PRESS
Is Akron’s Crafty Mart the anti-Black Friday? This weekend, shoppers chat with artisans who made what they’re selling
By Amanda Garrett
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: November 26, 2016 - 09:17 PM |
A moth hole in the tweed of her husband’s suit jacket led Jennifer Couch to an art project that has evolved into a business.
The jacket couldn’t be saved, but Couch didn’t want to throw away the beautiful tweed, so she figured out how to turn the fabric into a handbag — reusing the buttons, pockets and cuffs as decoration.
Now, seven years later, the Akron woman saves suits that would otherwise be put in a landfill and turns then into purses, computer bags and totes, sewing in a hidden layer of denim between the tweed and bag lining for strength and attaching seat-belt strapping as a durable, adjustable shoulder strap.
This weekend, Couch (her business is called Jenci) is among 75 artisans and craft makers selling their goods at Akron’s eighth annual holiday Crafty Mart. Vendors are spread over three downtown venues within blocks of each other: the Akron Art Museum, Summit Artspace and Musica, a warehouse-turned-music club.
Saturday’s Crafty Mart felt like the anti-Black Friday. Instead of fighting for bargains on mass-produced items made thousands of miles away, shoppers were hunting for locally made items and talking to the men and women who produced them.
Sue Belopotosky, 69, and her daughter, Jean Byers, 46, pulled back their coat sleeves and revealed matching finds from Liz Stutzman’s vintageliz in Musica. The hand-dyed, blue leather bracelets wrap twice around their wrists before fastening with a large silver shackle that looks sort of like a horseshoe.
“She cut them to fit each of us,” Byers said. Both mother and daughter said they have tiny wrists and bracelets often fall off. They were thrilled to find something cut to fit while they waited.
Belopotosky, a retired nurse, said it’s also thrilling to shop local, especially when they can buy gifts that help a good cause. After their annual stop for handbags at Couch’s Jenci, they were headed to the booth of Not Wasted, a nonprofit jobs training program helping women who have been incarcerated or recovering from addiction.
Every vendor has a story......
By Amanda Garrett
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: November 26, 2016 - 09:17 PM |
A moth hole in the tweed of her husband’s suit jacket led Jennifer Couch to an art project that has evolved into a business.
The jacket couldn’t be saved, but Couch didn’t want to throw away the beautiful tweed, so she figured out how to turn the fabric into a handbag — reusing the buttons, pockets and cuffs as decoration.
Now, seven years later, the Akron woman saves suits that would otherwise be put in a landfill and turns then into purses, computer bags and totes, sewing in a hidden layer of denim between the tweed and bag lining for strength and attaching seat-belt strapping as a durable, adjustable shoulder strap.
This weekend, Couch (her business is called Jenci) is among 75 artisans and craft makers selling their goods at Akron’s eighth annual holiday Crafty Mart. Vendors are spread over three downtown venues within blocks of each other: the Akron Art Museum, Summit Artspace and Musica, a warehouse-turned-music club.
Saturday’s Crafty Mart felt like the anti-Black Friday. Instead of fighting for bargains on mass-produced items made thousands of miles away, shoppers were hunting for locally made items and talking to the men and women who produced them.
Sue Belopotosky, 69, and her daughter, Jean Byers, 46, pulled back their coat sleeves and revealed matching finds from Liz Stutzman’s vintageliz in Musica. The hand-dyed, blue leather bracelets wrap twice around their wrists before fastening with a large silver shackle that looks sort of like a horseshoe.
“She cut them to fit each of us,” Byers said. Both mother and daughter said they have tiny wrists and bracelets often fall off. They were thrilled to find something cut to fit while they waited.
Belopotosky, a retired nurse, said it’s also thrilling to shop local, especially when they can buy gifts that help a good cause. After their annual stop for handbags at Couch’s Jenci, they were headed to the booth of Not Wasted, a nonprofit jobs training program helping women who have been incarcerated or recovering from addiction.
Every vendor has a story......