Are you after a patchwork cushion to add a little Chloé-type charm to your sitting room? Perhaps you’re hankering after a new sweater for your iPod, or maybe you don’t know what you want, just that it has to be so-this-season cobalt blue.

Shopping online for handmade one-offs used to be a chore on sites the size of eBay, but the cyber-marketplace Etsy (www.etsy.com) is shaking things up by bringing an alternative village-fête vibe to the internet.

The US-based website was set up by four designer friends in a Brooklyn apartment just over a year ago and now represents 40,000 designer-makers worldwide who have 250,000 customers. Crucially, its approach is more in step with the kind of girl who goes out for a pint of milk and comes back with a pair of Kurt Geiger wedges — there’s much more scope for spontaneity and serendipity on Etsy. Using the colour-picker tool, for example, will throw up anything from a retro lamp shade to a pompom-topped tea cosy in that perfect shade of burnt orange.

Better still, you can commission one-offs via the Alchemy page. Just post specifications of what you’d like and how much you’re prepared to pay, and wait for designers to pitch for business.

Although Etsy began as an American enterprise, it now also represents a host of UK-based designers, including the jeweller Swank, and Mean Jean (check out her bingo-chip fridge magnets). But there are plenty of smaller websites selling home-grown, handmade wares — I couldn’t leave the Glasgow collective Miso Funky’s site (www.misofunky.com) without commissioning a pair of knitted piglet baby bootees, while Bristol’s www.thingsfromhere.co.uk wooed me with posters of Cody Hudson’s street art. For jewellery, Leona Baker’s www.ladyluckrulesok.com is a must (Mischa Barton and Daisy Lowe are fans).

As a buyer, the idea of owning a one-off without having to trawl through markets or infiltrate a cool crowd is superbly seductive. For designers, it’s an inexpensive route to selling direct. From either side of the fence, there’s very little not to like.

1 Retro rainbow drum lamp shade, about £22, by Hunkydory, from www.etsy.com

2 Bonaza Comic Chair, £150, by Bombus, from www.notonthehighstreet.com

3 Blossom and Butterflies cushion, £60, by Claire Nicolson, from www.notonthehighstreet.com

4 Retro rainbow cushion cover, about £13, by Hunkydory, as before

5 Melted record bowl, £4.50, from www.misofunky.com

6 Mr & Mrs pillowcases, £20, by Twisted Twee, from www.notonthehighstreet.com

7 Bingo fridge magnets, about £4 for six, by Mean Jean, from www.etsy.com

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