About Us: Craftelicious

CRAFTELICIOUS is a new cafe-cum-craft centre that dedicates itself to parents and their kids. Situated in one of Chorlton's family-friendly streets this new resident can make an artist out of anyone, or so it seems. Its owners, Mirage and Safina Islam opened its doors only a few months ago and are already seeing a positive response.

Although Safina is originally from Manchester, the couple lived and worked in London for many years, Safina as a scientist working within the health sector and Mirage in Digital Media. The couple have two girls, aged four and seven.

Kids Confidential talk to Safina about her and her husbands new family business venture.

DM: How did Craftelicious come about?
SI:The further up the career ladder you climb, the less time you have to spend with your family. You lose touch not only with your family but with the things that surround you. You don't have to do anything anymore as your PA does it all for you. I wanted to get more hands-on and go back to basics. We decided to up sticks and move from London to Manchester to escape the rat race and put our dreams into motion. My family live here so it was an easy decision.

DM: Have you always been into arts and crafts?
SI: I have always done arts and crafts at home with my children since they were very young. I'm not from a formal artistic background but it just came naturally to me. As Mirage's previous job was to help brands understand trends, we applied his knowledge and my love for craft to our business.

DM: And what crafts can I expect to do?
SI: It does depend on what workshop or club you come to but our main activities are ceramic painting and Decopatch. Decopatch is when you paste and varnish paper cut outs to decorate objects. The paper can be stuck to any kind of surface including metal, wood, papermache and ceramics. We also use Americana ceramic paints which don't require firing in a kiln, you just paint straight onto the surface.  We provide the boxes and shapes to paint and paste onto.

DM:So what makes your business stand-out?
SI: We are the first cafe and craft centre in Chorlton. From around £6 you can try a craft out, which you may have not done before and leave with something hand-made. It's very satisfying and can be really relaxing plus you get to take your creation home to keep or give to someone as a gift. Despite the fact that its not physical exercise, the kids are tired once they have done one of the sessions.  But the other real bonus is that we clear up all the mess.

DM: Who comes here?
SI: We have something to suit everyone and all age groups. There's a drop in facility where you can come into the cafe for a drink and try an activity out and then there’s the various workshops and clubs like craft club for ages seven plus, crafty tots for the younger kids, structured craft workshops that teach traditional and modern craft skills, the evening craft lounge for people to meet like–minded people and chat - and of course we cater for private parties including hen do's, baby showers and birthdays. One of our regular events involves a group of students.

DM: And what does the future hold?
SI: We currently offer cakes and hot drinks (including a kids hot chocolate which goes down a storm) but I have just completed an NVQ in food hygiene so hope to move into catering for lunchtimes too. We are happy with the response we have had so far, people have been very positive. Despite the fact we have done little advertising we're growing in popularity and that's down to word of mouth.

The idea to mix family and business isn't always advised but it's really working for us. We spend more time together and get to do what we enjoy. The whole family benefits from it.

 
Craftelicious
127 Oswald Road
Cholrton-Cum-Hardy
M21 9GE

Opening times: Tuesday – Sunday, 9.30am – 6pm
Closed Mondays
www.crafteliciousuk.com