The market has had more a local artisan feels in recent years.
Dodo has been trading at the market for the past nine years.(Image: Supplied)
Edinburgh Christmas Markets traders say the event acts as a vital lifeline for small independent artists.
The markets have changed a lot over the years, and are currently more intimate and filled with more unique small business stalls, reports Edinburgh Live.
In the past locals and tourists would often complain about Christmas stalls selling the same items imported from China but now there is more of a local artisan market feel about the place.
Norwegian Kari Yitterdal, 60, of Kari Ceramics, produces handmade stoneware ceramics in her Amsterdam studio, has set up shop at the Edinburgh markets every year for the past ten years. She said the trade is integral to her business and something she heavily relies on.
Dodo has been trading at the market for the past nine years.(Image: Supplied)
“This is one of my main pillars,” she said. “I do work online and work with restaurants – standing on three legs – and this is one of the main legs. I’d be much smaller without this.
“For me being here, with the beautiful people who come here, it is great for marketing. I’m giving out my card and explaining what I do. I get business online throughout the year from these markets.
“It is really important for me. Brexit of course made it more complicated, I have to pay import taxes, which means it costs more to get my products in. There is no way around it but it is worth it.
“The length of the markets is really important. It means it is worth doing all the logistics and shipping my pieces across. If it was cut back at all, I would have to consider coming back, as it is a lot of work to get it here.”
Kari takes inspiration from Norwegian landscapes. She described her vocation as her passion and how she takes pride in being able to sell her work in Edinburgh. She described how she has fallen in love with the city and its people but also how the markets have evolved.
The Edinburgh Christmas markets have opened. (Image: Supplied)
“The markets were much bigger but it is now cut down and intimate,” she said. “There are more independent traders now.
“Over the last couple of years you have seen more local producers making their own things. “The markets have become smaller, you don’t see the same stall over and over again like in the past, with items imported from China, all of that has disappeared.
“I describe Edinburgh as a magic city. It is filled with and visited by beautiful people. Each year I come back and stay at an apartment which is rented out by a loyal couple, without it, it would be difficult to come back each year.
“For anyone looking to visit the markets, I would say I’m selling something that is hand crafted and really organic. It is truly unique and you do not find it anywhere else.
“I am super passionate about what I do. I have been doing it for 35 years.”
Dodo Flugge, 46, of Diedododa, moved to Edinburgh from Germany around 25 years ago. She has been coming to the markets for the past nine years.
Producing prints, homewares and jewellery amongst other products, Dodo describes her stall as being loved by both locals and tourists. She also spoke of how important the markets were for her when she first started out.
“It is a really important part of our yearly income,” she said. “It would be a shame if we ever lost it.
“We are in the permanent makers market in Tron church, and here – these are our only stand points outside of our website.
“We try to keep it tight and small. It is just myself, a business partner and two part-time members. We are a slow and steady base business which makes the markets perfect for us.
Dode produces prints, homewares and jewellery.(Image: Supplied)
“This is a really good place to come as a small independent business. It is weird when we first started it was massive and we were not in a great position. We did not know what to expect, it was scary, it costs a decent amount to rent a space here but I think that is fair enough because you are effectively on Princes Street.
“But the cost to rent a space has honestly not changed too much in ten years. I always felt we could come back. The first year was a learning curve, and I thought so long as we break even, but to be fair we made a profit even then. In any market to make a profit is a positive.
“I’ve gone to smaller craft markets for a day or two, which can be hit and miss, because organisers can vary. This being seven weeks is great.”
Dodo stated she loved the atmosphere and the sense of community between traders. She admits it is hard graft and exhausting 12-hour-days, seven-days-a-week, for seven weeks.
She said a lot of the traders who return each year are due to their success, having good items and in her case, being present. Dodo has used her decade of experience to learn how visitors interact with her art, often adapting each year to match consumer behaviours.
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Despite her love for the markets, she accepts the event has a divisive element with locals.
“I love the markets,” she said. “Not as a visitor, I don’t like crowds, but the thing is you have your little hut, and within reason you can do what you like, and it is your space.
“I will come every year until I can’t. The atmosphere I really like but whenever you see something about the xmas markets, online or on Facebook, the comments are slating it, calling it a rip off.
“There are a lot of complaints about the stalls being the same but that was in the past, new stuff is being brought every year.
“There has been a stigma from the past, whether it is due to how busy it is, but I thinking you don’t have to participate unless you want to. I completely understand why some locals have been angered by it in the past, especially when it was all built up.
“The year it came about there being no planning permission, I understand the negativity. It is also fine if people do not like it, not everyone will like the same thing.
“But these markets do give a chance for independent traders to build something outside of the big companies.
“It is also nice as it sets us up for the year to get through the difficult months after Christmas.”