crafty afternoon

Some friends of mine and I decided to take a gamble on the Renegade Crafts Fair held in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn this weekend. Could be inspiring foraging, or hellish crowds buying and selling screen-printed canvas tote bags, tee shirts and skull paraphernalia— it was a toss-up. I have a high tolerance for hipsters and the aesthetically precious so I really had no problem taking the risk. Luckily it turned out just dandy.

So on an unseasonably hot morning we began our day with some coffee and cakes at the exquisite Bakeri on Wythe.

The fair itself was rather daunting, comprising 200 vendors in a circuit around MacCarren Park. 

I could see straight off that handmade garlands, and lines of fluttering pennants are this year's deer head trophy.

There were several really nice stalls. Some wonderful letterpress items from Enormous Champion, and especially dazzling stuff from Sesame. But I just cant bear to dwell on all the expert printing purveyors at the moment... so here are a few of my favorite non-letterpress stops: 
These charming towels by chez sucre chez have hand-embroidered 19th-century-style decorative initial caps or simple outlined anchors or hands. I like the streamlined, almost naive embroidery on top of some of the rustic ticking stripes.

image directly above from chez sucre chez

Forest Bound had a selection of incredibly appealing totes and bags crafted from found and salvaged materials. Old military uniforms, boys' britches, canvas feed bags are paired and trimmed with deerskin and other unusual leathers making them truly compelling pieces. They each seem to have their own built-in back story. Too bad the price point, at $180-$250+, was a fair bit above my craft-fair-impulse-buy threshold.

Miniature Rhino's Jessica Marquez impressed me with stitched salvaged paper booklets and other paper and embroidered items. There was something wonderful about her vintage interpretations: precise, measured, earnest and sweet—but not cutesy. Sort of a winsome take on 19th century scientific cataloging.

Her DIY letter writing station, complete with manual typewriter, little bits of kraft paper and sealing wax was brilliantly executed and surprisingly lovely. This girl's got flair.

After about four hours of intense exploration we repaired to the rather soigne Juliette for drinks on the roof terrace. I hear the food is so-so, but superficial visual person that I am, I would return just for their design details.

images from JulietteWilliamsburg