Catch up on the latest episode of Made in Kent with Abby Hook
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00:00 Hello and welcome to Made in Kent live on KMTV. I'm Abbey Hook and in tonight's show
00:25 we journey all the way to Margate to find out about the designers and makers market
00:30 happening this weekend. Discover treasures crafted by 22 local designers at Turner Contemporary.
00:36 Also catch the excitement at Chatham's Copper Rivet Distillery as a gin producer reacts
00:41 to the Chancellor's Alcohol Duty Freeze and Kent and Medway Food and Drink Awards nominations
00:46 open. It's a packed show, you won't want to miss any of it. But first, let's go to the
00:51 Chatham Gin Producer who's thrilled to hear the Chancellor's announcement in freezing
00:56 alcohol duty until next year. Jeremy Hunt unveiled a list of cuts as well as changes
01:01 to benefits and a rise in the national living wage in the autumn statement. The government
01:06 hopes these measures will all help in growing the economy. While Sophia Akin was at Chatham's
01:11 Copper Rivet Distillery where they welcomed the duty freeze. This freeze in alcohol duty
01:16 has been widely welcomed by pubs and alcohol producers across Kent. Especially here at
01:22 Chatham's Copper Rivet Distillery where they've been producing spirits for several years now.
01:26 They've been busy producing gin and whiskey here today. Well we now know from the autumn
01:32 statement today that we will see no rise in duty on beer, cider, wine or spirits. Some
01:37 good news for those producers as I mentioned there. Chancellor also confirmed the Brexit
01:42 pubs guarantee which means that the cost of a pint will always be lower than it's going
01:46 to be in the shops. Now quite a few measures he introduced today. 110 in fact to grow the
01:51 economy. We won't be mentioning all of those today but a few of those points include a
01:56 2% cut to national insurance, a rise in the national living wage, a rise in the state
02:01 pension and of course a freeze in alcohol duty as well. Which is why we're here today.
02:07 We're now joined with Matthew Russell from Chatham's Copper Rivet Distillery to talk
02:11 to us a little bit more about this. It's something that the Chatham, that the Copper Rivet Distillery
02:15 has been calling on for a while isn't it, a freeze in alcohol duty. And it's of course
02:20 been a tough few years for those in the wine and spirits business. At the start of August
02:24 for example we saw the government bring in the largest alcohol tax rise in almost 50
02:29 years so I imagine that this is a welcome decision by some alcohol producers. The decision
02:35 is great to freeze alcohol duty for this particular time. Obviously after the last large hike
02:42 as you say, almost £13 of every bottle is taxed so to have a respite on that is very
02:49 welcome. We've also seen the Wine and Spirit Trade Association say that businesses were
02:54 bracing themselves for an increase in duty today. Is that something that you yourself
02:57 were concerned about? I think everybody in the industry was concerned about that. It
03:02 would have left a lot of businesses in a really bad position. And what does this mean for
03:08 you in real term, seeing this freeze in alcohol duty, how is this going to impact your business
03:12 day to day? Well hopefully everybody can afford a masthouse whiskey for Christmas as the prices
03:18 haven't gone up. I think stability is what's called for. I think the fact that everybody's
03:24 got 2% National Insurance contribution cut, a bit of extra money in their pocket means
03:31 that they can start to spend and maybe even come and visit us here at Copper Rivet Distillery.
