Crafting a Community

One of the best things about Crafty Bastards is the community of vendors, volunteers, and visitors it creates. We all have stories about people that we meet at Crafty every year and in the end it is really the best part of the fair. Maria Fyodorova of Barefoot Czarina wrote to tell us about one such connection:

I’m excited to be a part of the Crafty Bastards experience in 2008. I love that Crafty Bastards works to connect local artists with the buying public and with each other. I’ve lived in DC for almost 17 years and it is encouraging to see the artistic community that is emerging. Crafty Bastards is also a great way to meet people from around the city that you might never meet otherwise. As a matter of fact, I was lucky to meet Ksenya, one of the Crafty Bastards volunteers, at the volunteer/vendor party, who ended up modeling some jewelry for me. We connected immediately because we were both born in Moscow. She just moved to the States and had signed up to volunteer for Crafty Bastards to get involved in what the city has to offer and to meet people. She had this fearless, yet laid back quality that really resonated with me – it was the kind of vibe I was going for with the new line.

Here are the results of Maria and Ksenya’s collaboration:

Of her work, Maria writes:

I have always been inspired by nature in my designs, but have, over the last few years, become more aware of the negative environmental impacts of the metal and gemstone industries. This year, I decided to incorporate reclaimed and vintage materials into my designs to decrease their impact on the environment. For a number of pieces, I have used reclaimed and vintage leather. I have also scoured flea markets for pre-owned and vintage jewelry components to incorporate into my designs. I am also psyched to be working on a small line of Obama-inspired jewelry, which will be available at Crafty Bastards. (Ksenya is wearing two Obama necklaces in one of the photos.)

Check out Barefoot Czarina at booth #42 at the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair this Sunday, September 28th from 10am-5pm at the Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.