The Christmas crowds at indoor malls continue to dwindle as holiday shoppers opt for easier and more strategic buying online. But that doesn’t mean we are completely abandoning the tactile experience of browsing in person.
Millennials and mid-lifers, hungering for a creative outlet in a digital world, have made craft fairs the cool place to shop. Every weekend beginning in November, there have been holiday craft fairs somewhere in the North Bay. Followers and fans of the one-of-a-kind and non-returnable find know that whatever they choose for a friend or loved one, there will never be a duplicate under the tree.
All those small sales, cottage industries and Etsy shops together account for a $44 billion crafting industry, according to a 2017 survey by the Association for Creative Industries. That’s an increase of 45% since 2011.
Part of the interest in the handmade stems from concern for the environment. A lot of younger consumers in particular want things that are functional or attractive for the home, but aren’t made in China, out of nonsustainable materials like plastic.
Maker markets and craft fairs are offering a big range of gifty items that are useful or decorative for the holidays and year-round. Many of the events now are carefully curated and even competitive, so the quality is high and the selection varied.
Julie McNamara oversees the Clucktown Collective, which is hosting two holiday marketplaces in Petaluma Dec. 13 and 14. She ensures there is a balance of selection, benefiting both shoppers, who have a greater variety to choose from, and artisans, who aren’t forced to compete with other crafters making the same thing.
“It really makes a difference for me, buying small and from people who are able to use their hands to make goods,” said McNamara, who started out as a jewelry maker and has now expanded to working with natural gemstones and crystals, creating home decor like natural abalone shell bowls and frames.
Craft fairs are a natural extension of the “slow” movement that started with eating seasonal and local foods and grew to buying items not just sold locally but made locally through more sustainable means. “People want to buy local, particularly after the fires. But even before that, they were trying to get away from too many things from China,” said Carrie Jahnig, who makes spun cotton ornaments using 19th-century techniques originating in Europe. The Petaluma creative basically sticks to ingredients Victorians would have used, from organic cotton and vintage textiles to glue she makes herself. She even foraged mica from the Black Hills where she grew up, to create nontoxic glitters.
“I wanted to focus on being environmentally friendly,” Jahnig said. Her ornaments, from whimsical sea creatures and candy-colored toadstools to tiny dolls, some made with real antique doll heads, are made as heirlooms to pass down through generations.
“I use vintage handmade laces and vintage buttons and also make my own buttons out of metal,” Jahnig said. She gets her ideas from real antiques as well as books and her imagination.
Craft shoppers can find her creations at the Handmade Holiday Crafts Fair this Saturday and Sunday, one of the largest and oldest holiday craft fairs in the county.
The city-sponsored event, now in its 45th year, overtakes the Finley Community Center with more than 90 vendors, many offering practical items for the home, from candles and garden statuary and art to wreaths and seed balls.
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December 07, 2019 at 06:41AM
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Sonoma County craft fairs offer alternative to online holiday shopping - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
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