Jewelry Making

A quick note for jewelry makers who live up in the Bay Area in California. The well-known multi-city indie craft show Bazaar Bizarre has expanded to include San Francisco as a venue.

Originally started up in the Boston area back in 2001 by Greg Der Ananian, the Bazaar Bizarre was an attempt to share personal artsy creations with other like-minded folks who were into making crafts that weren’t typically sold at “your granny’s craft fair.”

The fair has had successful shows in Boston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. We actually participated as Bellaceti at last year’s Bazaar Bizarre Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium, and although the sales didn’t exactly provide the windfall we had expected the show was a nice first experience as a vendor. There were quite a few jewelry makers as well, so there was some expected competition. But a ton of people attended the all day show.

The newest Bazaar location will actually be at the Maker Faire which takes place at the San Mateo Fairgrounds near SF. The event is taking place this Spring on April 22-23, 2006. Unlike the previous Bazaar Bizarres, this one is not going to be a standalone event; but the Maker Faire will definitely attract a similar clientele since it’s put on by Make Magazine. The fair will feature The Mythbusters and “all kinds of people who make amazing things in garages, basements, and backyards.”

I’m not sure how this Bazaar will differ from previous ones… one other thing to note is that it’s held over two days, whereas the normal Bazaars are usually just one day. If you should be interested in being a jewelry vendor, you should probably contact them to find out more.

The Bazaare Bizarre website is located at: http://bazaarbizarre.org/