Simply Divine Things, Brighouse | Independent Gift Shop Photography for Brighouse BID
Last month I took on one of my favourite projects in a long time. Brighouse BID asked me to photograph 36 businesses across the town. I wasn't there for tidy shopfronts and a few product shots. The brief was to tell the story of each business through the people who run it.
That's my kind of job. Shops don't make a town worth visiting. The people in them do.
Walking into Simply Divine Things
You don't so much walk into Simply Divine Things as get pulled in. Every wall and shelf has something on it. Cushions, candles, prints, mugs, jams, chocolate, gin, and cards fill the space, and somehow it doesn't feel cluttered. It feels like someone has picked every single thing on purpose.
There's a gentle bit of colour everywhere you look. The Stoneglow candles were on 20% off when I visited, so if you're reading this soon, get yourself down there.
A shelf full of Yorkshire
If you're from round here, the mugs will get you first. "Be reyt." "Norra nutha chuffin mug!" "Ey up." They're from JAM Artworks, and you'll see a lot of them in the shop.
They're the kind of thing you buy as a present and then keep for yourself. The coasters and badges carry the same humour: "mardy bum", "reyt good teacher", and a New York Shire coaster that I found amusing.
The local feel goes well beyond the dialect. Bejojo Art's prints of the Piece Hall and Wainhouse Tower sit alongside a Yorkshire Tea tin that every one of us has had in a kitchen cupboard at some point. One of the Bloomin' Yorkshire calendars even gives Brighouse its own flower: dahlias.
There's also gin and ready-made cocktails from Bytchmix, distilled and bottled in Yorkshire, with proper wax-sealed tops. They make a better present than another bottle from the supermarket.
Made by hand, not by the pallet
What struck me most is how much of the stock comes from small makers. The crochet animals from Paw in Hand Crafts are the sort of thing you can't stop picking up. There's a turtle in every colour, a sausage dog in a jumper, and little "Pocket Hugs" for when someone needs one.
Alongside them you'll find the brighter, giftier pieces, like Belly Button Designs' "Lovely Friend" candles, pens in tubes and pocket mirrors. It's an easy place to sort a birthday present in ten minutes and look like you thought about it for a week.
The bit customers don't see
This is the part I didn't expect. Behind the shop floor is a working studio with an industrial sewing machine, rolls of fabric and a heat press. Kirsty makes and alters allsorts of products.
I love photographing this sort of thing. Hands at work tell you more about a business than any mission statement.
Upstairs is a heating press where they can print their own t-shirts. I watched her line up a little bird print on a lilac T-shirt with the kind of care you only get from someone who actually cares how it turns out.
The people behind the counter
Back out front, Kirsty was straightening displays between customers and chatting to everyone who came through the door. Getting a shot of her not smiling would have been harder than getting one where she was.
Why I photograph businesses this way
Anyone can photograph a shelf. What I'm after is the reason people come back, and in a small shop that's nearly always the person behind the counter.
This project for Brighouse BID was about showing that side of the town. Brighouse has a high street full of people who've put everything into what they do, and they deserve photos that show it.
f you're anywhere near Brighouse, pop into Simply Divine Things.
If you run a business in Brighouse, Calderdale or anywhere across West Yorkshire and want photos that show the people behind it, get in touch. I'd love to hear what you do.
More from the Brighouse BID series coming soon.