A Day of Handmade

Ahhhh, the gift fair. Or gift show. You hear it both ways. Folks fly from around the globe to both exhibit and attend. I adore it. But it can also be incredibly tiring, joyful, fun, stressful, annoying and exciting–all within a several span of aisles chock o’ block full of goods. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. It is a roller coaster of emotions, all rolled up into a days work. Yesterday I was in the handmade section. What I love most about that is you are dealing firstly with the artisans. When you order, most often, you are working directly with the creator of what you are buying. I love the intimacy of it. When we sell one of these objects, I know it has been made for us to sell to you. Most to all of these artisans make things to order, so there is no large room with a back-stock of inventory. When I ask for 12 plates to be put on the order, those 12 plates are being made for Watson Kennedy. To me, it makes the whole handmade process incredibly rewarding, for both the buyer and the maker. Here are a few things that really made me stop and pause.

I think I must have been in an earth tone mood yesterday, as this is what my eye was drawn to photograph. All such beautiful things. The necklace with the hand stopped me in my tracks. That bowl is huge and the weight is substantial, the beauty extraordinary. The artisan who makes the faux bois plates also makes trays, bowls & platters, so look for these soon in displays at the shops.

I get very focused when I am buying, so my apologies for not shooting a ton of photos. More to come, as that was just day 1, I have 3 more action packed days of buying left…