Granny Would be Proud

Granny Would be Proud is a fabulous vintage and craft fair held in Glasgow once a month.  I caught up with its fabulous organisor Fred as part of my series of interviews with local crafters...

Name: Granny Proud (Actually Frederique Villain..yes..really :)

From: La Seyne sur mer, France

Favourite colour: All of them

Favourite animal: The cat… It always lands on its feet no matter what!

Favourite band: The Slits (only found out recently what it translated as.!!)

Favourite book: Angela’s Ashes .. Even in the worst of times there is still humour to get you going.

What is Granny would be proud? A vintage and craft fair that takes place every month, it brings a very fashionable Glasgow all under one roof.

How did you get started? Around a cup of tea with friends, chatting about vintage clothing and markets in France. And see how we could spend a day all together having some fun and doing crafts.

Is this what you do full time? Nope, I also work as a receptionist. Not as glamourous but it pays the bills.

How do you choose your vendors/promote? I tend to make sure to stick to the vintage and retro theme. The event is mainly promoted via our Facebook and also word of mouth, but you’ll see me on Byres road or in town chasing after people handing out flyers and also some shop owners are happy to display our poster.

What has been your favourite Granny Proud moment so far? When we opened up for the first time.. I didn’t sleep much the night before, I was so worried that no one would show up! But an hour before we opened up we already had a queue of people waiting to get in!

What are the challenges of organising an event like this? Well you would think that a month is plenty of time to get yourself organised but when you have a full time job on the side and no internet at home then things can get quiet tight. You have to liaise with about 30 sellers, come up with a flyer, design the flyer, do some marketing, manage the facebook, come up with a table plan, make sure all goes well on the day, and make sure you have time to chat to everyone.. I do love every step of it though!

What makes Glasgow the right place for your events? Well there’s not that many markets around and people always look for something fun to do at the week end, something that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.. So here we are!

Tell me something surprising about you: I used to be super shy at school, and I used to be bullied because of my name, (Yep Villain isn’t that great of a name he!?) but that actually helped me to become who I am today.  I’m a bit of a clown, I can chat to anyone and I will never judge anyone by their cover.

Konnie and Mr Kapow! will be among the vendors at Granny Would be Proud on 3rd July!  See you there!