Artists and Fleas » Markets of New York

Revving up for 2012 Plus Market Picks For A Cold Wet Weekend!!

Pantera Azul - Not Your Average Mouse Pad

Hi Everyone!

It was an incredible holiday season at the markets! There were almost 50 market events throughout the city, and they were all filled with festive shoppers. I took a little hiatus to rest a bit, catch up on business, and write a couple of book proposals (more on that coming soon). The photo is my co-author Pantera Azul. Not your usual mouse pad, but much warmer and fuzzier.

I want to thank every single person who bought their holiday gifts in the markets. You have supported local artisan entrepreneurs and helped make sure that the creative community that is so important to the culture of New York City can continue to thrive for another year. And I’d be prepared to wager that your gifts were the best ones under the tree this year! Mine always are.

And I want to thank all the markets and market sellers who make my weekends so incredibly fun and inspiring! I’ve been visiting markets almost every weekend for the last three years, and I still find things that blow me away all the time. I can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for this blogger!

This weekend there are several great market events going on:

Indoors:

Antiques Garage (Saturday & Sunday)
Artists & Fleas (Saturday & Sunday)
Brooklyn Flea (Saturday & Sunday)
The Market NYC (Saturday & Sunday)
Smorgasbrewery (Sunday only )
SUPER!market (Saturday only)

Outdoors (watch the weather and check the sites for updates):

Hell’s Kitchen Flea (Saturday & Sunday)
West 25th Street Market (Saturday & Sunday)

And of course, your year-round food markets:

Even though the weather looks bad this weekend, there are plenty of wonderful things to do in the Markets of New York City!

Two Great Holiday Pop-Ups At Chelsea Market

Two great hopliday pop up markets opened this week in Chelsea Market in Manhattan.

Jingle at the Chelsea Market: A Holiday Pop Up Store is the creation of designer Jill Schwartz. Back for its 5th year at the market and featuring over 20 companies, Jingle boasts a wonderful boutique esthetic that reminds a bit of the first floor at ABC Carpet and Home.

Jingle at the Chelsea Market has a wide variety of companies – from jewelry and bath products to clothing and home decor – and each company has been encouraged to do more than simply display their wares. Instead, each vendor has created their own unique boutique display, and this helps to differentiate them from their neighbors and highlight their products.

Jingle at the Chelsea Market is open through December 23rd in the big pop up shop space mid-market.

Venturing into Manhattan from their customary home in Williamsburg, the Artists and Fleas Holiday Pop-Up also opened this week. Offering 30 “amazing curators of cool”, Artists and Fleas is using a newly-opened space at the 1oth and 15th end of Chelsea Market. Artists are offering mens and women’s fashions, home accessories, jewelry, prints and eclectica, and include some of our market favorites.

The Artists and Fleas Holiday Pop-Up is open 10:30 Am - 7:30 PM through December 31st.

2011 New York Holiday Markets Guide (Updated 12/22)

NEWSFLASH! Now you’re really down to the wire! Buy all your last minute gifts in the Markets of New York City! You’ll be glad you did!

Check out Markets of New York City on NY1: Navigating the Holiday Markets! (List of the designers and markets mentioned.)

I am very excited to publish the 2011 New York Holiday Markets Guide!

The guide links to over 40 events throughout the boroughs, and we will be adding more as they are announced. Again this year, there are both traditional holiday markets that span the entire season and special one or two day events. From jewelry to perfume and soap, objets d’art to clothing and everything in between, New Yorkers and visitors to our fair city can find wonderful gifts for everyone on your list in the markets of New York City! I look forward to seeing you in the markets, and I will be posting as many of our finds as we can during the season.

Send me your event to add to the Markets Guide!! And remember:

Weekend Market Picks October 29-30, 2011 + Lovely Day Designs

Louise Lasson is the artisan behind Lovely Day Designs. I saw first her work at the Brooklyn Flea Gifted Market in 2009, and she keeps on adding more creative designs and products to her line.

