Painters, Potters and Makers – Oh My!
Over the Weekend, Washington Showcased Its Crafty Side
Politicians and businessmen aren’t the only crafty residents of Washington, D.C. Hundreds of art aficionados and cultured consumers swarmed Buzzard Point this weekend for Washington City Paper’s Crafty Arts and Makers Festival, transforming the often-overlooked lot next to Audi Field into a smorgasbord of artisanal goods.
Now in its sixteenth year, the Crafty Festival is not your average art show. Not only does the event showcase makers, but it also builds community. Food trucks on the outskirts of the festival, surrounds the stage which alternately features panel discussions and musical guests. Topped with interactive installations and alcohol tents, the festival turns supporting local artists into a sporting event.
Unlike an athletic arena, however, the Crafty Festival is devoid of competitive energy. Booths are intricately arranged, with similar items often situated closely together (take four urban-inspired jewelry brands located catty corner to one another) but makers are hardly territorial. They often attend the same shows, where they connect with, inspire and encourage each other.
“There’s this really beautiful community of people that are mostly supportive and enthusiastic, and you begin to see the same faces [at each craft show],” says Jessica Haynes, the designer of the jewelry brand Alice Rise. “It is fun to run into the same people in different cities.”
This year marks Haynes’s first time at the Crafty Festival, making her an anomaly among her fellow jewelry designers, many of whom have been frequenting the festival for several years. Entering new creative spaces is part of the bravery behind forming Alice Rise, according to Haynes.
“The idea of actually taking [Alice Rise] seriously as a business felt scary and I was also incredibly determined,” Haynes says. This is exciting for me to put it out there, with all of my hopefulness, with no guarantee that it would necessarily become profitable.”
Crafty’s profitability is precisely what continues to attract veteran designers. Many makers see in-person events as opportunities to bring their Etsy stores to life and connect with potential customers on a personal level. Shows and social media, they say, are intricately connected.
“One serves the other,” says jewelry designer Virginie Millefiori. “If I just stayed home and waited for people to trickle to my website, it would not happen. I need to meet people in person first, and it turns into online sales afterward.”
This year, several brands presented eye, ear, neck, wrist and finger candy primed for an Instagram moment. Millefiori’s pastel playground of dainty necklaces featuring synchronized swimmers and half-eaten popsicles echo the whimsy and nostalgia of social media sensations like The Last Line.
Then there’s AMiRA, which combines stones, beads, metal, paint and other materials to create ornately detailed bohemian designs. The brand’s designer, Amira Axe, says the pieces reflect her extensive travels throughout South America.
“I spent time in Argentina years ago, and I learned macramé from a local artist,” Axe says, “so [I fuse] colors and shapes and textures together in that vein, in the tradition of South American art work and Indian artwork, Mexican — cultures that have really colorful patterns.”
Most attendees gravitate to the jewelry designers utilizing unconventional materials or adhering to bold aesthetics. Popular booths include Sorcery Science, a brand inspired by molecular science and nature, and Jini & Tonic, which is spearheaded by an unapologetically feminist millennial.
Some common threads throughout brands include. Architecture and geometry are heavy influences (see Romy Studio and Bird of Virtue), where metallic tones run rampant; but, for the most part, the abundance of creativity at Crafty lends itself to less repetition.
It’s unclear whether the lack of high-fashion bred trends at the Crafty Arts and Makers Festival is reflective of a larger industry (and cultural) renunciation of trends or whether it is a testament to the continuous creative energy radiating off the maker generation. Either way, teeming treasures for all shoppers, proved that, in a city powered by politics and big business, the art community always finds a way to thrive.
