Instead of giving a Black Friday discount, we’ll be donating 10% of proceeds from online orders placed this weekend to The Make Bank.

The Make Bank work with schools and young people across the UK to help provide materials, support and inspiration for pupils who want to follow creative careers.

Founder of The Make Bank Kirsty Thomas (above) speaks about the project below:

"I am a former art and design teacher and the founder and director of design studio, Tom Pigeon. I am lucky and privileged to run my own company and to work with amazing people, clients and spaces around the world. I love being creative, I am grateful for how it makes me feel and I love my job but I am also aware that I design for a small section of society and those people are pretty affluent. This doesn’t sit comfortably with me.

At the end of 2018 I started to research ways to build more “social good” into our business and whilst looking for organisations to work with came across some facts and figures that I couldn’t get out of my head. These challenging statistics are the foundation of The Make Bank.

In the UK more than 33% of children are currently living in poverty and in some areas this figure reaches a staggering 62%. An increasing number of young people are dropping out of creative subjects at school because they don’t have, and can’t afford, the materials they need to complete basic coursework or don’t recognise the scope of opportunity that exists in the creative industries."

"The Make Bank provides Art and Design Kits for disadvantaged pupils who want to pursue creative education and a creative career. Our kits support pupils studying GCSE, A Level, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications and we have created five subject-specific kits which cover art, design, photography, textiles and ceramics. We also provide portfolio cases for some students applying to art courses at university. Our basic kit list includes high quality materials like drawing and colouring pencils, paints, rubber, sharpener, glue, and pastels."

Kirsty also works with other industry professionals to share inspiring stories, creative journeys and career advice. And proceeds from The Make Bank’s Print Project go towards providing material kits for school children.

We're very proud to support such an amazing project. So this Black Friday weekend enjoy shopping our our website whilst supporting the next creative generation!

And if you'd like to make a donation to The Make Bank directly - please click here: www.themakebank.org.uk/shop