She is known for her extremely wide array of switch plate covers! Everything from Buddhas and Mermaids, to Flowers, Cats, Pinup Girls and beyond to dress up your walls in a fun, unexpected way! She also sells delightful magnet sets. Her lovely soy wax candles are hand-poured into Depression Glass pieces and vintage teacups, and they are beautifully scented. What I love about Louise’s work is that it is creative, lovely, and practical, the essence of fine craft.

Louise is a member of the {NewNew} Etsy Artisans Street Team. Check LovelyDayDesigns.com for all her Holiday Market events. Her pieces are perfect for hostesses and for anyone who has light switches in their home.

Here are this week’s Market Picks! Meh to snow in October!!!

Saturday and Sunday

Artists and Fleas: Artists & Fleas is an excellent choice for this ridiculously snowy weekend! It features amazing vintage clothing and craft vendors, and it is indoors! Plus it’s a great place to get a groovy Halloween costume that you might actually wear again in real life!

Antiques Garage: This large indoor flea market has not one but TWO floors of antique and vintage treasures, including clothing, jewelry, home decor, artifacts, rare antique books and prints, and many more things that cannot even be categorized!

Saturday

Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket: Halloween comes to the Greenmarket! Bring the kids for Pumpkin Painting, the Pumpkin Carving Contest (bring your already carved pumpkins, winner gets a prize!), and an Apple Cider Donut Eating Contest!

Hester Street Fair: CANCELED due to impending weather! Double booooo!!! Thanks for another great season!

Smorgasburg: For true food lovers, it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing outside. They will still flock to Smorgasburg for some of the tastiest, most innovative food in the city. Serious delciousness going on here, with around 75 food vendors, plus the Williamsburg Waterfront Greenmarket!

Sunday

Fulton Stall Market: Another great place to bring the kids, the closest thing I’ve seen to matching Boston’s SOWA Market of the Living Dead for Halloween fun is at the Fulton Stall Market! In addition to their great lineup of food, craft, and farmer vendors, the market will have pumpkin painting, appearances by Berenstain Bears, Curious George and Maisy with readings of their favorite spooky stories, trick or treating, and a dance party with DJ Jonathan “Scary” Toubin (2pm). Kids kids kids!

Grab your tote bag, pull on your boots, and head to the Markets!

The Mesmerizing Reliquary Ring by Stern Design Works

Rebecca and Cameron Stern of Stern Design Works create wonderful jewelry designs, often inspired by nature. Their snow necklaces are made from casting molten silver in actual snow and coming up with unexpected, complex features on the cooled silver. Their “Flora” collection features oak and gingko leaf pendants.

I recently saw them at the Hester Street Fair, and they have a new collection of teensy, eensy, weensy farm animals set in tiny resin landscapes. The red rooster necklace was long gone, but the pink pig, the black and white cow, and the orange hen were utterly adorable.

And then there is the Reliquary Collection, a mesmerizing set of glass pendants and rings with moving particles of metal, sand, or 1 mm glass balls floating freely inside them. They are wonderful designs with almost a Jules Verne-like Steampunk feeling. The ring in the video has meditative qualities, as watching the tiny glass balls roll around inside the glass dome can induce a trance-like state, even in the middle of the bustling market.

Stern Design Works will be selling their jewelry at Artists and Fleas market in Williamsburg through the holiday season and also at the Columbus Circle Holiday Market in December.

Photo of the Day – July 12, 2011: WebbedWare Vintage Fabric Jewelry

Courtney Webb is the thoughtful and clever designer behind WebbedWare. Courtney uses vintage fabrics to create colorful, versatile, and very pretty cuffs, necklaces, earrings and rings. The fabric is affixed to the metal design foundation using a clear acrylic that not only protects the fabric and makes the entire piece more durable, it also enhances the colors. Each cuff and ring is lined with leather for a very comfortable fit.

