Organizer Emily Arkin says the Bazaar evolved from her simple desire to show off her weird handmade crafts. She and her friends enjoyed the notion that crafts didn’t have to be perfect and pretty, but could be disturbing or just downright ugly (like the macaroni-art record-album covers featured at the inaugural Bazaar). The Bazaar’s launch is timed to the beginning of the indie craft movement, a connection Arkin says she didn’t realize at the time. But when she and the other organizers saw how people waited hours to get in, “We were like, wow, I guess people really need this. This is missing.”
While the Bazaar Bizarre reigns as the long-running king of local craft fairs, many newer events have cropped up in recent years. These include the South End Open Market, a four-year-old craft, antique, and farmers market held Sundays from May through October, and the Union Square Craft Market in Somerville, held biweekly in the summer in conjunction with the weekly Union Square Farmers Market. There’s also special events such as the Magpie-organized Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recraft eco-friendly craft fair, also staged in Union Square.
The Mass Market craft fair and flea market, heir apparent to the Punk Rock Flea Market that’s been held at MassArt for the past several years, had its inaugural run this October at the art school’s Pozen Center. The place buzzed with activity, and between the vegan bake sale, the local-music table, and the retro tunes spun by Mark Pearson of Neptune, it resembled a music festival. But nestled between the book vendors and record sellers was a host of regional crafters, selling goods ranging from bottle-cap magnets to silk-screened T-shirts — plus Spamberly’s cross-stitch.
Lindsay Metivier, a 22-year-old MassArt student and Mass Market organizer, hopes to create an inclusive, diverse environment for vendors and buyers striving to move beyond the traditional 20-to-30-year-old hipster demographic. And while Metivier is concerned about the sudden abundance of craft fairs creating over-saturation and complacence, 33-year-old Jessica Burko, organizer of a juried crafters’ consortium called Boston Handmade, isn’t worried.
“Every show has been crowded,” she says. “People are starting to be more educated about it and realizing that these are one of a kind, artist-made items. If you don’t get it now, it’s gone.”
It was this impulse that spurred some organizers of the Bazaar Bizarre, including Arkin and Kramer, to open Magpie in 2004, as a venue to sell the stuff they saw only once a year. The store, with a third of its merchandise made locally, has met with success. Shortly after Magpie opened, a high-end craft supply store called Spark Crafts also took root in Davis Square. Spark, now in Porter Square, was conceived by Jan Stephenson and Amy Appleyard, who met while business students at BU. They believed the marketplace was ready for a store where wine glasses overflow with beads and soft couches invite customers to chat about their latest projects. It’s no A.C. Moore, and that, says Stephenson, is by design. Stephenson cites a “huge renaissance” in crafting, with her market research indicating that more young people participate. Spark plays to this by hosting classes, private parties, and other events.
