Holiday Market » Markets of New York

There’s A Giant Pink Squid Under the Christmas Tree

What happens when artisans sell their creations at the markets or pack them up and ship them to all corners of the world for the holidays? They never get to see where their handiwork ends up or who opened the packages on Christmas morning. After talking to artisans at the holiday markets recently about this subject, I decided to show them where the gifts I bought ended up.

We spend the holidays with my husband James’ family, and I can honestly say that every single gift from a New York City market was received with much happiness. One particularly special piece was placed at the top of the tree.

I picked out Squidfire’s hot pink giant squid T-shirt for myself, and James wrapped it up for me. I loved the way it glowered up from underneath the tree. Dainty earrings made by Martin Lopez at AdornmentsNYC from vintage beads and findings got placed immediately in my sister-in-law Judy’s ears. They make a faint hypnotic jingle for her ears only. She also adored the tiny sandalwood candle in a gold pressed glass vase from Lovely Day Designs.

For my nephew, I chose one of my favorite T-shirts to add it to his growing collection of Gnome Enterprises designs. It’s the one where the tree gets its revenge on the lumberjack. My lucky husband got the fluffy black sweatshirt from Fleisher’s Grassfed Organic Meats that says, “Bacon: The Gateway Meat.” It’s a classic.

James made all the holiday cookies this year. (Tip: He added bergamot oil to the icing – amazing!) Anyway, he burned his hand several times taking them out of the oven using our pitiful oven mitts. So I gave him a gorgeous handmade oven rack pull from Meb’s Kitchenwares. It’s in the shape of a fish, and it was a bit of a mystery to everyone until I explained what it was. They all agreed it was brilliant.

Speaking of brilliant, the crayon apron from Pickleboots was the runaway winner with my two-year-old niece, although the pink handbag with a furry mouse in the pocket got a lot of love too.

And finally, there were two piéces de resistance for my brother-in-law Thom. The four of us recently went on vacation to Paris. All Thom wanted was unusual French salts, but he didn’t get any. So when we saw this beautiful collection of salts from Gneiss Spices at the Brooklyn Lyceum, we thought of him. The cute jars are magnetic, and you can store the salts (3 of which are French, and 2 of which are pink) on your fridge.

We also gave Thom a beautiful sign from Yee Haw Industries that says, “Carve that Possum.” He placed it at the top of the tree. We’ll frame it for his workshop after the holidays.

This New Year’s Eve brings us a full moon, a blue moon, a partial lunar eclipse! A lot of great things are going to happen with the Markets of New York blog in the new year, and I am already excited about the book’s release in June. Visit often!

Have a safe and happy new year. And don’t forget to look up!

Brooklyn Lyceum Holiday Craft Market – A Procrastinator’s Paradise

Yes, I left some of my shopping until this weekend. But I totally scored at The Brooklyn Lyceum Holiday Craft Market. In addition to cupcakes, chocolate, and sandwiches that kept me going, the handmade merchandise was impressive. The Lyceum is an excellent space for a market, and I heard a lot of people saying that they liked the way the crowd could easily flow through the aisles this year.

To see all the wonderful exhibitors, you’ll have to brave the snow yourself on Sunday. But I’ll give you a few examples of some of them.

Lovely Day Designs has hand-poured soy candles in vintage teacups, pressed-glass votives, and porcelain gravy boats, and other decorative items as well. One of the more unusual things I came across was the living jewelry from McFlashpants, tiny plants rooted in eensy vials hanging as pendants on a necklace. McFlashpants also makes unique jewelry made of vintage cutlery. Everything Tiny creates laser cut accessories using bright colors and fun images like dinosaurs, Leggos, deer, and (my favorite) dachshunds. Fortunately for my little nieces, I came across Pickleboots and got some really great kid things for them.

I really liked the graphic images printed on pages torn from unusual books by Girls Can Tell. The soaps from Nordea all smell divine, and her felted scrubber soaps in bright colors would be great stocking stuffers. The framed prints from Raw Toast Design are colorful, skillfully drawn, and darkly funny, like the “poor calamari” being eaten by seagulls. For really great T-shirts, I couldn’t resist the bright pink giant squid from Squidfire. And Miss Wit lives up to her name with some really great shirts, like the one that says, “I can’t stop googling myself.” For the nostalgic people on your list, definitely stop by Another Work In Progress for handmade spiral notebooks made from vintage board games, like Candy Land, Bingo, Monopoly, and more.