03:38 Matthew thank you very much for your time today. Now the Treasuries say that this will
03:41 take 3p off the average cost of a pint of beer so hopefully this means that from now
03:45 on it will be a bit cheaper to buy around at the pub. Next tonight, if you head down
03:51 to Margate this weekend you'll be able to discover unique treasures at the Designers
03:55 and Makers Market in 2023. It's an annual event organised by the Kent Creative and this
04:01 year it's been held at the Turner Contemporary. There will be 22 local designers showcasing
04:07 jewellery, ceramics, hats, prints, textiles and woodwork. Well I'm pleased to say just
04:12 two of them join me in the studio now. Thank you both so much for joining us here in the
04:16 studio and we have to say you both look incredible. We've got some incredible hats here. Fiona
04:20 I know you're displaying some of your pieces too which is amazing. Siobhan I'll come to
04:25 you first. You've got these lovely hats here. Tell us all about your business, what is it
04:30 you do and why hats? Well I love hats, I've always loved wearing hats and then one day
04:36 I decided I'd make a hat for myself and then I thought I could make more of these. So I
04:41 make them, I source materials from Yorkshire and Cotswolds, woolen weavers, Irish tweeds,
04:47 Scottish tweeds, various tweeds, things that I like and then I kind of view them as little
04:55 sculptures in a way and I just make them and the fabric sort of tells me what it's going
05:01 to be. You can see how structured they are as well I suppose. What's the inspiration
05:09 behind it? Do you have a particular way of designing and making? It just comes out of
05:14 my head really. Every piece is unique. I never repeat anything because that would be boring
05:18 and I'm just not interested in doing that really and I just enjoy working. I'm very
05:24 influenced by organic forms and nature and the environment so then I kind of just work
05:31 with material and create stuff. Fiona what about you? Tell us about what you make, what
05:39 it is and you're wearing some of the pieces now. I am indeed. I design and make lighting
05:44 and chandeliers and jewellery and I'm wearing some of my pieces here today. I use a lot
05:49 of found, reclaimed, reinvented items that I find at antiques fairs and markets. For
05:57 example this is my Ambrosia collection. So this is a necklace made from cutlery and costume
06:04 jewellery and this is from the Swift collection. This is my watch bracelet. This is a bronze
06:11 Swift bird head which I make mixed with Victorian jewellery with probably 1960s, 70s watch strap.
06:22 Amazing. There's something to say for sort of repurposed goods. It's something we're
06:27 seeing a lot more. Do you think the market's flooded by it or it's necessary and it's
06:34 the way we should move forward? I think it's really interesting and inspiring and creative
06:40 to see how other people use objects. And are changing things and repurposing them. Why
06:46 not? You can use so many things and especially from the fabrics even. They're better quality
06:51 than our produced now. Absolutely. The materials are fantastic. The materials are wonderful.
06:56 They're made to last. You can find sort of, I often shop in charity shops and you can
07:00 find such gems there and I suppose what someone wants to throw away is somebody else's treasure.
07:07 That's a really good old saying as well. Tell us Siobhan about the event in Margate.
07:12 Why is it sort of important and why is it good to have such a large group of creators
07:16 in one space? It's lovely just to be in the Turner Contemporary Gallery and to be in that
07:22 space and have creative people all together and it's nice because you can knock ideas
07:28 off each other and see each other's work and help each other promote each other's work
07:32 and bring it to an audience. How sort of inspired are you by the people, the other creatives
07:37 that are around you? I love it. I love going to events like this. It's so nice to meet
07:41 other creatives, see what they're doing. It's a great atmosphere. Everyone's really friendly.
07:47 Yeah, it's just inspiring again. So are you thinking any hats made out of forks? Is that
07:52 something coming up? Maybe a fork brooch. Yes, detail. I do add lots of brooches and
07:58 things to my hats so you never know. Amazing. And is this something you've both done forever
08:04 or when did you sort of step into this creative environment? Me personally, I've been doing
08:09 it for 20 odd years ever since I left college. Yeah, I mean I've been working in the arts
08:16 since I left college too and I've done a lot of education work as well and do workshops
08:20 with young people and anybody really. It's like an open portfolio I suppose. You do all
08:27 kinds of different things. I still do education stuff and I do the hats. I like the mix of
08:32 working with people and doing my own thing and having my own stuff out there. It's nice
08:36 to do this event because you get to meet people and have conversations and talk about your
08:41 work. Yeah, definitely so. And that sort of inspiration carries through. What about how
08:45 accessible this is for people to start at home? Obviously it's where you both started.
08:49 It starts out with passion and a love and you say you work on sort of a more education
08:53 side as well. Well sometimes. I mean I'm self-employed so as a self-employed person you do lots of
08:59 different things to survive I suppose really. But I love making, I've always loved making.
