Radar Redux.com is expanding the traditional concept of journalism, to cover a wide array of Baltimore Arts and Culture. We are a partnership between the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Johns Hopkins University.
On May 9, anyone who happened to pass Mt. Vernon Square would have seen the community of Baltimore crafters out in full force at the Squidfire Art Mart. Over 50 local artists-turned-entrepreneurs gathered to prove that crafting isn’t just for your great aunt anymore. The goods for sale at the Art Mart were far more creative than the yarn doilies and macramé potholders that the phrase “craft fair” usually conjures. Crafters were displaying everything from soap, stationary, herbs, jewelry, coffee, and more alternative t-shirts than you could shake your skinny jeans at. Everything was kitschy and charming, without crossing that narrow line into tacky.
The event had the feeling of an alternative shopping mall – small business owners offered their versions of wardrobe staples, free of the stale air and fluorescent lights that make traditional malls so unbearable. Prices were comparable to what you might find in a department store, but every item had a strong personal touch, and a particular aesthetic. Much of the appeal of these handmade goods is that the consumer gets to maintain a real connection with the artist/producer – it is rare nowadays to put on a t-shirt in the morning and know why the person who made it designed it the way they did. My aforementioned crafty friend says in explanation “making stuff on your own feels more like a response to a culture where people don’t make things.”
RadarRedux: You seem to have made a name for yourselves pretty quickly. How did you go from being a small Baltimore start up – your website mentions that you were selling shirts out of the back of an old Cadillac – to selling internationally?
Jean-Baptiste Regnard: Way before our first design was ever created, I knew we’d approach running a business the old fashioned way. We’d literally hit the road with our shirts and do whatever we needed to get our shirts noticed and sold. We never tried to follow a trend or have a gimmick. We’d drive from city to city making appointments with small boutiques and that worked out really well. In the beginning, it was obviously us contacting any store we thought we could get into and now its them contacting us. I’m not entirely sure how we got into stores in Australia, Japan, France, Germany and Canada but we do get written about in well known blogs and I suspect that might have something to do with it.
RR: How do you feel you fit into the rest of the Baltimore scene of handmade clothing? Do you find yourselves working with each other often, simply coexisting, or even competing?
JBR: As far as other t-shirt companies go, we support them by inviting them to our art marts. Competition is ultimately good for the consumer so every time we have an art mart, we have at least 3 or 4 other t-shirt companies attending. Naturally, they have to be pretty good to be invited.
RR: The Squidfire Art Mart this past weekend had the feeling of an alternative shopping mall – there people were selling everything from soap to shirts, and you could get food and haircuts. Was that the kind of feeling you were going for, or was it a happy coincidence? Furthermore, do you see this kind of alternative movement as something that can rival bigger brand names?
JBR: Kevin and myself are pretty eccentric. We host two shows a year, one in Mt. Vernon Square and the other in the Lyric Opera House. Those two venues are generally pretty stuffy and since both places allow us to put on events, we wanted to create a buzz amongst the shoppers. I work very hard to make sure that the events are advertised to the soccer moms in Baltimore County and to the grandmas of Roland Park. When I have a drag queen dressed us as Mrs. Clause handing out candy canes to the public, they’re most likely going to tell a friend or two about that.
RR: As a conclusion, what can we expect in the future?
JBR: We’re still in the process of hiring people to work with us. We’d love to hire a screen printer to give Kevin a break. When that happens, we can focus on getting our retail store more like a boutique. We’ve had dozens of requests from women asking for tank tops and V-necks. Lastly, just to add more stress to our lives, we’re planning on taking our Art Mart on the road and hosting a show in Philadelphia is dependant on finding the perfect venue.
Radar Redux: When and why did you start producing handmade goods?
Heather von Marko/ HVM Designs: I started my etsy shop in August of 2005. My kids were both babies, and I had left my day job to be home with them, but still needed to earn an income. I also started selling my work at the local yarn shop later that year.
Jennifer Strunge/ Cotton Monster: I’ve always been making things for as long as I can remember. At Mica I was a fiber major and made lots of soft sculptural creatures, quilts and puppets. After I graduated I realized that there was a market for the things I was already creating, I just needed to scale down my designs, find a way to keep it sustainable and get my work out there. Being an artist, handmade just made sense.
