Handmade Detroit hosted the first craft fair of the Metro Detroit season with the Craft Revival on Saturday April 17th 2010. This wasn’t a polyester pant suit wearing community center craft show with handmade holiday themed dresses for your fake plastic lawn goose to wear. Handmade Detroit’s Craft Revival, like all of its events, has been dubbed an “alternative” craft show with vendors selling things like hand grenade soap and paper action figures.
Handmade Detroit is a crafter collective that puts together craft shows, events, and an online community with a blog, DIY calendar, how-to videos, and a resource list of all the best craft places in Metro Detroit.
The Detroit art scene has been blossoming for the past few years with artists taking advantage of the cheap real-estate. Many of the artists at the show described the blossoming scene as having an independent, DIY approach and aesthetic. Though most of the artists are eclectic in their styles, it is a close knit community. Some artists feel, however it may be a little too close knit. Saying; “There can be a hater element as well. A lot of artists respond negatively to artists that achieve outside success.”
Almost all of the vendors at the Craft Revival were local. Many have lived in Metro Detroit their whole lives while others had left for a few years but had recently come back. Tanya Andren of ttishbite lived briefly in San Francisco but came back and vowed never to leave again. She told me of the city, “I think people from Detroit like the feeling of dirt under their fingernails. We work hard and know that nothing comes easy.”
Cara S. Rosaen of Sweet Plum Vintage, recently returned to Ann Arbor with her husband, after living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She said she feels, “blessed that we have found a great community of dreamers with an eye for business who are looking to bring new life and a new vision to this area. It’s an exciting time.” Cara and her husband were surprised to find, as she puts it, that Michigan, “while economically depressed, are full of residents steeped in homeland pride and hope and belief in the area’s reinvention of itself. There are countless organizations and individuals working to re-imagine and redefine what this area will become: artists buying up abandoned lots and turning them into works of art, young farmers buying city property to try out urban farming, entrepreneurs taking advantage of the great universities and low cost of living to support them trying to build their companies.”
Here are some of my favorite artists from the Detroit Craft Revival.
Courtney Burgam
ampersans.etsy.com
ampersans.com
Courtney describes her work as, “stuff people can use! I love using organic materials and recycling old ones. The jewelry I make is made from old pieces I have found and the yarn I sell has been unraveled from old sweaters.”
Ornj Bag by David Shock
http://www.ornjbags.com/
David makes these awesome orange mesh bags that are perfect for lugging large, odd shaped objects from art supplies to laundry. What makes these bags unique is what they are made of; the plastic construction fencing. “There was construction fencing going up everywhere. Much of it quickly started falling down and creating serious blight. Orange being my favorite color I was naturally drawn to it and took a roll home to construct a simple bag to carry my laundry down the 3 flights of stairs at my apartment. I then started making a few tote bags and the rest kinda snowballed.”
Tanya Andren
www.ttishbite.etsy.com
www.ttishbite.blogspot.com
Tanya uses vintage metal enamel and Lucite plastic to create one of a kind hair accessories and jewelry. Her supplies come from resale shops, Eastern Europe and her Grandmother’s attic. She jokes with customers that her pieces must have been created by an alter-ego. “My wardrobe consists of black, grey and navy blue; somehow my pieces are pink, white, purple and even bright orange.”
Sweet Plum Vintage by Cara S. Rosaen
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetplumvintage
“The heart of my work is working with families to design heirloom button jewelry collections from a person’s own family buttons. I love this whole process. I get to design pieces that connect people to one another (often to family members who have passed), educate people about buttons, and talk personal style at the time!”
Cara creates unique pieces of jewelry from vintage and antique buttons and other pieces of vintage ephemera. " I’ll use almost anything “old” and “cool” that I can find: ribbons and trims, buckles, old chains, old watch parts, game pieces, even mini dollhouse furniture, but every piece has to include some of my obsession; buttons."
NICE by Caitlin Holcomb
http://www.nice-etc.com
http://www.nice.etsy.com
Caitlin’s family is from the Detroit area, but moved to Illinois when she was 10. She’s been a part of the Chicago Renegade Craft Show since 2006. The Detroit Craft Revival was her first show in Metro Detroit. When asked what inspires her art she said “Fun! I am inspired by all sorts of vintage things as well as current trends and I find great joy in meshing the two. I like making something that will make you smile and want to have it in your home. It really is a great honor to have something you’ve made in someone’s home!” Caitlin is drawn to materials that may have a reputation as tacky or passé, finding ways to make them fresh and fun such as, “the bright and shiny trims that I use for my banners, doilies that I collect for my light shades, the puffy paint and 90s fabric that I’ve been using for mini banners, and the idea of a deer head in your home.”
