Emma-Lee Crane's Milk Thieves Art & Design business sells hand-made, hand-coloured costume jewellery and giftware.

The business had a shopfront in Wollongong for many years, before she relocated to the South Coast, selling her products via an online store, wholesale to various shops and also at design markets.

Ms Crane, 35, has decided not to release any new products for a while, saying she has a permanent part-time job that will get her through the loss of market and event income for the next few months.

However, she said other creative industry workers weren't so lucky, and would be majorly affected by mass event cancellations.

"I've got a lot of friends who work in different parts of the industry, and a lot of them are casuals," she said.

"They've got no work, all of our markets have been cancelled, and there's a whole big cohort of designers who rely on that for their income.

"I decided I'd remove my voice from it, because I thought I have income. Instead of me releasing all my new products like I was planning to, I'm just going to hold on to them and let the people really need the income have that platform essentially."

Therefore, Ms Crane encouraged customers to shop with small businesses and spaces that support creativity and designers, and also with designers, makers and musicians directly.

She said anyone who did want to purchase any existing Milk Thieves designs can find a list of places to do so on her Instagram page.

"These shops support me and many other designers," she said.

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