Friday, January 15, 2010

Better Late Than Never, SoWa Holiday Show Pictures!

After a full summer, fall and winter of art markets and craft shows, we were really relieved to get a break from hauling our things around and 15 hour days. If you've never set up and sold at a show, take it from many of us--it's exhausting (but often fun) work. Even so, after looking through some of our photos of our last show recently, I started to miss the folks we get to see so often during those seasons!

First, a few pictures of us (luckily I get to see Tony all the time). Here's Tony in our booth:




Tony hand painted this little Twitter sign for shows.


There are photos of Tony as a child making this
weird face for the camera--guess it's for life.

Below are some pictures of friends and fellow makers at the SoWa Holiday Market, which took place in December.

At the show I was happy to get to know Shelley from Albertine Press a little bit better. She works on an antique press in Somerville making cards, calendars, custom wedding invites and other paper goods. Shelley wasn't feeling well at the show but graciously allowed me to photograph her in the booth:



My favorites from her booth: Paper cut Letterpress Coasters, 'cause they're rainbow!


Our near neighbor was also one of our favorite maker-friends, Mimi Kirchner. If you haven't seen her dolls in person, you really must. Her recent tattooed ladies are awesome and will likely make you think differently about handmade dolls.




A little girl and her dad admire Mimi's handiwork.


Liz Smith from Made in Lowell was showing off her handmade felted and ploymer wares along with her husband (with whom we conspired to get Liz a Chroma Lab clock for Christmas!):



Liz's famous felted pin cushion cupcakes.


A great souvenir of Boston: Fenway Park Coasters from Lucie Wicker Photography!

Jen and Brian from Zooguu travel often from Brooklyn, where they live and work, to Boston, where they participate in a lot of local shows. Their handmade, rotund stuffed creatures always fly off their well-designed shelves:


Jen told me at the beginning of the show that I would never catch both her and Brian in the booth at the same time for a photo. I did catch them once there together...and it was the one time I was walking around without my camera. I'll get you next time, Jen and Brian, next time!




Brian designs all kinds of cute characters.
My fellow Jane-ites can get his Austen print here.


Jennifer Hill of JHillDesign was selling prints from her series, "Places I Have Never Been." The one seen on the left here is her Austin print, a personal favorite of this Texan:


This show was the first time we met the folks from Looka Jewelry. They're from Northampton, MA, and their delicate and whimsical jewerly is handmade from gold, silver, and copper:




The two-toned bunny and envelope necklaces are especially sweet.


Vintage by Crystal brought her handmade spun cotton figurines and ornaments, which were universally ooohed and ahhhed over. Tony's mom bought an adorable giraffe figurine for her Christmas tree.




(Psst, hey, Mallory, here is a great looking squid to add to your collection!):


Jessica and Jesse of Nervous System were in full effect at the show with their amazing intricate jewelry. They design computer programs which in turn generate their pieces' organic designs:



I had been after their pieces for a long time, and at this show I finally got a Radiolaria necklace, the design of which is derived from the structure of protozoa. Jessica explained it all to me, but not being an MIT-trained architect/biologist/mathematician, I totally lost it. It looks great even if I can't explain it!


Right across from us was Eling from Migration Jewelry, who had some really cute and colorful handmade felt pieces like these bib necklaces, below:






We got one of Eling's Blossom Clips as a thank you
gift for our friend who was dog-sitting for us that day.



Stella Marie Soap Company was also across from us at the show. We were totally charmed by her business manifesto, which cited feminist influences, and her pop culture-inspired, handmade soaps. Some of them reference classic horror movies or are named after bands and their songs. Dinosoap, Jr.? Hilarious.



A tribute to the Pixies: Here Comes Your Soap.


Rosemary's Baby soap and a tribute to Stephen King's Carrie.


We're looking forward to seeing you all this summer!

5 comments:

zoetropa said...

This is a great post! So many talented people in our area. Yay!

Liz Smith said...

Aww, thanks for the sweet pic and shout out! Great to see so many familiar faces featured too. I LOVE that clandestinely procured clock BTW, whee!

Mallory said...

i love seeing the way people present their goods at craft shows (the nervous system booth is SO great!)

& i definitely know of vintage by crystal's squid. she has an octopus in her etsy shop i've had my eye on for awhile.

Jen (zooguu) said...

Thanks for the nice words and great pictures! It's always so nice to see you guys when we're in town - we're big fans!

Chroma Lab said...

Pam, if only you were there, it would have been more complete.

Liz, we're really glad you're enjoying your clock!

Mallory, Nervous System is even better in person! I'm glad you know of the octopi/squid options Crystal offers. Just checkin'!

Jen, can't wait to see you again! Tony's brother is going to have a baby, so we'll be needing one of your critters.