Digital Young

Spring came and with it, all sorts of fairs in Bucharest where you can sell handmade accessories like earrings, necklaces, purses, personalized t-shirts, dresses etc. Fairs which are organized for a niche category of public, sign that the campaign is made only through blogs: www.craftybusiness.wordpress.com, www.kittenwear.blogspot.com, www.cerceiunici.blogspot.com.

All in the same weekend, this one. The places where these fairs are organized are special also: old Bucharest houses, with a retro image, in a perfect match with the ideology of people who make these items. These are a new cultural presence, reality in Bucharest; and maybe not only. The need for a personal aesthetics, a personal image and a specific one made young people to become bricoleurs, to make themselves objects. It is not a strange thing what they make. In a very commercial world, it should be and it is very healthy and normal to be also an anti reaction. Therefore, these are the young people who CREATE.

They are the new urban bricoleurs, the urban artisans. Here are some pictures from the artisans fair from this weekend. This first picture is a display of accessories of one of the artisan present there. You will see that every one of them makes something special and unique.

The fair took place in a backyard of a typical ancient Bucharest house. Here are the stands.

In this picture, you can see one of the artisans, a girl who made purses, like the one you see on her. And now, just some snapshots of people who came at this fair.

Now, the organizers served also lemonade and home made cookies. Here are some pictures of the table and how it was arranged.

In this picture, you can see an iron made from iron… Between lemons, cookies and flowers, you can see this iron which is very old and which functioned, not a very long while ago, with coals. Also, people played twister and felt really good.

Oke, and now, what about the objects they made? Here are some of the things they made by themselves and sold at this fair. First, special cards. Cards with different shapes, made from organic materials like basil, coco nut, so organic materials that smell nice.

And now accessories: earrings, necklaces. Made from cooked plasticine and let to cool down. The artisan made various shapes from plasticine and after that she put those ones in the cooker, and after that, the plasticine became solid. Here are some examples.

Beside plasticine, I encountered at this fair other artisans who made their accessories from clay and wood. It seems like finding unusual materials to make objects from is a challenge and also, the mark of an artisan.

Here are some paintings made by the two boys you will see in these pictures.

And just for you to see the bigger picture, here are some pictures with the house and the little balcony filled with flowers. It was a very beautiful day today in Bucharest.

If you are not bored, I will continue to research this subculture and community of practices and get deeper in their ways of fabricating these items, their influences and the representations they have towards their handicraft. And, by the way, the fair was called Crafty Business.