Handmade Arcade Provides Outlet for Two Local Artisans

Sipping coffee from the lid of a thermos, Mike Budai eyed a group of slow-shuffling passersby. They stopped in front of his table briefly, shifting gazes between art prints, T-shirts and posters that he had displayed for sale.

“First hour, it’s just lookers,” Budai said with a laugh, watching the group saunter across the concrete floor of The David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

For Budai, a printmaker based in , Saturday marked the fifth time that he’d participated in Handmade Arcade, a craft fair composed of do-it-yourself artisans.

Established in 2004, the annual Pittsburgh event started as a modest expo of 32 vendors that drew 1,000 patrons, according to Jennifer Baron, Handmade Arcade’s public-relations coordinator. This year, the event included 120 vendors and anticipated a crowd of roughly 9,000, Baron said.

“Right around the time we started in ’04, we felt that there was really a void we were trying to fill in the craft movement,” Baron said, mentioning the rising popularity of craft fairs in places such as Brooklyn and San Francisco. “I think we’re really reflecting a national movement.”

Of the 120 vendors, more than half hail from the Pittsburgh area, Baron said, with the remaining vendors traveling from 15 states and one coming from Toronto. Products for sale included art, clothing, decorations and bath and beauty products.

This year was the first that Handmade Arcade was held in The David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Formerly hosted at Construction Junction in Pittsburgh’s East End, the event eventually outgrew that setting.

After a hiatus last year, Handmade Arcade settled on the LEED-certified convention center, a decision that Baron said reflected the commitment to sustainable business practices that participating vendors largely share.

On Saturday, the crowd ranged from young, fedora-wearing hipsters to elderly lovers of handcrafted goods. Near the concessions area, one could spot children trying their luck with handmade hula hoops.

“I primarily make posters for bands,” Budai explained, “but (Handmade Arcade) exposes you to different people who may not be looking in record-shop windows.”

Handmade Arcade isn’t reinventing the wheel when it comes to craft fairs, Budai said, just targeting consumers with a different sensibility.

“I think it’s a really great alternative to your traditional craft show,” he said. “(People here think,) ‘I don’t want a wreath—or I want a wreath made out of recycled tire tubes.’”

At least part of the event’s growth derives from what Baron perceives as an increasing consumer-awareness about how and where goods are produced.

“I really don’t know why anyone would not want to support a local economy,” Baron said, adding that even big-box retailers are changing their strategies to attract customers more concerned about quality and fair-business practices than low prices. “I think a lot of that has been under a microscope lately.”

But Baron also sees deep roots in the movement, especially when it comes to local history.

“Pittsburgh’s heritage is very tied into labor,” she said. “I think it’s woven into our desire to make things by hand.”

But aside from championing social causes, Handmade Arcade also brings patrons into a more direct relationship between buyer and seller, Baron said.

“It really is an experience; it involves the consumer actively,” she said. “I think, especially after the winter, people really crave that one-on-one time.”

At a table bearing soap molded into the multi-colored likenesses of doughnuts and cupcakes, pink-haired Cara Gaetano explained the ethos of Green Bubble Gorgeous, a -based company that produces bath and beauty products.

“It’s all small-batch, handmade, no-artificial-colors, certified-organic fragrances,” Gaetano said.

But, as the months-tenured employee was quick to add, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some flare.

“I think it’s a totally unique product,” Gaetano said, gesturing toward the “Cupcake Bubble Bombs,” which sold for $6 each.

Green Bubble Gorgeous, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary this week, made its Handmade Arcade debut on Saturday.

“This is the biggest event of the year,” owner Krystal Doring said. “I’ve waited for this all year.”

A former chef for Whole Foods Market, Doring said that her business evolved out of a certain ennui.

“I was basically tired of (making) cookies, candies and treats for the holidays,” she said.

So one year, Doring instead decided to make bath products as gifts. The idea took off from there, and this past February, she resigned from her position at Whole Foods to focus on Green Bubble Gorgeous.

As a newcomer to Handmade Arcade, Doring said that she relishes in the communal atmosphere of the event.

“We try to support each other,” she said. “I go to these events, and it’s so hard for me. I want to buy something from every single (vendor).”

Green Bubble Gorgeous currently carries oils, soaps and skin-care products. Doring said that she hopes to expand the company’s line to include lotions and balms by the end of the year.

Building an environmentally friendly business from the ground up can be slow-going at first, Doring admitted. And while Doring’s plan to purchase wind-energy credits to offset the energy consumption of her business might not correlate directly to benefiting her bottom line, she said that she wouldn’t operate any other way.

Green Bubble Gorgeous’ products are carried by a handful of boutiques in the Pittsburgh area, and Gaetano and Doring hope to expand their products’ distribution ... but not unconditionally.

“I really don’t want anybody selling my products who doesn’t believe in what I believe in,” Doring said.

And in an ideal future, Gaetano said, perhaps principles and popularity can coexist.

“(We want to be) bigger than Bath & Body Works,” she said, “but organic.”