of learning to do anything if I try hard enough.
This is a tough question! I remember when I was perhaps 5 or 6, I entered a competition in my local village hall, to create an animal sculpture out of vegetables. I’m not sure what mine was supposed to be, but I think it had a potato for a body, and carrots for legs. I came first and won a whopping 50p!
After I completed my music degree, I ended up in an office job and knew I wanted to do something more practical by working with my hands. I deliberately moved to a part-time job to give me more time for creativity, and to push myself into being able to make money from it too, as my job only just covered my bills. I tried various crafts, like willow weaving, spoon carving, and bowl turning on a traditional pole lathe, before beginning to make brooms and brushes.
I’m always inspired by William Morris’ quote, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” I think that my brooms and brushes are the best of both worlds – they can be used for everyday sweeping and be hung on a wall to be admired too. I was drawn to craft through the connection that we have to handmade items that we use. I know the names of most of the makers who created the most treasured things in my home that I use every day – be it the wooden spoon that I use to eat my breakfast, or my favourite coffee mug. I think that kind of connection is really important.
I typically spend my mornings outside in my garden workshop, making brooms and brushes, and afternoons doing admin in my office. There’s a surprising amount of admin to do – packing parcels, doing finances, marketing, social media, taking photos, website updates… the list goes on! I’m launching a new broom and brush collection soon, so this week I’ve got my brilliant photographer, Heather Birnie, coming to photograph it for me.
In 2022 I was selected as a TOAST New Maker by the fashion and homewares brand who selected five makers demonstrating excellence in skill, originality and craftsmanship. That gave me a lot of confidence when I was just starting out in my career.
More recently, I’ve just been chosen by The King’s Foundation to be part of their 35 under 35 network of makers and changemakers, which is a real honour.
I have my ups and downs, which I think is very normal for creatives. I have a lot of ideas and often not enough time to go through with them, which I can find frustrating. I need to be better at carving out time from my schedule for creativity, so I can test some of these ideas. If I don’t deliberately make time for it, it just doesn’t happen.
I think about the future of my business a lot – I think you have to if you want to succeed. My long-term goal is to be able to grow my own broomcorn, the fibre I use for making brooms. I already harvest my own broom handles from my small patch of woodland, so this would be another step towards a completely home-grown broom.
I’m passionate about sharing my heritage craft skills and I regularly teach brush and broom making workshops now – I hope to be continuing to do this in three years’ time too.
For me, the biggest challenge is always time, or lack of it. I’m currently renovating my 200-year-old house, having also just finished renovating the workshop in the back garden, where I make my brooms and brushes. It’s a lot of fun – I’ve been learning to lime plaster, and I’ve really enjoyed laying some wooden floors, but it’s a real challenge too. There’s a lot of learning, and making mistakes is inevitable. I feel like I’m juggling lots of balls – and occasionally dropping some too!
I recently did an evening joinery class which I enjoyed immensely, so in a different universe, I’d love to be a furniture maker. I feel very drawn to working with wood and there are so many ways to be creative with it. Going on a chair making course is definitely on my bucket list.
Rosa’s love and commitment to heritage crafts and the use of natural materials, is so inspiring. In a world where so many products are made fast and without care (most likely ending up in landfill!), it’s really refreshing to know there are incredible creatives out there like Rosa, who are doing things differently.
If you’d like to know more about Rosa, see her current brooms and brushes available, or find details of her workshops, head to her website: rosaharradine.com . Or for some behind the scenes content, and a glimpse into Rosa’s crafting process, take a look at her Instagram: @rosaharradine
If you haven’t already found us over on Instagram – why not come say hi and give us a follow. We would love for you to join the conversation and help spread the movement by liking and sharing our content.
Any and all opinions expressed by third parties in our content are not necessarily the opinions of FCS. All FCS content, including content provided by third parties, is intended for general guidance and inspiration. Third-party products and services mentioned in content have not necessarily been tested by FCS. Any content feature, mention of a third-party product or service, or link to a third-party business and/or external site, does not suggest an endorsement from, or affiliation with, FCS. FCS is never paid (or directly compensated) for any features, opinions, or information provided in our content about any third-party services, products, sites or miscellaneous topics – unless clearly stated otherwise.
