Connections are the art of the matter

When Big Issue vendor Dave Martin sells his art, it’s a “very personal thing”. “People don’t just put anything in their homes,” the Hammersmith seller says. “They have to think about the decor, and how it will look. You can’t just pick any old print. I like to think of [my art] going into people’s houses. That feels good.”

Dave has been selling Big Issue since 2010, and the magazine is his livelihood. But art is his passion. And thanks to his refurbished phone – provided through Big Issue’s groundbreaking partnership with giffgaff – he can reach a wider audience than ever.

He uses card and Blu Tack to assemble “geometric abstract collages out of coloured cards,” before creating postcard prints of the vibrant originals. And Dave uses his refurbished giffgaff phone – which also allows him to take cashless payments for magazines – to showcase and sell his eye-catching designs to customers.

“Rather than get all my prints out, I’ll take a photograph and show them on the screen of my phone,” he says. “Because if you get a single drop of rain, a whole design can be ruined. Selling the art is a feeling of being proud that you’ve created something that people really like… the phone makes it easy. They can just tap.”

Life hasn’t always been easy for the London vendor. Dave moved down to the capital from the Midlands as a young man, after a childhood spent in care homes and foster placements. He fell on hard times – but finding Big Issue helped him pick himself back up. “It’s the best thing I ever did,” he enthuses. “I’d probably still be on the street without it.”

Dave’s artistic journey began in 2016, while undertaking a work placement organised by Big Issue. He started drawing on his lunch break, “just doodling shapes”. “Then I’d put colour to them,” he recalls. “All these images came flooding out, all these shapes and colours.” Over the course of a year, he created more than 60 unique designs.

He hasn’t stopped since. “The design, the shape, and the colours, it all has to work together,” he says. “I’m very focused, I’m very particular when I’m doing the shapes. You can’t rush into these things, or the angle will be wrong.”

Dave was connected with a giffgaff phone last year, after accidentally leaving his backpack on the tube and losing his passport and card reader. But the phone from giffgaff got him “back in the game”.

He was one of the first vendors to benefit from the Big Issue and giffgaff partnership. During an initial trial period, the partnership connected 250 of our sellers with devices. Boosting their magazine sales by an average of 30%, it can mean up to an extra £520 per year in the pockets of Big Issue vendors, helping increase their earning potential and making it easier for customers to buy the magazine.*

Now, giffgaff and Big Issue are rolling out devices to magazine sellers across the UK, helping them to adapt to a changing sales landscape. According to YouGov, three-quarters of adults (74%) now use cash only “occasionally or rarely” – so vendors without cashless capabilities miss out.

But the giffgaff handsets are about much more than just increasing earnings. They’re also enabling vendors to connect to their passions, like Dave, to build friendships in their local communities, to manage their health and wellbeing and to stay in touch with the people and things they love most.

James Allerton – a seller in Derbyshire – uses it to check his blood sugars via a diabetes blood monitoring app. He describes it as a “lifeline”. London vendor Dorina can now video call home to Romania to update her mother on her pregnancy. And hundreds more are gaining access to learning and training opportunities to improve their digital skills and confidence.

For Dave, the refurbished device is “just fantastic”. It helps him to learn about the art world, too. After a customer compared his art to French artist Henri Matisse, he searched online to learn more – and was inspired.

“At the end of his life [Matisse] started doing paper cutouts because he couldn’t use his hands to paint any more,” he says. “I looked him up and found that out… one of mine looks like one of his, something called The Snail. I’ve got it on a fridge magnet now.”

Dave has amassed an enviable artistic CV, featuring in several exhibitions – including one at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery. “Can you guess the most famous gallery in Chelsea?” he says. “That was another really proud moment.”

But, he says, exhibitions aren’t the best part. The best part is seeing a customer’s face “light up” when they get their print.

“When I bring it for them to collect, and take it out of the envelope, the look on their face – happiness is not the word, you know. They’re so chuffed to see it in person. When someone likes what you’ve made, that’s something special.”

Every print Dave sells is more than just a piece of art – it’s a moment of connection. And with every new design, every proud customer, and every tap of a card reader, he knows he’s on the right path.

“The advice I give to everyone who is setting up doing art or crafts or anything – you might get people who put you down, but there will be people who will like it,” he says. “Don’t let anyone put you off when you’re doing some art.”

Find out how giffgaff are up to good at giffgaff.com

You can also buy Dave’s art at homelessmade.co.uk/collections/by-dave

*Research conducted by Big Issue’s Impact Team