09:06 I'm happiest when I'm making my own work really. And Fiona, have you found that because of
09:11 the cost of living crisis, because of the tightening on purse strings, do you find that
09:16 people don't sort of invest the money into the things that you guys create or how have
09:22 you found it? I've found that people probably maybe spend actually a little bit more but
09:28 spend but buy less. And so they're buying, want to buy pieces that have more meaning,
09:34 that are made with love, that are quality, that things that can be passed on. And they're
09:39 different as well I think. And unique pieces. They're unique and I think people, I mean
09:44 you're never going to meet yourself walking down the street in one of my hats or one of
09:48 your pieces of jewellery. So it's just different isn't it really. And how does the sort of
09:52 prices range for your hats firstly? What's the price range? My hat range is 50 up to
09:58 about 75. And can you do like commission pieces? Yeah I can make anything for people, anything
10:04 in any colour way they want. You know, just collaborate together and see what they'd like.
10:09 Because they're all unique pieces. And the process of how long does it take to make,
10:15 say this one for instance. Well I go to Yorkshire and buy the fabric. Wow, bit of a journey.
10:21 Well you know, you go and you source your fabric. Because somebody asked me this last
10:25 week. But I make all my linings one day maybe and then I'll cut out my patterns and work
10:31 out a pattern and then I'll sew up. So it's all done in different stages really. And that's
10:35 why people might look at the price and think that's more than they would spend but it reflects
10:40 the amount of work and effort that you've put into it. Fiona how about you, the necklace
10:45 you're wearing there, how long did that take to make? Well I made them in a big batch.
10:51 So it's probably about an hour. But obviously I'm going to antiques fairs, maybe car boot
10:58 sales. So I'm looking, I'm searching for pieces. But my work ranges from, at the market it
11:04 will be from like £15 for a key ring made from a piece of cutlery. Up to, this is 75,
11:12 up to 250 for a small little light. But generally everything is 100 or under. Do you make things
11:18 on commission as well? Can someone bring you there, cut the reset and you re-cut the pattern?
11:22 Absolutely, I've made pieces for people and they've bought me things, sentimental value,
11:27 maybe things that they're not looking at anymore, maybe something slightly broken. And we reinvent
11:32 it and breathe new life into it and it becomes a new treasure. Yeah because what do you do
11:37 with a fork? When you're done with the fork you can repurpose it into a necklace. What
11:40 a lovely idea. Thank you both so much for coming in, it's really great to see this and
11:44 best of luck at the fair this weekend. Thank you very much. That's all we've got time for
11:51 for this half of the show. I'll see you in a few minutes for more Made in Kent. See you
11:55 then.
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15:06 Hello and welcome back to Made in Kent live on KMTV. Now, restrictions remain in place
15:14 in Canterbury as four further cases of a potentially deadly virus have been found in cows. Until
15:20 this month there had been no cases of blue tongue in the UK since 2011. A 10km control
15:26 zone is in force but one of the county's only abattoirs is in the area. But as Gabriel
15:31 Morris reports, the industry is remaining quietly confident this will soon blow over.
15:37 Farmers across Kent already say it's a difficult time to remain in business and their cattle
15:43 could now be under threat. Five cows in Canterbury have contracted a rare viral infection and
15:50 that is spreading. Earlier this month blue tongue was identified for the first time in
15:57 12 years in the UK at a Canterbury farm. DEFRA has now confirmed an additional two farms
16:04 are impacted.
16:05 Here are some here. These are the ones we brought in this week to have a voluntary test
16:10 for blue tongue which our vet came and did and he will get the results this week and
16:15 we will know if we are in trouble or not. Restrictions on the movement of animals have
16:20 been introduced in the affected zones. This farm hopes it won't have to be expanded.
16:26 It would mean we would have to get a special licence to move them. So you can do that but
16:30 it's more paperwork which is always a pain because that's why I became a farmer because
16:35 I love the paperwork. So it is a pain from that point. You are restricted in what you
16:40 can do with them so when you are trying to move them around.
16:43 It might only be a 10km control zone but one of the county's only abattoirs is within
16:50 that zone.
16:51 Our only problem is trying to get our lambs to the abattoir which is inside the zone and
16:58 we need to get special dispensation and a special movement licence in order to bring
17:07 them into the zone purely to get them killed.
17:10 The UK has been free of blue tongue since 2011. The last major outbreak was in 2007
17:18 but evidence has been hit worse by the latest variant. The virus is spread by midges and
17:23 high winds are what's thought to have blown them to our county.
