Our Founder
At the heart of The Artisan Founder is Lyndsey James, a brand consultant with 20 years of experience working alongside artisan businesses and navigating the online business world with her own brands.
Lyndsey’s journey is one of passion, dedication, and a deep-seated belief in the power of collaboration.
hello
Welcome. You’ve found yourself in the other about page. The one that will tell you more about our mission.
You see, this website isn’t about me, or us; the small but perfectly formed team behind the scenes who are busy tapping away on our computers to make this thing happen. That’s why you won’t see my name and face on every page.
It’s about the Founders, we made this for them.
As the founder of The Artisan Founder, my journey here has been driven by a single, unwavering mission: to elevate artisan brands above the overwhelming noise of the online marketplace.
It’s what I do in my day job, working as a freelance e-commerce consultant, following 20 years of launching my own high street and online ventures.
In a world where automation and mass production are the norms, I’ve seen first hand the challenges that true artisan brands face.
It’s not just about getting noticed; it’s about being appreciated for the craftsmanship, the creativity, and the human touch that goes into each product.
It’s also about being elevated and recognised, in a world of dupes and copycats, as the true pioneers – the originals.
I founded this platform with a vision to celebrate pioneering artisans without compromising their hard-earned profits.
Unlike typical online marketplaces who take a cut from sales in the form of commission, we’ve taken a different approach.
We feature brands for free in our Journal and charge a monthly fee for inclusion in our Marketplace & Directory, directing shoppers straight to the artisan’s own storefront.
This ensures that when a customer falls in love with a product, every penny goes directly to the person/company who created it.
It’s a model built on fairness, respect, and genuine support.
Quality is the common thread linking the brands we feature.
Creating a fair platform where Artisan brands large or small, old or new, get equal exposure alongside each other in search results has always been at the core of this creation.
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the artisans
The Artisan Founder isn’t just a marketplace for discovery; it’s a community. A collaborative community of brands mutually benefiting from featuring alongside each other and from the wider pool of like-minded consumers who visit a marketplace.
In this age of machines, there’s a growing yearning among consumers for something human-made.
A desire for items that carry a story, a piece of the maker’s heart and soul.
This is what customers seek, and it’s what we’re passionate about delivering.
At The Artisan Founder, we’re not just connecting buyers and sellers; we’re also rekindling the love for craftsmanship and uniqueness in a digital world.
We’re here to navigate the noisy online world together, ensuring that quality, creativity, and humanity stand above all.
The journey of The Artisan Founder is more than a business venture for me; it’s a personal mission.
A mission to support and celebrate the artisans who make our world a little more beautiful, one handmade item at a time.
Thank you.
Thank you to the early-adopters who are sending us their wonderful Founder stories (we already have a waiting list!) and having faith by joining the marketplace at the start of our journey.
Thank you also to the kind words flooding in from consumers who are delighted to have found a new place to look when seeking something special.
Also I must say thank you to the founders who have so kindly gifted products for us to try, this has been an unexpected yet heart-warming response to our mission. Who knew I would get so emotional about a bottle of body oil.
Lyndsey James, Founder.
LYNDSEY JAMES IS A BRAND CONSULTANT ON A MISSION AND HAS featured AS AN expert for:
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