*How long has your market been running?
The Olive Tree Market is Newcastle’s Dedicated Art & Design Market and home to over 100 creative minds!! I started Olive tree in 2008 with my co-creators Bec & Ally. I have been running the market on my own since July 2012 when my partners moved on to their new enterprise One Penny Black which is a funky little café in the centre of Newcastle. I now get to be responsible for the whole creative enterprise that is Olive Tree, which is fantastic, and a little scary, at the same time!!

*What made you decide to start the market?
My daughter started school in 2008 and within the first few weeks I met sisters Bec Thomson and Ally Buchanan whose kids had also started at The Junction public school. We found out very quickly that we all love markets, had similar creative interests and couldn’t believe that a city like Newcastle that had such a strong community of artists and designers didn’t have a high quality market.

Within a few weeks we had decided to start an art & design market in the grounds of the Junction public School, which reminded us of the settings for Paddington, Glebe and Rozelle markets in Sydney, and had chosen the name based on the grand old Olive Tree in the school grounds.

The Olive Tree Market was born!! We spent the next few months advertising for stallholders, throughout the local community, holding viewings/interviews, and creating our artwork and generally becoming obsessed with all things markets!!!

Our first market was in October 2008 and it was a massive success. It was amazing how they community responded and how many people really wanted to support the whole handmade concept and buy from local artisans rather than buying mass produced made in China goods from large retailers.

*Type of products sold at your market?
We have a very eclectic group of stallholders which is one of the reasons I think Olive Tree has been so successful!! Our application process requires that all stallholders create high quality contemporary handmade art and design products.

We have a really strong mix of artists & designers: printmakers, jewellers, fashion, ceramics, home wares, wood work, painters, illustrators, wearable art, recycled goods, children’s clothing and toys, textile arts and more!!

We also encourage emerging artists to apply and support these stallholders to develop their work and become successful stallholders. We also have recently grown our handmade gourmet produce section which includes: olive & olive oils and vinegar, jams, jellies and preserves, dukkahs, macaroons, boutique cupcakes, organic chai & teas and more!

Getting the balance to the mix of stalls is really important and while we would love to accept all applicants this isn’t possible.

*Number of stalls at your markets?
Around 100 stalls per market each month.

*Locations and how often your markets run?
The Olive Tree Market is held at The Junction Public School, Union St, The Junction 2291 on the first Saturday of the month. We hold the market more often in the lead up to Christmas each year.

*Anything else you’d like to share about your market?
The Olive Tree Market has grown from strength to strength over the last 31/2 years and is now known as the handmade Market in Newcastle and The Hunter. As well as having a very strong local following we now have lots of visitors from Sydney, The Central Coast, The North Coast and tourists to the region. We also have buyers from other cities come to Olive Tree to source unique work and snap up work from emerging artists before they become too well known!

Olive Tree is a great environment for artists to forge relationships with their contemporaries, to develop their work, to find out what the public respond to and Olive Tree often presents new opportunities to the stallholders. A number of the Olive Tree Market stallholders are now part of a Renew Newcastle Co-operative call Makespace, others are now stocked in galleries or shops and a number of stallholders have made the transition from the market to supporting themselves fulltime from their art.

The wider community of Newcastle have really taken The Olive Tree Market to heart and are really supportive of the market. People love coming to Olive Tree for a number of hours and sometimes for the day!! It’s different to any other event in the area. The grounds of the school are really beautiful with big old trees and gardens and visitors enjoy wandering through the grounds, meeting with friends and family, looking at unique work and talking with the makers, listening to great music from local musicians and eating delicious food from many cultures.

2012 will be about growth on many plains. Creating new areas at Olive Tree- initially focusing on emerging artists & designers. We will expand our gourmet handmade artisan food section, which has really started to take off, and we have some delicious new stallholders, which are proving extremely popular. I really need an artisan baker if you know one!! Oh and I always encourage creative people who have a new idea and interesting work to get in contact!!

I’m also working on a few big ideas for the market but I’ve learnt from experience to not announce this until everything is locked in!! We have a great new partnership that started at our April Market!! Lizottes will be at every market organising the music and we will have a great line up of musicians who will play throughout the day. This is fantastic as we have always had great local acts but now Lizottes will be organising the it which means we will have more acts and a more professional set up which is really exciting and I don’t have to worry as it’s in the hands of very experienced people!!

Justine Gaudry – The Olive Tree Market