17:27 Steve's cows in Gravesend are probably safe. What we are seeing at the moment isn't being
17:32 classed as an outbreak. Experts say it will be though if it's found that midges are spreading
17:37 the virus around the county.
17:40 So there's some midge monitoring which is done by a separate independent company and
17:46 we know they don't like cold weather so we've had a couple of good frosts recently. I know
17:51 not everyone enjoys waking up around to the ice their car but certainly in the case of
17:55 blue tongue it's only a good thing really that we're seeing this cold snap at this time
17:59 at the moment.
18:00 The viral infection can also affect sheep, goats and deer but we've already had a frost
18:05 and temperatures are set to go below zero again this week and farmers are in a few hope
18:11 that that will kill the midges before the disease can spread.
18:15 Gabriel Morris for KMTV in Mepham.
18:21 Nominate rising stars, industry, trendsetters and unsung food heroes in the first Kent and
18:26 Medway Food and Drink Awards. The KM Media Group are celebrating the very best of Kent
18:31 and Medway's thriving industry. The nominations are now open but how can you get your favourite
18:37 foodies involved? Well to find out, Senior Editor for North and West Kent Matt Ramsden
18:42 joined me on Kent Tonight last week.
18:46 We're really excited to launch the awards. We have 12 categories across a variety of
18:52 things in terms of food and drink and to get the nominations coming in we set up a special
18:58 website where people can go on and nominate their favourite business.
19:02 So is there any, can it be a restaurant, can it be a takeaway business, what's the sort
19:06 of parameters?
19:07 I've got a list here because there's so many. I need to read them out because I can't remember
19:11 them off the top of my head. We've got a Beverage Producer of the Year, Hospitality Champion
19:15 Kent, Hotel of the Year, Chef of the Year, Farm Shop or Deli of the Year, Food Bank of
19:21 the Year, Food and Drink Hero, Street Food or Pop-Up of the Year, Restaurant of the Year,
19:26 Pub or Bar of the Year, Food Producer of the Year and finally Tea Room or Coffee Shop of
19:32 the Year.
19:33 I don't blame you for not remembering them all. So it really gives you an opportunity
19:36 to cover everybody in Kent that's producing anything food and drink.
19:41 We've got so many great businesses across the county who do such great work and with
19:46 the pandemic, recent years have been tough so we want to celebrate what's best in Kent
19:51 and really support these businesses and hopefully your viewers can support us do that.
19:56 Amazing and quite a niche there, you've got Food Bank of the Year on there too. That's
20:01 really important especially considering the current cost of living crisis.
20:04 It absolutely is. It might sound a bit odd to have them in there but the more we thought
20:09 about it, the more we wanted to shine a light on what they do and also give them as much
20:13 support as we can.
20:14 They certainly hold events too. It's not just somewhere to buy food, they sort of create
20:20 food. I know they did that in Canterbury at Diwali Festival recently. Just lastly, is
20:25 this going to be something we see year after year now? Is this the very beginning?
20:28 Well fingers crossed. I mean it's our first go at this. It's off to a great start so far
20:33 so yeah, watch this space.
20:37 Thanks Sinaita. Kent Company is on a mission to produce beautifully tropical ecosystems
20:41 in a jar. Well these are called terrariums. They've been around for some time and fascinated
20:46 indoor gardeners since the Victorian times. But the company Terrapiece says they're trying
20:51 to make their products with a minimal environmental impact. Well I'm pleased to say the founder,
20:56 Seb Tribe, joins me in the studio now. Seb, these look amazing.
20:59 Thank you.
21:00 Tell me, where did the idea come from? Why terrariums?
21:03 Oh my goodness. Well why terrariums is a very broad question but to try and keep it very
21:07 brief for you, we have a little bit of a problem in this country. Not so many people have gardens
21:14 as they used to and the choice is either we divvy out the outdoor space and give everyone
21:21 a plot, which would be great, but I don't think that's going to be made any time soon.
21:25 So we have to find ways that people can garden indoors and that's the place I think terrariums
21:29 have among other forms of indoor gardening.
21:33 And what does it take to look after a terrarium?