Kathy Beachler/ Illegible Ink: I guess technically the answer would be in 1981. I was first introduced to printmaking while in I was in Kindergarten. We were using leaves that we collected from our yards, inked them up and printed them on pieces of thin canvas. I loved my piece – lots of color and LOTS of leaves. My parents actually still have it framed in their entry way. From that moment on, whether it was in elementary school or college, I had much more fun making items for people as gifts than I did buying them. After my roommate had received a different printed card for every occasion over four years, she suggested I actually start charging money for my work.
My business really took off when I moved to Baltimore in 2005. I started designing handprinted wedding invitations for friends and eventually started working on the illegible ink images you see today. I was able to save up enough money to purchase a printing press (that sits in my dining room) and then fell in with a great group of crafters in the Charm City Craft Mafia and Baltimore Etsy Street Team. It is amazing to me how supportive other crafters are of one another.
Jen Menkhaus/ The Littlest Bean: I’ve always made things- it’s kind of a compulsion. But about a year after I had my daughter, I knew I wanted to step back from the chaos that was parenting and working full time, so I started my business, The Littlest Bean. About a year later, after finding out I was pregnant with my son, I left my part time work to fully concentrate on my business. I’m still incredibly busy, but at least now I can work my schedule around my kids.
Radar Redux: What do local handmade crafters have to offer consumers that major labels do not?
Heather von Marko: The personality of the maker, handcrafted quality and care, the opportunity to commission a one-of-a-kind piece without the corporate price tag, excellent customer service, an actual relationship with the artist.
Jennifer Strunge: I’m drawn to the handmade because you can see a bit of the person in their product. Its not off an assembly line, most likely its unique in some way. In a world that is continuously heading towards faster production, I find it so appealing that handmade crafters take the time to sit down, breath and create. And most likely they love their craft and it shows in their work.
Kathy Beachler: I think the best answer to this question comes from the folks at Buy Handmade (http://www.buyhandmade.org/why-buy-handmade). They give great reasons for why you should buy handmade and these are two of the reasons I always give when thinking about my own work:
1. Buying handmade makes for better gift-giving.The thought that goes into purchasing a handmade, one-of-a-kind gift for a friend or family member feels good. Your loved one knows how much time you spent thinking about their gift and how much care and attention the artist/crafter put into your gift. I always try to avoid parking lots and standing line at chain stores. I’d much rather go to a community craft show and find something really special and totally unique!
2. Buying handmade is better for the environment.We are all trying to find ways to take care of the planet and buying handmade items from your local craft community is a first step. Avoid the mass produced, plastic-wrapped and over-packaged items from chain stores and go for items made from recycled materials, handmade papers, or vegan yarn and be happy that these goods are produced locally, safely and with love. Buy Handmade encourages consumers to buy something from an artist or crafter and strike a small blow to the forces of mass production!
Jen Menkhaus: Unique, quality goods that people can feel good about spending money on. For me, it is important to support crafters, because I know the money I spend here is staying here, rather than ending up half a world away. And because right now it is important for me to be a work-at-home mom, I like that by buying handmade I can help someone else who may be doing the same thing.
Radar Redux: People have always been making things by themselves, but the demand for handmade products seems to have exploded in the past few years. Any idea why it is so cool to be crafty?
Heather von Marko: In my book, it’s always been cool to be crafty, but yes, the rest of the world does seem to have jumped on the bandwagon lately. I think it has a lot to do with a yearning for simpler ways of living- it goes hand in hand with eating locally and the environmental movement. Buy local, save transport costs (monetary and environmental), support independent artists. It’s a beautiful thing.
Jennifer Strunge: I think its always been cool to be crafty, but more recently the explosion may have just grown out of a need for it. Things just got so fast paced and the over-production of goods filling up mega stores was just overwhelming. Not that that has slowed at all, but I think it left a lot of people thinking about where their products are made, whose getting the money and wanting to feel more connected to the things that populate their lives.
Kathy Beachler: I think it all goes back to the same ideas of what local crafters have to offer vs. mass produced items. People want to buy items that are special. And in this economy people are watching what they are buying. Whatever I buy, I want it to be worth the money. For Father’s Day, I’d much rather get my Dad something handmade – whether it is a comic book or screenprinted t-shirt or a clay dinosaur toothbrush holder – than the traditional tie that he’s going to put in the back of his closet. I’d even say that I’m willing to spend more money if I know it is a well-made, one-of-a-kind piece. (And by the way, just in time for Father’s Day, you can visit the Charm City Craft Mafia’s Pile of Craft show. We are doing something a little different this year – featuring all local Baltimore crafters!)
