A Look at Urban Craft Uprising's Winter Show
We stopped by the Urban Craft Uprising winter show this past weekend with a wallet full of cash and a hankering for hand-printed Christmas cards. The event got some pretty good press, and the Exhibition Hall at Seattle Center was pleasantly packed with a good crowd out to ogle the handmade wares of over 100 independent vendors.
Urban Craft Uprising is not a community craft fair. These are professional crafters, artists, and designers, and the fifth year of the annual event (although UCU added its first summer show this year). This year’s show featured functional art like belts, bags, jewelry, handmade clothes and hand-screened shirts, cards, buttons, notebooks, craft kits, and a smattering of your standard artwork as well. A workshop schedule was operating on the sidelines, too, with demos on needle felting, making ribbon flowers and an intro to soft electronics.
As with any business, it helps to have an online presence, and many of the vendors do have websites or etsy shops. But the nice thing about these types of fairs is the ability to see and touch things, share in the sense of community, and often meet and talk to the artist who made what’s on display (which, after a long conversation, makes it tad awkward when you sidle away without buying anything).
Some of our favorite pieces were Style Garden’s cakestands fashioned from vintage plates, recycled and remolded crayons by CheyLoCreations, and baby clothes by LuCoo so adorable they will make your uterus hurt.
Seattlest Regis was there too, snooping around with his camera, so check out his pics from the fair and stay tuned for Urban Craft Uprising’s 2010 summer show. Also take a peek at UCU’s Strangercrombie 2009 auction package of twenty handmade items donated by vendors from the winter fair. Bidding ends Friday! All proceeds from the auction will be donated to charity.
