Many thanks to guest blogger Stephanie Carter (with additional reporting by Lauren Rosenblum) for taking great pictures and writing keen observations of the Renegade Craft Fair last weekend!
Steph and Lauren are good friends from grad school and wonderful writers, each with a taste for all things art/craft/design. Moreover Steph and I went to Renegade together two years ago, so she was reviewing the show as a veteran. I knew she was just the woman for the job when I realized I couldn't attend the fair myself.
Steph and Lauren are good friends from grad school and wonderful writers, each with a taste for all things art/craft/design. Moreover Steph and I went to Renegade together two years ago, so she was reviewing the show as a veteran. I knew she was just the woman for the job when I realized I couldn't attend the fair myself.
I love Steph's finds, and her smart, fresh comments. Her coverage gave me a great taste of the fair, as I hope it does for you. So without further ado...!
Mustaches are the new owl. That was my observation at this year’s Renegade Craft Fair, held in McCarren Pool in Williamsburg. You know how, for a while, everywhere you turned, crafts—T-shirts, notebooks, jewelry, stationary, whatever—featured an owl… or a squirrel… or a deer. Well, there were still plenty of woodland creatures at the fair. But I also saw a lot of mustaches.
Mustaches? “Like a lot of the men in attendance had mustaches,” you’re thinking. No. I mean, the crafts featured mustaches. There were large, carved wooden mustaches to hang on the wall. There were little mustaches to use as a key chain, mustache brooches and mustache necklaces. Necklaces. I must admit I don’t see the attraction of wearing the shape men’s facial hair around one’s neck. But mustaches were certainly popular; plan on seeing them a lot in the coming months.
Before I left for the fair, I was listening to NPR’s Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen. This week’s show featured an interview with artist Fritz Haeg. Haeg takes the typical, suburban, water-guzzling front yard and turns it into a vegetable or flower garden. He goes around the country and does this for various people’s front yards.
Kurt asked him why we should consider this "art" and not, you know, gardening. I couldn’t help but connect his response to the Renegade Craft Fair. He said that it’s easy, and at this point, cliché, to create something subversive using sex or violence. But he was interested in creating subversion out of everyday items, like a front yard. Or, with DIY products like the ones at the fair—knitting, letterpresses, ceramics, etc. Because these days, what’s more subversive than resisting our mass-produced, consumer-centric society than by creating and purchasing goods that are hand-made and one of a kind?
And with that, I’ll let you take a look at a few items that caught my eye and draw your conclusions about craft and subversion at the Renegade Craft Fair, with additional reporting by Lauren Rosenblum.


Because who doesn’t need a Bob Marley or Marvin Gaye suitcase? Imagine one of these guys rolling around the baggage carousel at JFK…
[Anyone know who did these? If so, email me and I'll put up the name and link.]






Straw ribbon accessories by Cathy of California. These attracted my attention because there wasn’t anything else like them at the fair.


Delong Ceramics, one of the few ceramics vendors I saw. Their tiles and ornaments feature quintessential NYC scenes, like the above from the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York Public Library. It’s hard not to marvel at the level of detail these ceramics feature.

Nesting doll throw pillow made from felt and fabric by Kimberly Lewis.

Mustache necklaces. [Anyone know who did these? If so, email me and I'll put up the name and link.]
Thank you again, Steph!
More:
Renegade Craft Fair 2007 (Brooklyn)
Renegade Craft Fair 2006 (Brooklyn)
Writing by Stephanie Carter and posted by Amy Shaw for Greenjeans.
Images by Stephanie Carter or sourced from given websites.
Images by Stephanie Carter or sourced from given websites.
3 comments:
thanks for the plug!
xo cathy
the nesting doll pillows are done by www.kimberlylewis.net
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