Jen Menkhaus: There’s always going to be a part of the population who doesn’t care about handmade… who just want what the box stores have to offer. But I think there’s a growing group of people who think that handmade goods are a small part of a larger initiative to reclaim individuality and to buy with a conscience. I think it’s really exciting to watch – I hope that handmade will save the world.
Radar Redux: Does the culture in Baltimore help to shape the handmade community?
Heather von Marko: Yes! Baltimore is a very quirky town, and we love supporting our own. We have a burgeoning arts district in a part of town that was formerly pretty rough and in need of some love, as well as my neighborhood, Hampden, which is full of independent businesses and artists. Many of these shops and galleries feature local artists and crafters.
Jennifer Strunge: Baltimore by nature is a small community and the more people you know here the more you want to support them, watch them succeed. I think buying local is important to people in this city, and if given the choice to do so, either in local shops or our craft fairs people prefer to buy handmade when they can afford to do so.
Kathy Beachler: Absolutely. The neighborhood block parties (or the neighborhood watch), involvement in your community garden, volunteering at the local dog park, participating in the afterschool youth groups or yoga class and attendance at the local church – these are just some of examples of the community engagement in Baltimore. The crafting scene has emerged directly from these activities and has become a major part of the Baltimore community.
Jen Menkhaus: There are so many artists here that it would be crazy to say it doesn’t! I do think there is room to grow, though.
Radar Redux: How have organizations like Etsy impacted your business?
Heather von Marko: Etsy made my business possible, in many ways. I was wary of taking on a lot of risk when I started, so etsy was the perfect way to test the waters safely. I’ve actually used etsy a little differently than most people, and it’s opened a lot of doors for me that I wouldn’t have come to otherwise.
Jennifer Strunge: I was a little slow catching on to Etsy. The first year of my business, I ran my own online shop and sold in a local store. But more recently I’ve been selling mostly all on Etsy. Its so easy that pretty much anyone can run an etsy shop, which is good, but it also means that there is a lot out there for a customer to wade through. But all in all its a great thing for people starting up small businesses and it gives buyers an easy one stop place to find unique items without supporting sweatshops/going to the mall.
Kathy Beachler: I think it is safe to say that the local craft shows (Artstar, DIY@Artscape, Holiday Heap, Pile of Craft, Spring Bada Bing, and Squidfire Spring Art Mart) and Etsy have made my business profitable. These are great places to show off my prints as well as make connections with other crafters. Baltimore Etsy Street Team hosted an event with Design*Sponge last year where they ran workshops on how to get your business started. The Craft Mafia runs a monthly critique session – you can even show up without work and just bounce ideas off other members. These meet-ups (even happy hours) are great places to share what you are doing and get some encouragement as well as useful and FREE business advice.
Jen Menkhaus: Etsy makes it easy for anyone, from a hobbyist to a full-fledged business, to be accessible to buyers worldwide. In addition, for me, as a part of the Baltimore Etsy Street Team, it has opened up opportunities to meet and work with many, many local crafters. It has helped form a craft community, and that’s really valuable to those of us who work in often isolated environments.
RR: Do you think crafting is on the wave of trends, or do you think people are looking for a fundamental change in the way that they do business?
Heather von Marko: I think crafting is here to stay. I think people are moving in general towards that simplicity that comes with things like handmade items, especially those of us who make handmade items. I know I always check etsy (and the shop local feature in particular) before I look elsewhere for products or supplies. It’s a true supportive, loving community, and there’s nothing trendy about that.
Jennifer Strunge: I think people will continue to buy handmade as long as the economy doesn’t get much worse! I have to hope that people are hungry for unique items with a story and an individual behind them and that this will only grow stronger as more of society becomes homogenized.
Kathy Beachler: I don’t think crafting is just a fad. Craftspeople have been around longer than this generation or even my great great grandparents’ generation. I think the type of crafting I do – the mixture of fine arts and craft – is part of a new wave of “Indie” crafting. Our generation is deciding what is important to us, working out our messages, fine tuning our skills and all of these translate to our work.
Jen Menkhaus: I hope every day that this will be a fundamental change. I want to see the rise of small businesses, where people buy from people, rather than a store. I’m an idealist, but that’s one of the many reasons I do what I do.
- by Mara Pellittieri
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