I had the honor of having Mike Pappas as one of my pottery instructors at Hinckley Pottery in Adams Morgan. As a teacher he was supportive and encouraging with a great sense of humor. As a potter his work is a combination of beauty and functionality. His organic shapes and forms are unlike anything I’ve seen [...]

Song/Craft is an irregular series on music and the handmade movement.

There are the things familiar to just about everyone who’s ever shopped a handmade marketplace: soaps in heady scents, pendants in the shapes of birds and octopuses, totes and T-shirts decorated with bicycles, turntables, and cassettes. And then there are the things Juli Sherry and [...]

Song/Craft is an irregular series on music and the handmade movement.

Most musicians can point to a song, album, or concert that changed their lives. Seja Vogel can point to a craft project. “I always loved making little felt presents when I was younger, but I never thought it was something special or different,” she recalls. [...]

Song/Craft is an irregular series on music and the handmade movement.
Michael Rucci has spent the past three years designing small electronic devices that can be used to play a very large number of songs. But don’t think for a minute that he’s envious of the iPod. “Because everything’s been so miniaturized. … I’m not sure [...]

(vintage Kmart tag photo by Roadsidepictures)
“$22 for $35 worth of letterpress cards!” I get so mad when I encounter crafters selling their wares at ridiculous discounts. And recently a spate of handmade discounting schemes has popped up, making me fear the Walmartization of crafts has begun.
First up, Heartsy.me is like Groupon for handmade goods. Vendors [...]

On the last weekend in January I walked the New York International Gift Fair for the first time as a merchant. It was a large, sprawling and exhausting show. The biggest take away I got from this ginormous expo was the importance of story. As a merchant, story was everything to me.
I walked the floor [...]