Why Shopping Local Matters at Christmas

As Christmas approaches, the search begins for gifts that feel special, thoughtful, and full of meaning. For small creative businesses like Da Craft Shed and Jade Crafts Shetland, this season is more than festive lights and busy days — it’s a lifeline that helps us thrive, grow, and continue bringing local creativity to the community.

Your Support Lifts Up an Entire Community

When you shop with local makers, you’re not just purchasing a product — you’re supporting real people right here in Shetland. Every sale helps cover materials, keeps the doors open, and encourages makers to keep doing what they love. Da Craft Shed alone supports over twenty local crafters, each bringing their own skills, stories, and creativity.

For many small businesses, the Christmas season helps carry us through the quieter months, ensuring we can keep creating well into the new year.

Gifts with Heart, Character, and a Story

Whether it’s a hand-felted bag, an embroidered artwork, a unique mug, a polymer-clay button set, or a cosy Shetland-made gift, each piece in Da Craft Shed and Jade Crafts Shetland has a story woven into it. Many items are inspired by Shetland’s landscapes, wildlife, and traditions — gifts that simply can’t be found anywhere else.

These are the presents people remember.

Keeping Shetland’s Creativity Alive

Choosing to shop local keeps money circulating in Shetland’s economy. It supports families, encourages new makers to start their journey, and helps keep creative spaces thriving — including Da Craft Shed, where so many brilliant crafters find a home for their work.

The more we support our local makers, the more we ensure that Shetland’s artistic heritage continues for generations to come.

A Kinder, More Sustainable Christmas

Local gifts avoid long transport miles, unnecessary packaging, and mass manufacturing. Most makers craft with care, choosing materials responsibly and producing in small batches.

It’s a more mindful way to celebrate the season — thoughtful for you, and thoughtful for the planet.

Thank You for Supporting Local

Whether you pop into Da Craft Shed, browse Jade Crafts Shetland online, visit a Christmas fair, or choose something handmade from a Shetland maker, your support means the world. It keeps our doors open, our shelves filled, and our creative community thriving.

This Christmas, let’s celebrate the makers, the dreamers, and the tiny businesses that bring something truly unique to Shetland.

Thank you for choosing local. Thank you for supporting creativity. And thank you for helping keep our little corner of the world special.