To me, WebbedWare designs appear retro and modern at the same time, like the classic Diane Von Furstenburg Wrap Dress. They also have a preppy feel, with bold and classic patterns. You can wear every one of Courtney’s handmade pieces to any kind of event at any time of day.

Find Courtney and WebbedWare every weekend at the Artists and Fleas Market in Williamsburg, or visit her online shop. Courtney is also a member of the {NewNew} Etsy Artisan Group.

Market Picks for June 4-5 and Happy Birthday to My Sister Andrea!

It’s my middle sister Andrea’s birthday! I thought I’d post a picture of the two of us on the way to the beach in Cape Elizabeth, Maine sometime during the latter half of the 20th Century. She’s will be coming to New York in a couple of weeks, and we’ll definitely be hitting the markets. She loves markets as much as I do! Please tweet her a Happy Birthday message @AndyMike01!

I can’t help but go on about the beautiful weather we’ve been having, which couldn’t be better for strolling through this week’s Market Picks:

Saturday and Sunday

Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit: The WSOAE is back on the list for its second weekend. There are some fantastic works of art on the sidewalks of the Village, as well as beautiful handmade crafts. Saturday and Sunday

Artists & Fleas: This market is full of carefully selected fleas and fine handmade jewelry, accessories, soaps, art, photography, and much more. And I’ll fill you in on a secret: they also have fantastic local food vendors! Satisfy your inner foodie without spending valuable shopping time waiting in lines. Saturday and Sunday

Saturday Only

Smorgasburg: This market is such a brilliant idea for food lovers and for the talented and tasty food innovators in the city. For my own sake, I am hoping the lines have calmed down a little at the Brooklyn Flea’s new food market. For the market’s sake, I’m sure it will continue to be jam packed with eager eaters! Saturday only

Sunday Only

New Amsterdam Market: The market opens this weekend for a season of weekly events. They are promising the return of our favorite food vendors and also some new ones we will surely fall in love with immediately. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Sunday only
Fulton Stall Market: Back for the season too, this market is a wonderful service to the Seaport neighborhood. It features a lovely, balanced mix of food vendors, farmers, artisans, and even fine artist, Naima Rauam, whose paintings feature beautiful scenes from the Fulton Fish Market. Sunday only

Enjoy your weekend and Happy Marketing!

Markets Picks This Weekend – May 21-22: So Many Markets, So Little Time!

WOW! This Saturday is chock full of market openings and events! I’m posting the Market Picks mid-week so you can prepare and plan your busy, hungry weekend. We’re hoping it turns out sunny and apocalypse-free.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Brooklyn Craft Central’s Shop the Archway: Markets of New York City is a proud sponsor of this wonderful artisan and food market! The location is worth seeing too. The photo above is a tote bag from Astor Knot, one of the clever artisan entrepreneurs you’ll meet under the Archway! (Brooklyn)

Agora Long Island City Market: The Agora Market in Long Island City is the second artisan and food market to open in Queens! This Saturday is their second event. I didn’t make it to the opening, but the photos look great! Where you there? (Queens)

Bedford Barrow Commerce (BBC) Block Association’s Ye Olde Village Fair: This neighborhood street fair is back for it’s 18th year! And for the first time, it is featuring only juried crafters and artists. (Manhattan)

Christopher Street Block & Merchant Association Affair: Lucky for us, this neighborhood fair coincides with the BBC event. Nothing better than strolling through the lovely streets of Greenwich Village this weekend! On Christopher St. between Seventh Ave. and Hudson St. (Manhattan)

Bust Craftacular: There’s no denying that the Bust Craftaculars are huge handmade shopping events! They are always wildly popular and loaded with fantastic artisans. This spring’s events will be no different, except for its new location at 82 Mercer Street between Broome and Spring! (Manhattan)

Smorgasburg – A Brooklyn Flea Food Market: The Brooklyn Flea is about to become an even bigger international foodie mecca! Smorgasburg launches on Saturday in the Williamsburg waterfront location between North 6th and North 7th St., at the East River. There will be over 100 food and food-related vendors, including a Greenmarket. Smorgasburg will be a weekly event. (Brooklyn)

