UK crafts world rocked after ‘crude reference to rival’ in word search

Now that is crafty! Sedate world of crafts is rocked as ‘crude insult to rival’ appears in hobby magazine’s word search puzzle

  • EXCLUSIVE: Create & Craft and The Hochanda Network key rivals in craft market
  • This week’s magazine contained the swear word ‘c***’ followed by the letters VK 
  • Hochanda accept it could be a mistake but are concerned this was a reference to one of their company directors 
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The cosy world of arts and crafts has been rocked after a four-letter insult apparently aimed at a rival appeared in a hobby magazine’s word search. 

Bad feelings appear have come to a head in the latest edition of Create & Craft Magazine after the word ‘c***’ cropped up in the puzzle. This was followed by the letters ‘VK’, which are initials of a director of its main rival, The Hochanda Network.

Both companies are locked in a battle for the eyeballs of the millions-strong crafting community of Britain to watch their Freeview channels.


Bad feelings appear have come to a head in the latest edition of Create & Craft Magazine after the word ‘c***’ cropped up in the puzzle. This was followed by the letters ‘VK’, which are initials of a director of its main rival, The Hochanda Network

The channels show experts making a range of crafts from greeting cards to sophisticated painting techniques, and mainly cater to older women. They then sell products off the back of the TV presentations.

The man behind the Create & Craft organisation is media entrepreneur Jamie Martin, who became CEO of its parent company, Ideal Shopping Direct, in December 2018. 

Mr Martin used to be CEO of Hochanda but left two years ago after its millionaire owner Paul Wright and his business partner Val Kaye decided it was time for new management. 

Mr Wright accused Mr Martin of being ‘bitter and disaffected’ following his dismissal and suggested the crude word search clue was latest stage of a revenge campaign.

He told MailOnline: ‘In the middle of that word search is the word “c****”. It’s right in the middle.

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‘Then alongside that are the two letters VK – those are the initials of my business partner, Valerie K, who Jamie absolutely hates.

‘The chances of that swear word appearing there by chance is very small. But then the words VK… it’s clear what’s going on.’

Mr Wright claimed his former CEO had been wrongly suggesting that the company was about to go out of business.

‘I’m a big boy who’s been in the business for a long time, I can live with it,’ Mr Wright said. 

‘But this has crossed a red line.’




The Hochanda Channel founders Paul Wright and Val Kaye (left) and Jamie Martin, the CEO of Ideal Shopping Direct, which owns Create & Craft

He added: ‘This is a very cosy world, but now this has become personal. It’s a very offensive word and used against a woman. I cannot think this is anything other than deliberate, Jamie’s got the red mist.

‘So I’m extremely cross and upset. I’m also concerned about the impact this could have on my fantastic staff and our wonderful customers.’

A spokesman for Hochanda told MailOnline: ‘We are aware of the recently published word search by Create & Craft.

‘Whilst we understand this may have been an oversight, we are also aware that there is software available to ensure such mistakes are not made, software we would assume is being used by Create & Craft when publishing on such a scale.’

The spokesman noted that Mr Martin was previously CEO of Hochanda before being appointed to the same role at Ideal Shopping Direct, which owns Create & Craft.

‘Since December 2018, an aggressive disruption campaign has been launched by Create & Craft to negatively impact Hochanda’s trading prospects in 2019,’ he said.

‘Whilst we understand the above mentioned could have been a mistake, we do see the connected use of the initials of one of the founding directors of Hochanda to be very unprofessional.’ 

MailOnline has contacted Ideal Shopping Direct for comment but the company is yet to reply.  


The channels, including Hochanda, (pictured) show experts making a range of crafts from greeting cards to sophisticated painting techniques, and mainly cater to older women

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