Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » renegade craft fair [update]

after a 4 hour drive back from vermont i wasn’t able to do much official coverage of renegade, but i saw tons of people (including the ny times) interviewing designers so hopefully the rest of the blogosphere will have better coverage. i just wanted to mention a few of my favorites and share photos and some pieces i picked up during our 30 minute run through all the rows (yes, i dragged poor ac in there). next year i’ll plan to be IN town for the fair and not try to cover it all in oh, half an hour. [knitware necklaces above by alyssa ettinger]

this year’s show was like an indie version of woodstock. except in place of patchwork there were screenprinted “handmade for life” t-shirts and frozen mojitos at booths. it reminded me a little too much of my days as a phan (i kept waiting for someone to offer me some sort of laced rice krispie treat) so i’m secretly hoping that next year it moves back to the park and spreads out a bit. that said, the vendors looked great this year (though i think it was a little heavy on the totes and tees) and i spent some extended time at the wren handmade, foxy&winston, and lorena barrezueta/alyssa ettinger booth. i’m going through the exhibitor list now to catch anyone i missed so i’ll be sure to update this post as i go along. until then, check out the renegade page right here for info on exhibitors.

[handmade animals by laura normandin- she was so sweet in person]

[beautiful new pottery from lorena barrezueta. i bought the long purple dish for my kitchen]

[plaques by species by the thousands]

[prints by matt daly and strawberryluna]

[bags by something's hiding in here]

[print by sub-studio]

[vintage cat by twice sewn]

[onesie by rockpaperscissors]

[fine art from fernworks]

[handmade animals by fern]

[beautiful stitched pillows from helge]

[adorable onesies by coco clothing]

i was there on saturday and wasn’t there for too long but i did have a good time hanging out at Supermaggie’s tent and picked up an awesome graphic t-shirt (her website is http://supermaggie.com.) the nicest thing was that they were selling t-shirts at a discounted price and there were a lot of people hanging out in their tent going through the colorful shirts.

i also liked stopping by the tent for Artikal (http://artikal.com), the hat shop. they had some super-cute hats there that makes me want to go to the store and check it out in person. i didn’t buy any that day because i was trying to have some restraint.

great time overall and will be back next year!

ha! well, next year i’ll make time to walk at a more leisurely pace. every year i’m out of town for the show and i thought i could skid into town in time to cover things properly this year but i was just too pooped. ;)

d*s

Where were the mojitos?! I loved the show (the second I’ve attended, as a shopper!), and also vote for moving it back up to the park. I think it is cooler and definitely love the green backdrop. Thanks to all who made the show happen! It’s a wonderful event.

Gasp! That’s you with Mike Gordon!! I was a phan in my former (or is it phormer) life as well. :-) And I see the resemblence you mention. I was able to make it through about 2 hours at Renegade on Saturday before my shoulders were so sunburned that I couldn’t stand it anymore. Oh how I wish I were rich so I could have bought everything I fell in love with!

wait a second – where were the mojitos?!

this was my first time and i thought it was fantastic! i too, enjoyed supermaggie’s tent on saturday, and even ended up going back on sunday to buy one of her shirts. so cute!

I went to this event for the first time with a friend and was looking forward to it. When I got there I was completely overwhelmed by tons of bad silscreen on vintage fabric, knitted ugly dolls, t-shirts and ‘buttons’. It was completely dissapointing to see so much of the same stuff everywhere – it really feels like a lot of this ‘crafting’ and ‘design’ work is at a standstill- everything looks the same. I did appreciate all of the hand printed cards and the few exceptional booths but over all it was a dissapointment.

I loved those handmade animals too. If it weren’t for the dog’s voracious appetite for stuffed animals, I would have gotten one.

By the way, I’m pretty positive I saw Goil from Top Design perusing the booths.

This is my second time going, and all the tees and purses where just overwhelming. Too much rehashed silkscreen graphics. Too much beginning crafter type stuff. Does everyone in Williamsburgh own a buttom making machine? And I think you must be in bed with Alyssa. Those necklaces were very 4th grade.

seriously, what’s with all the negativity here? both in the post body and the comments? how’s about mentioning the highlights and leaving the rest alone?
I hope this doesn’t discourage people from going to the next one.

I thought the show was AWFUL. Indie design (and handmade for that matter) is way, way more than screenprinted bags and t-shirts. What’s happening to handmade? It all looked the same.

This selection makes it look like the show was decent but this was the only good stuff (and some of this isn’t even that good).

Jason

There is no real “jury” for this show, anon. It is all the choice of the promoters. If nothing else, there were just too many vendors. If I had my stuff there I would have been pissed. I would also be filing a lawsuit if I had the copyright on the Ugli doll. I had no idea how many people were ripping them off!

There was some original, well made stuff there, but it was few and far between.

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