The New Market in Town
Living in NYC, I can tell you that peeps love their flea/craft markets. I am here to let you know that there is a new market in town (variety is the spice of life!) The LIC Flea & Food opened it's gates on June 15th to much fanfare. Located in Long Island City, Queens, it is a hop, skip, and a jump from Manhattan, and also a quick train ride from Brooklyn. I have been a vendor there on Saturdays since opening day, and I am having a great time. I always ask anyone that stops by my booth if they live in the neighborhood. Surrounding the flea are many new luxury high-rise apartments, and some more are in the midst of construction. Just about all of the neighborhood folks that stop by are really happy to have a new market nearby. They often show their support by coming out and shopping!
Now, I am going to be honest...I don't like the word flea. I sell handmade goods, and many folks approach my booth and try to haggle with me about prices. I understand, that's what you do at flea markets, but I am firm on my prices, so I don't play that game. I will say that this market has a nice mix. Not too many "junky" looking booths. The market itself does not promote food over crafts, or vintage over handmade (not like another market which shall remain nameless....)
Here is just a sampling of the wonderful artists who show off their wares every weekend:
Tree-D Patchwork are beautiful works of 3-D art using different mediums, including fabric. Contact owner and creator, Meryl Thurston if you want your own personalized piece made from sentimental blankets, clothes, or any other fabric.
Designer Annaliza Pasaylo-Huffnagle uses her native Filipino culture as inspiration for her Maarté by Iza collection of "Eco Friendly Jewelry", that makes a statement without saying a word.
Janet Belden is a life-long ceramicist that has a wide variety of beautiful pieces. She has also shared her expertise and knowledge by teaching classes at the West Side YMCA for over twenty years!
I am always impressed with artists like this. Drawing and painting is a talent that you are born with (I don't think I could teach myself...you either have it or you don't) My photo does not do true justice to her beautiful work with pastels.
Need to adopt a robot? This dynamic duo will help with that. Wonderful and whimsical pieces would be right at home in any decor!
I have to say that these guys have saved my life every weekend. It has been HOT in NYC, and there is nothing better than shaved ice! This friendly bunch shave the ice using bike power! I have tried many different flavors including green apple, watermelon, lemonade, and dreamsicle....yum!
I hope you get a chance to stop by and check out the market. Located in LIC, Queens (46th ave & 5th street) the market is open every Saturday and Sunday (10a-6p) and should be open through October.
Until next time....happy crafting!
Nordea nordeasoaperie
Who is the NewNew?
Our group tag line says "hand crafted in the NY Metro area." And if you've ever been to a team meeting, you know there are quite a few of us. But really...who are we? Who makes up the NewNew?
I decided to find out with a little help from Survey Monkey & their free 10 question survey. So, let me introduce you to the NewNew...survey-style
We are overwhelmingly female. Not that we don't have some boys join in our fun. We do! But, for the first time in the NY Metro area, they are in the minority.
We are mostly a group of 30-somethings. We do have representatives in the 20 somethings category & several people in each category above 30-somethings so the age range is really long in this group. Isn't that cool? I feel like I am honing a craft now that I could potentially keep up. Or change! Hand crafting is ageless!
We seem to be a highly educated group. Most of the group who responded have a 4 year undergraduate degree with a large percentage with graduate degrees. Look at us - all little smarty pants :)
So who are we so far? So far the NewNew is a 30-something female with at least a college degree...and she isn't married. The largest number of answers on our survey in the marriage category were for those who had never been married, but it was almost a 50-50 split with those who are married. So, not the strongest question to determine who we are, I suppose.
We also don't have a lot of kids. Actually more than 80% don't have any at all. Perhaps this is a good time to mention that we have close to 200 members & only about 30% of them answered the survey. This is not a scientific analysis, but I would go out on a limb to say that we have plenty of members with kids & that perhaps that's why the response rate was a little low. It's cool, ladies! Next time...
Our most popular borough to live in? Brooklyn. Followed closely by Manhattan. The only borough not represented in our group appears to be the Bronx. Go figure...
And now for the nitty gritty...what do we make?? The answer: Jewelery. Lots of it. Here's my very first pie chart since high school, showing the break down. The list of categories in the key on the right are the categories you will find NewNew shops in & comes from the list on the Etsy homepage, fyi.
After jewelry, the majority of our makers are in the Paper Goods & Art category, though we are represented in almost every category. We are a pretty diverse set of crafters. Also interesting to note is that a lot of our members do more than one thing. One jeweler in our group also makes cake toppers. One photographer also silkscreens.
Almost done! I also thought it was interesting to know whether or not our 30-something Brooklynite without kids who has a killer jewelry line sells anywhere other than Etsy. And the overhwhelming answer is YES!
Where does this lovely lady like to sell? All over! Seriously almost each respondent had a different market that they look forward to. Of course, you can almost ALWAYS find representatives of the NewNew at the Brooklyn Flea. If you had a visit to Governor's Island this summer, we had a nifty pop-up store there. Also check out Better than Jam NYC in Bushwick & Black Bear Vintage in Windsor Terrace (Hello! Both Brooklyn!). To really find us, try our events page, right here on the blog. See the tab at the top? Local NYC Events? There you go...
I hope you'll come out & see us at one of the events! Look for a 30-something woman, who looks like she lives in Brooklyn, is probably wearing her very own killer jewelry without a stroller in sight...Very generally speaking anyway...