New online print shop celebrates Sunderland's distinctive dialect and buildings

During lockdown Ben Deacon and partner Sarah Metcalfe launched Maneiro Store from their Ryhope home, designing statement wall art with a local twist to brighten up people’s homes.

With more of a focus on online shopping and decorating homes in lockdown, it’s meant that the fledgling business has proved popular.

Speaking about how the new business venture came about, Ben said: “We’ve always been involved in arts and culture. I’ve been in bands over the years and used to DJ in Sunderland so I’ve always mixed with artists. The shop is something we’ve wanted to do for a while, then during lockdown we got some test prints done and put a post online asking if anyone was interested in them and they went instantly.

"So it went from there: we built a website, designed the prints ourselves and got an ordering system in place.”

Products for sale include ‘Greetings from Sun’Lun’ and ‘Greetings from The Toon’ postcards, as well as prints featuring local sayings such as ‘alreet pet’ and ‘why aye’, as well as non-Northern themed pieces. Customers can also order personalised prints with their choice of name, date or phrase.

There’s also a series of abstract prints for sale, including some which are based on photos Ben has taken of Sunderland Civic Centre and its distinctive ‘60s architecture.

The couple say they’d like to expand the range and look at the possibility of a pop-up shop in Sunderland should the steady stream of orders continue.

"We started in June and it went nuts in the first few weeks,” Ben said. “It’s settled really well now and we have a constant flow of orders. I think in lockdown everyone was doing DIY because they were in their homes so much. People really like to personalise their homes too, with dates and names, to really put their own stamp on their home."

The pair named the store Maneiro after the Portuguese word for cool, as well as Tony Manero, John Travolta’s cool character from hit film Saturday Night Fever.

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Sunderland Echo website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here. Thank you.