Toronto Craft Alert

Our dear friend Leah Buckareff, proprietress of Coldnap Bindery & Minister of the Toronto Church of Craft has written to share her experience of attending a craft show in Berlin, where she is currently living.  Read more of her crafty (and other sorts) of musings on her blog, Paper Made me Poor.

Trend Mafia Review
by Leah Buckareff

In the neighbourhood of Friedrichshain in Berlin, you can’t walk a block without encountering a shop devoted to local clothing labels.  Often, these shops will stock a few items by a local crafter.  So it’s evident that people are definitely making stuff here, but the ‘community’ seems a little more elusive.

On a tip, I went to check out Trend Mafia – a semi-regular craft fair.  The show’s layout (in the main floor of an office building/warehouse) was a little scattered and confusing.  I read that there was supposed to be a ‘sense tent’ for kids with stuff to explore and read, but I couldn’t find it.  The show itself also seemed a little sparsely attended – by both vendors and shoppers.  It felt a little strange attending a craft fair – especially one where I barely spoke the language of most vendors – but, since my departure from Toronto, I’ve been nixing for some handmade emersion.

Now, I’m not sure if it was just the cultural divide mixed with my own shyness in asking too many questions, but I didn’t get a sense that this was really a community of crafters and designers – something I was looking for, but possibly in the wrong place.  However, what I did find was really great and surprisingly inexpensive* craft.

beagleberlin is part of a group of, primarily, photographers and illustrators that use this city and its architecture as their main focus in what they create.  I’m really kind of obsessed with Alexanderplatz (the disco-ball TV. tower) and thus, fell in love with his little wood-mounted postcards.

Jewellery was certainly represented, and Zitronenfalter’s origami necklaces made me wish I wore more varied accessories.

Strickobjekte’s amazing booby-pillows would be fantastic on long flights and train rides.

Recycling and re-use of objects and textiles wasn’t as represented as I thought might be, but KaWeDe design did it well with their surprisingly cute tire and boating textile creations.

There were bags and dresses a plenty such as cute Tovitatoday’s wrapped creations, and knickelkopp’s big, cute, and practical shoulder bag.

Coming away from this show, I realize that I’ve only just peeked a tiny bit of what’s happening in this city where craft is concerned and fairs don’t play as large a part in the community as they do back home.  After all, the many flea markets happening across the city every weekend are densely populated with crafters, artists, and designers alongside cheap electronics and stacks of dishes.  Maybe they’re just not as necessary as they are to us in Toronto.  I’ve got a few more events coming up in the next few weeks so I’ll keep you posted.

*The cost of living is roughly half of what it is in Toronto; however, the unemployment rate is much higher.   This is what accounts for the lower prices on just about everything in this city.