Detroit Gets Crafty

Don’t let the words “craft fair” frighten you.

If your summer
travels have taken you to creative cities like Chicago, New York, San
Francisco or even Cleveland in the past few years, you probably already
know about the DIY-driven, indie fests currently sweeping the summer
festival circuit. Often outdoors and in hipster neighborhoods, these
alternative craft fairs attract a young, industrious ilk, who sew,
knit, silk-screen and reconstruct their pants off.

If it still sounds dubious, be assured that the upcoming Detroit Urban Craft Fair
(DUCF), with its no-nonsense name, will be nothing like your
grandmother’s church bazaar. No pipe cleaner statues, kitten
cross-stitchery or cotton-ball art.

Debuting at the Majestic on
Saturday, Aug. 5 (11 a.m.-8 p.m.), the DUCF is shaping up to be just as
cool as its well-known peers, like Chicago’s Renegade Craft Fair (after
which it was modeled). And why the heck not? Detroit is, after all, the
veritable mothership of all things indie. Which is exactly why DUCF
founder and voracious crafter Stephanie Tardy was sitting around one
day—probably sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by odds and ends and
crafting away—lamenting with two fellow crafter buddies about the lack
of existing outlets for their handmade stuff. In typical do-it-yourself
style, the stitch-in-bitch session turned into something resembling the
very first planning meeting for Handmade Detroit.

“I just
thought, ‘We have the power to unite some people so let’s do it,’ ”
says Tardy, a self-described Internet junkie. “I put out a call on
message boards. I started Handmade Detroit on myspace.com. And it took off like crazy.”

Tardy,
who makes clothes, paper goods and little wooden moustaches under the
name Phantom Limb (look for her booth at the fair), says there’s an
army of hipster crafters in Detroit, but that they weren’t banding
together to create much of an organized scene. “Detroit is a lot more
disconnected than other cities. People have a tendency to be very
competitive.”

But Tardy wanted to change that. She knew there
were other like-minded crafters out there, traveling to far-flung fairs
to shop and sell, and she wanted to unite everyone under this creative
common interest and localize the energy. The best part? It totally
worked. “Everyone in the group has the attitude that we have so much
more power when we work together,” she says. “It’s about connecting
people and commiserating. It’s connecting and sharing and realizing
that you’re not alone.”

And now, six months, who knows how much
hot glue gun time and gads of meetings later, they’ve garnered 50
vendors through a semi-juried process of more than 120 applicants
(which are still coming in every week). And they’ve gotten an
impressive roster of sponsors like Ready Made Magazine, Bust and Redcard Design.
Tardy says she puts in about 30 hours a week, but there’s also a team
of about 12 people, many of whom invest just as much time and energy.
“It’s great to be drinking your own Kool-Aid. I haven’t heard one
negative thing about the craft fair yet, and that’s an amazing thing in
Detroit,” Tardy says.

Tardy, who’s personally bankrolling the
craft fair, hopes the DUCF gives the organization, Handmade Detroit,
the kind of recognition that could eventually lead to something more
consistent and self-sustaining, like sewing classes or a craft store.
“Right now, it’s just Stephanie paying the overhead costs. I am the
benefactor of this.” (Wanna help? Buy an adorable Handmade Detroit
fundraising mitten pin for a mere $3.50. Go to www.detroiturbancraftfair.com).

Covering
overhead is important, but ultimately, it’s not about making a bunch of
money. You get the feeling she’s genuine when she starts talking about
the emotional rewards: “There’s just something so special about making
something—and being proud of it—and having someone else like it and
take it home.”

To help you get an idea of all the rad goods you
could be taking home, here’s a who’s-who of sorts—an introductory guide
to the first Detroit Urban Craft Fair.  Now keep in mind, it’s
just a snapshot. To get the big picture, you’ll have to show up.

frizzelSTITCH
Two
Detroit sisters get props for square corduroy bags and oblong denim
totes with sweet fabric lining and darn-cute embroidered animals:
diving beavers, hedgehogs, and foxes wearing snails like rollerskates.
Not even PETA could turn a frown.

Jenny Harada
Irreverent
stuffed creatures, kin to the Ugly Dolls, with a variety of curiously
unrelated features like furry troll hair, neckties, antlers, tumors and
shark teeth. A favorite, the “Blood Ghost,” looks like a giant, hairy
white molar. Legend has it that he’s “very good at telling wholesome
jokes.”

Jill Killjoy
This
Chicago crafting outfit is headed by a gal named Liz, who fashions
one-of-a-kind goods—skirts, note cards, pillows and pins, to name a
few—from discarded materials like old clothing, children’s books and
even ratty mac-n-cheese boxes. Also the inventor of the
“catzip”—pouches in the shape of a cat.

make-out goods
One
part Chicago, the other part Detroit, this artsy-fartsy duo does it
all—clutches, note cards, brooches, earrings. And they do it well. But
it’s their little round mirrors made with the loveliest of vintage
fabrics that has our vanity going goo-goo.

snapcrafty
Cheeky
plastic jewelry is no craft fair oddity. But we forgive this one-woman
Michigan-based crafter on behalf of her tongue-in-cheek selection:
plastic Scottie dog earrings made from vintage game chips, fabulously
tacky collage pendants, and a sinister black apple Lucite charm
necklace with a gold leaf. Also known for handspun yarn, made on a
traditional spinning wheel.

Daisy Sewing
Sure, they make cute bags and skirts, but it’s the pirate sock monkeys with peg legs and eye-patches that steal the show.

And,
if you still need another reason to go: the first 50 people to show up
get free swag bags, stuffed with goodies from all kinds of independent
companies, merchants, record labels, etc. There’s even someone making a
little novel to go inside.

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Photos:



Neck Collars and Bags from Stephanie Tardy



The Majestic Cafe



Stephanie Tardy



Frizzlestitch Sisters



Bags from Amy Cronkite

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All Photographs Copyright Dave Krieger