21:36 Surprisingly little, but not nothing. It's a common misconception actually that terrariums
21:42 look after themselves completely. There is an oft-cited example owned by a chap called
21:48 David Latimer, which was last watered in 1972. But it was built about ten years prior to
21:54 that and had a lot of time to stabilise before it was sealed. And it doesn't quite look as
21:59 aesthetically pretty as perhaps you might desire it to. So I'd say to keep everything
22:04 looking quite nice you'll need to water it probably every few months. A bit of ventilation
22:08 is great and then the odd trim keeps the plants from competing too much.
22:13 Amazing. And you make these all by hand? You make these all yourselves? Take me through
22:17 that process.
22:18 Yes, well they're all made by hand with responsibly sourced materials. As you said, we're trying
22:24 to do it with a low impact and we're trying to kind of accelerate our race to zero in
22:30 that effort. The vessels we have here are all contemporary, they're hand-blown recycled
22:35 glass. Obviously those come to us empty. All of the gravels are responsibly sourced in
22:42 the UK. We have soil made from a variety of industrial waste products, all very good for
22:48 plants though so don't worry. And then we try to get plants grown with as low impact
22:54 as we can. All of this is assembled by hand in such a manner that it will sustain into
23:01 the long term. If well cared for, particularly well placed, placement is probably the most
23:06 important consideration when looking after a terrarium.
23:09 What sort of tools do you use to place the plants in here? I imagine you have some sort
23:13 of variation of size of tweezer maybe? How do you place it so beautifully?
23:18 Long tweezers are very helpful. That said, the main thing that we do is provide workshops,
23:27 experiences, mainly with a view to getting people engaged with horticulture if perhaps
23:32 they don't normally have a routine. We do that at a very accessible price point. All
23:39 of the terrariums that we do on a widespread basis are designed to have an aperture large
23:45 enough that you can get your hand in quite easily, meaning that you can get your hands
23:49 in and plant with those. But long tweezers are very handy indeed and if you're planting
23:54 into a vessel with a very narrow aperture like the carboys that you might have seen
23:58 historically, then you want some very long tools indeed and I tend to have to fashion
24:04 my own. And you mentioned accessibility there as well.
24:08 How much do these, what's the price range for all the things you do, what we're seeing
24:13 on the table, but also those workshops you do too?
24:15 Yeah, so at Finished Terrariums we're only just starting to really roll out stocking
24:20 in shops through the UK and we'll come to in a minute probably talking about the way
24:24 that we're producing those. But the workshops, you can make these three, you can make this
24:32 one here for £35 and that's two hours learning all about how terrariums work, their fascinating
24:38 history, how they've affected everything from the price of tea to the rights of Victorian
24:43 women and then of course you will make one of your own under our guidance with everything
24:48 provided. So that's the small one. There's also an opt-in discount for people who are
24:54 hard up or on universal credit, full-time education, below band five on the NHS and
25:00 that all applies to the small one. You can make this medium one for £45 and you can
25:03 make this one for £65. This one we don't do in a class at the moment but we are doing
25:10 something I think in Ticehurst in the summer of next year so you can look out for that.
25:15 It's pretty impressive. Why is it so important? We talked at the beginning why terrariums
25:20 and why is it important to get people making it themselves? It's such a great idea to
25:26 get people hands on.
25:27 That's a really good question and I think it goes to our assumptions about what it takes
25:37 to be well. A lot of people look at a terrarium and they ask how does it work, how can plants
25:43 survive in this closed environment. Their needs haven't changed. They still need light,
25:47 they still need water, they still need nutrition, they need everything that they had outside.
25:54 Just like those plants, when we moved into our nice comfortable warm boxes, our needs
25:59 didn't change. We evolved out there and it would be wrong of us, even arrogant perhaps,
26:05 to assume that we've changed and diverged from our evolutionary needs. We have an intimate
26:12 connection with the natural world. All you need to do is look at the abundance of studies,
26:17 some of which have already probably been formed here at the University of Kent where we're
26:21 at, but all over the country, in particular the University of Exeter did some wonderful
26:25 studies on it. Looking at the impact of nature on mental health, you can take that line of
26:34 studies, you can look at the impact of horticulture, of gardening on mental health and it starts
26:39 to become quite clear why it's important. Bring that indoors.
26:42 Thank you so much for coming on the show. That's all we've got time for. Goodbye everybody.
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