Brooklyn Lyceum: Saturday and Sunday, December 19 – 20, 11A – 7 P

Tomorrow is the last weekend day to shop! So pull on your ear grips and mukluks and hit the markets!

Two Downtown Holiday Markets

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There are two great handmade holiday markets just a block from each other downtown: The Bowery Bazaar and Brooklyn Flea’s Gifted Market

The Bowery Bazaar is a collection of designers and artisans selling their wonderful wares from small boutiques. An intimate shopping experience, the Bazaar is a good place to find many special gifts for the people on your shopping list. One of my favorite little shops features the playful and remarkable knit jewelry of KnitKnit Knits; fun throw pillows from Alexandra Ferguson with appliquéd messages like, “Be Nice or Leave,” and “Let’s Make Out”; and the colorful dresses with unusual screened graphics by Better Than Jam. Look up, and you’ll see embossed pinholes of light shining through lampshades by warpeDesign. There are a lot more boutiques chock-full of beautifully made gift items.

Just around the corner on E. 4^th Street is the Gifted Holiday Market, Brooklyn Flea’s home for the holidays until the locations at Fort Green and Brooklyn Bridge reopen in April.

The second you walk through the door of the former Tower Records store, the energy of this market gets you in the mood to jump right into the crowds flowing up and down the aisles. The first thing I did was pop a delicious chocolate cupcake with lavender icing from Kumquat Cupcakery. I picked up a really great T-shirt for someone on my list at Gnome Enterprises. The New New’s space is shared by several different and talented artisans. AdornmentsNYC helped me cross several challenging types off my shopping list. To save our skin from winter, I picked up a jar of Balm of Gilead from australianScent for my mom and myself. This concentrated face and body moisturizer smells divine. And there is so much more to see and buy.

Both markets have convenient hours, and many of the vendors accept credit cards. So head downtown and check out these two markets. Maybe you’ll cross everything off your shopping lists too.

Bowery Bazaar at 351 Bowery between E. 3rd & E. 4th Streets: Friday & Saturday 12P – 8P, Sunday 11A – 6P

Brooklyn Flea’s Gifted Holiday Market at 20 E. 4^th Street at Lafayette: Every Day December 16 – 24, 12P – 7:00 PM

New Amsterdam Market Presents Wintermarket

This Sunday is the final New Amsterdam Market for the year. It looks like it is going to be as amazing as the other three were.

For the uninitiated, The New Amsterdam Market is held under the FDR elevated highway in the South Street Seaport. The market features food purveyors who source their products and ingredients directly from local farmers and producers. Hopefully this market will find a permanent home in the currently empty Fulton Fish Market. For now, though, it takes place periodically each year. (Check their website for a calendar of events.)

Not only is the market quite beautiful, with its clean white and black banners indentifying each vendor, but the quality of products there is superb. I try and listen to people in the crowd because I hear about wonderful things that I had walked right by, like the bean-to-bar chocolate bars from Mast Brothers. At the November Market, I went immediately to the Basis table for a jar of golden honey and dozen free-range eggs as they sold out quickly in October.

There will be over 75 food purveyors at this weekend’s markets. On Sunday, I will definitely stop by Fleishers Grass Fed and Organic Meats because I am giving the gift of bacon this year. There is always a lovely selection of artisanal breads and cheeses, including Hotbread Kitchen and Saxelby Cheesemongers. There are wonderful representatives from regional creameries, vinyards, farms and much more. I strongly advise that you bring your holiday food shopping list because the vendors are prepared to help you with anything you plan to serve your families and guests.

You can also pick up some great things for the foodies in your life. The gift of pickles is just below bacon on my list, especially the extremely creative varieties from Rick’s Picks. We gave a jar of Mother-In-Law’s Kimchee to the right person and made him very happy. Caramels, lollies, and “slurtles” from Liddabit Sweets make great stocking stuffers (just keep them away from the fire!).

To round out your shopping list, stop by and visit Little Bookroom, publisher of beautiful, delightful and extremely informative travel and food guides. I’ll be at this table, wearing 10 pairs of socks and every pair of thermals I can dig up. Please come and say hello!