Sunday, May 22, 2011:

Astoria Market: The Astoria artisan market is back for its second year at Bohemian Hall! Artisans, craft shopping, and beer – if that’s not the trifecta for a good afternoon, I don’t know what is! (Queens)

Fine Art and Designer Craft Fair on Bleeeker Street: This festival to raise funds for the Greenwich Village Youth Council is in its 16 year! The quality of the artwork and crafts will be very high, so definitely take a stroll through this market in the heart of the Village.

Greenflea and 79th Street/Columbus Avenue Greenmarket: This weekend, the Greenmarket is back on Columbus Avenue after three weekends of being hosted by the Greenflea during Crafts on Columbus, which ended last weekend. I just have to mention my good friend Carolyn of Wacky Magnets, whose funny magnets will crack you right up! Look for her bright yellow tent just inside the Columbus Avenue Entrance! (Manhattan)

All the ongoing weekend Markets are running full Swing! This week’s picks:

Artists & Fleas: The oldest Market 2.0 in the city, Artists & Fleas’ new location is spacious and filled with great talent and products! (Brooklyn)
Arthur Avenue Retail Market: It is Bronx Week! Go celebrate with some incredible Italian delicacies and a hand rolled cigar from La Casa Grande at this market! (Bronx)

I will definitely see you at Shop the Archway, and I’m figuring out how I can make it to the other great events as well! Let me know what markets you’ll be visiting! And welcome to the lovely Italian journalist who contacted me for market recommendations for her visit to our fair city.

Aixa Sobin Hits the Streets with Fine Handmade Leather Wares

I met Aixa Sobin last year at Artists and Fleas in Williamsburg. Her leather bags, belts and bags are made from rich, buttery leathers, and she hand sews each ond of her original designs. I ran into Aixa on the the streets of Soho and asked her talk with my video camera. Two women nearby had just purchased stylish belts from her, and one of them said, “Can you imagine finding handmade leather products like this right out on the street?!”

You can find Aixa Sobin most days out in front of Balthazar on Spring Street between Crosby and Broadway.

Her website is www.aixasobinleathers.com, and she also has a store on Etsy. And follow Aixa on Facebook!

Word Cloud and Poetry at the Markets

Happy New Year!!! I hope you had a great holiday season! I purchased every single gift this year at the wonderful holiday markets all over town, starting with an antique Bavarian porcelain tea cup from the Greenflea that I sent my mom for her sacred afternoon tea, and finishing with a handmade sock monkey hat from the Union Square Holiday Market for my niece. And lucky for me, all of my gifts came from the markets too, from fingerless gloves to several amazing and gorgeous pieces of jewelry, which I will model for a future post.

The Greenmarkets and stalwart flea markets have been open the entire season, bless them. And the artisan and other specialty markets are starting to wake up again for 2011. I hope the makers and vendors take some time in January and February to relax and recover — and restock — before the markets really start up in the springtime.

So I just thought I’d check in and post this Markets Word Cloud, which is a fun way to show recent trends and key words on the Markets of New York City blog. I love some of the words that came up big: Market, Delicious, Treats, Holiday, and Chocolates. And some sweet smaller words show up too, like pickles, husband, crispy, and tea. There are word combinations are actually quite poetic:

Colorful Ribbons Maybe Sweet

Last Drink Next

Citytime Husband

Wonderwhip Chocolates

Heart Hope Drinker

Lovely New Cheer

Many markets are open for us to explore and shop at this weekend, despite snowflakes the size of hamsters. Union Square Greenmarket is open for business. The Brooklyn Flea is open all weekend at One Hanson Place. And Artists and Fleas has a new home at 70 North 7th (between Wythe & Kent).

Looking forward to another spectacular year of creativity, design, deliciousness and inspiration at the Markets of New York City!