A New UCU

Media

This article ran in the following publications:

Providence Journal - Cool and Crafty, February 5, 2006

Arkansas Democrat Gazette - Hipsters Have Their Fair Share of Crafts, January 8, 2006

Orlando Sentinel - Not Your Grandmom's Macramé, December 24, 2005

BY JESSICA ROBERTS
Columbia News Service

NEW YORK -- Imagine a toaster cover decorated with a skull and crossbones or candles made of rolled beeswax and shaped like sushi or hand-poured soaps shaped like a heart -- a bleeding heart.

Craft fairs may conjure up images of little old ladies with blue hair selling tea cozies and macramé potholders, but a new crop of hip urban craft fairs is breaking onto the scene, serving up everything but the ordinary. The vendors may have blue hair, but they are young, vibrant and out to re-invent crafting.

Over the last few years, hipster bazaars have popped up in the fashion hubs of New York and Los Angeles as well as in Boston, Atlanta and Seattle. Providence has its Craftland fair in December, with the work of more than 100 artists and crafts people, and offerings at Rhode Island School of Design student and alumni shows often offer the irreverent alongside the impeccable.

The day- or weekend-long markets feature cutting-edge jewelry, must-have bags and even handmade punk-rock housewares. The new breed of craft bazaars has turned an old idea on its head, adding irony and whimsy to the spirit of entrepreneurship, community and creativity.

"We are used to the suburban shows your mom and grandmother would go to," said Marisa Mouton of Urban Craft Uprising, a new craft bazaar in Seattle. "People are using the same methods and techniques that have been used for years, we're just putting an urban twist on it."

This is the first year for Urban Craft Uprising, but as a veteran crafter, Mouton knows her audience.

"There are a lot of Gen X- and Y-ers," said Mouton. "This is the place for the urban, hip mom who doesn't want to go to Gymboree or Baby Gap."

Leah Kramer was one of those Gen X-ers who was looking for a creative outlet. She found, and fell in love with, Bazaar Bizarre, Boston's urban craft fair.

"In my 20s I felt all these crafty urges," said Kramer, now 31. At Bazaar Bizarre she didn't find macaroni-based crafts but a sea of like-minded folks who had channeled their urban coolness and craftiness into businesses.

Kramer went on to found the online crafting mecca craftster.org, which epitomizes the new urban craft fair sensibility with its motto "no tea cozies without irony."

"Craftster is a funny way to combine someone who is crafty and a hipster," she said, referring to the term she coined. "Crafting used to mean painted cows and hearts on boxes. There was a stigma attached to crafts."

Kramer credits feminism for allowing women to embrace the positives of crafting without buying into the old notions of domesticity that limited women of earlier generations.

"It's not like the '50s where you had to darn your husband's socks," she said. "It's sort of empowering to have your knitting needles and do a project anywhere you want."

It's a fair bet Donna Reed would not have confessed her shortcomings as posters in a craftster.org forum Stitch and Botch do. "Crafty but stupid: Your craft related injuries here!" invites one post.

And many other women across the country agree. Crafster.org alone has 45,000 members. It is this new legion -- largely women between 18 and 34 -- who are propelling the urban craft fair. But it's not only the young, urban, tattooed indie set that frequents the events. Many of the organizers see repeat customers who are simply looking for eye-opening, one-of-a-kind items they could not find anywhere else.

"It's amazing the variety of people who show up," said Faythe Levine, co-organizer of Arts vs. Crafts in Milwaukee. "We get every type of person imaginable: parents, grandparents, families."

A family from suburban Bellevue, Wash., regularly attends Seattle's I Heart Rummage craft fair, says Sam Trout, one of the few male event organizers. "The little girl buys a 'Devout Doll' each time," he said, referring to the series of handmade cloth dolls featured frequently at I Heart Rummage.

Simone Alpen, a Bazaar Bizarre organizer, notes that all participants share an appreciation of handmade items. "It's really meaningful to buy something from a person who has made it," she said. "It makes the item far more special."

It is the communities' desire to support local artists that helps make these events successful.

Vendors can make a few hundred dollars a day during the regular season, but business booms during the holidays. Trout says some vendors have made a thousand dollars in a single day. Trout also notes that a large number of vendors are featured in Lucky, the shopping magazine.

A 2001 Hobby Industry Association study showed that craft industry sales reached $29.0 billion in 2002, compared with $23 billion in 2000, and that 60 percent of American households participate in crafts and hobbies.

Many crafters see their work as an alternative to consumer culture. Shows typically feature a large number of clever, "eco-friendly" crafts, like reconstructed T-shirts, records sculpted into serving bowls, pens crafted from found wood and even stylish umbrellas woven from plastic garbage bags.

The "Craftifesto" of Chicago's DIY Trunk Show states, "Craft is political. We're not just trying to sell stuff. We're trying to change the world. We want everyone to rethink corporate culture and consumerism."

It's not uncommon for an artist to use their Web site to sell their wares, post a blog and point visitors to other crafters, music they enjoy or causes they support.

Whether they are looking to support local artists, to buy environmentally friendly products or for a personal gift, shoppers at these restyled craft fairs will find the unexpected.

"We make sure that there is something for everyone," Levine said.