Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade
Recently, I took a trip down to Berkley (near Royal Oak) to check out the Yellow Door Art Market.
I went with my good friend, Tunde Olaniran, who serves as on the Board of Flint Handmade and who is a local Flint musican/activist/maker.
We specifically wanted to gather ideas for displays and possible vendors to bring back to our Flint Handmade Shop at The Lunch Studio.
Yellow Door was easy to find in the heart of Downtown Berkley with it's attractive teal awning.
Immediately upon entering, you see three colorful display tables that keep the front of the store open and airy. The table on the right is occupied by Vacuum Tube Bots by our friend, Deanne of Deets!
To the left and right of the tables are long aisles straight to the back of the store featuring bright nooks. The set up is very similar to an antique mall with each vendor having his or her own space.
Between each nook is an end cap display, usually featuring jewelry in glass cases. This is Elana's Little Sisters Jewelry, which I first discovered at Mitten Made at Blue House Ann Arbor.
Sometimes, the nook vendor has so many great products that they wrap around to the end cap like this display from Wendy of Marshflowers.
Vendors have such creative ways to display their goods! These rods and baskets show off all of the fabulous ellembee shirts.
At the back of the shop are more tables. Green Daffodil, which has its own shop in Ferndale that I visited in 2010, also has a table at Yellow Door and displays their lip balms in a vintage muffin tin...too cute!
Fantastic modern quilted goods from Sarah of Hip to Piece Squares!
On the other side of her table, Sarah had a Stitch magazine on display featuring her Patchwork Lunch Sack pattern...which makes a lunch bag like the one we gave away in a free raffle at the 2010 Festival of Quilts!
Something we really liked was the photograph and brief bio of each artisan in their space with business cards! For example, Susan of daisy chains makes sterling silver and semi-precious jewelry. We would love to incorporate something like this into our Flint Handmade Shop at The Lunch Studio.
We loved this color half nook display featuring fabric goods including bags and aprons from Barb of Excess Baggage. Great vintage sewing machine, too!
Our friend, Kate of Chicaloo Photography & More also has a nook at Yellow Door! For more on Kate, check out her Second Saturday Giveaway.
Even the restroom, dubbed "the loo-uvre" featured photography by a local artisan, Mandy of Ginger Mandy Photography.
A few of Mandy's photos in the loo-urve.
The very back of Yellow Door featured an area dedicated specifically to up & coming young artists aged 18 and under...
...and well as a full stocked corner of Michigan made food stuffs and books by Michigan authors.
Cheryl (l) and Molly at Yellow Door were very helpful and we appreciated them allowing us to take pictures to promote Yellow Door on our blog.
Yellow Door features a revolving display of the arts and crafts of over 50 Michigan artisans, only a fraction of which are featured in our photos above. We encourage you to take a trip to Berkley to check out Yellow Door in person!
P.S. If you are interested in vending at Yellow Door,
No comments:
Post a Comment