Make It makes craft fairs cool
‘It’s like Etsy in real life,’ says creator of indie show coming to Stampede Park
Craft Fair. For the longest while it conjured up images of grannies with soggy tissues tucked into the sleeves of their woollen sweater while knitting teapot cozies. That is until entrepreneur Jenna Herbut appeared on the scene and debunked this notion, flipping it right over.
Herbut, 35, has reinvented the craft fair with her own curated show called Make It, transforming it into something ... cool. This indie show hits Calgary April 7 to 9 at the Big Four Building.
The impetus to create Make It in her Edmonton hometown in 2008 with her brother, Chandler, was born out of her experiences as the Booty Beltz vendor at craft fairs and street festivals across Canada and the United States. (Calgarians may also remember seeing her jewel-embellished fabric belts in Purr.)
What Herbut noticed was that despite the cool stuff being sold by young, hip artists, the stigma continued to be a stumbling block for public attendance, particularly Herbut’s generation.
So the University of Alberta marketing grad began rethinking ways of energizing and rejuvenating the craft fair experience. At Make It shows a fun, upbeat vibe is palatable, much like Herbut herself who is infectiously enthusiastic. Here, vendors are known as Makies, there are food trucks and a beer garden, and past shows have hosted DJs and live bands.
The rebranding has been a success. From its first show in 2008 with 30 booths in a community centre in Edmonton, last year’s show featured 250 exhibitors and attracted more than 18,000 shoppers to the PNE Forum in Vancouver. Every year it produces events at Christmas and spring in Vancouver and Edmonton. (Chandler’s Tshirt company Ole Originals, the hand-printed graphics of Canadian hometowns, which he exhibited at Make It shows, became such a hit he left the partnership last year to devote full attention to it.)
Returning to Calgary after six years, this spring’s show presents more than 175 exhibitors from all over Canada, 45 of whom are Calgarians. Vendors to look for are Rhonda Law’s BARK ( barkyyc. com), selling her healthy homemade dog treats, such as heartshaped wooffles (waffles), poop emoji biscuits and her hand-sewn Drake and Beyonce dog bandanas. Inspired by her rescue greyhounds, this self-declared Netflix addict and Beyonce fan started BARK in 2015.
If someone’s smiling at your belt buckle, it must surely be Tora Boyle and Lara Hughes’ buckle-on ( buckle-on.ca). Fun and exquisite, their wearable art features Lego figures, sporting goods, upcycled jewelry, beach rocks and
pretty much any quirky object that comes their way. The friends started buckle-on in 2010 with dried flower buckles and over the years they’ve even surprised each other with their designs at the Lilac Festival, Millarville Christmas Market and the Festival of Crafts.
Enjoy your morning coffee in a piece of artwork. ACAD grads Sarah and Blair Dawes of Salty Sea Dog Designs (saltyseadogdesigns.com) create whimsical ceramics as well as sculptured tiki mugs, robot mugs, and mugs with octopus tentacles climbing up the side.
“We are easygoing, free spirited and a little crazy. We want all of our work to reflect this attitude,” says the pair.
At first glance, it seems that Make It is in direct competition with the better-known Etsy. But, in fact, a lovely cross-pollination exists between the two. Etsy is a valuable platform for the Makies, Herbut says, and almost all of the exhibitors have a presence on it. In the past, Etsy ran a booth at Make It, and Herbut also worked as an Etsy educator teaching the proprietors how to market themselves more effectively in its evergrowing realm.
It’s also been a great reference point for her.
“Sometimes when I describe Make It as a craft show it doesn’t always sound so sexy. But when I say, it’s like Etsy in real life, people think it’s cool. It’s also really neat that Etsy has become a household name.”
In the spirit of the arts, there’s really no reason two craft entities can’t play nicely together.
With the import of mass-produced disposable junk, these artists are leading the handmade revolution.
“I think everyone is creative,” says Herbut, whose office is in Vancouver’s Gastown, “and we literally have so much power in our hands.”
And as conscious shoppers, supporting the local arts community and having a conversation with the person who made the handmade item and learning the story of how it came to be is so much more meaningful than clicking Go to Shopping Cart.