Highlights in Finders Keepers Market

If you love arts & craft, then you wouldn't have missed the Finders Keepers market in  Carriageworks Sydney last weekend. Started in 2008 to promote independent artists & designers, the market has done so well that it is now held biannually in Sydney & Brisbane; & this year for the first time, Finders Keepers was launched in Melbourne.

I would have liked to arrive at the market bright & early to avoid traffic & get a good parking spot,  however, I simply could not get myself up before 10.30am on a Saturday.

We strolled in at about 2pm - HUGE mistake, I was amazed by the size of the crowd as soon as I arrived.

The venue & setting was perfect. With live music, art installation, & unique stalls selling different wares, one can really appreciate this platform of bringing independent artists to THE MARKET - the general public. There was even a separate section just for the budding fashion designers.

Loving....

Paper installation from the Paper Convention Collective,  a collective dedicated to the documentation of Paper Expressionism through paper-installations, exhibitions and paper-art, paper-crafting, and workshops. With the rampant of social media & the move from paper (IPad!) these days, I think it is nice to entice people to rethink expressionism through paper. There was paper craft workshops & you can get your very own mask & headband from the stall with a gold coin. They even invited a paper artist Hello Sandwich from Japan for a workshop. LOVE the concept. Very cool indeed. There were plenty of people walking around with cool headbands from the Paper Convention Collective.

As usual, I was obsessed & drawn to animals. Made950, that also has a shop in Newtown has a series of fake animals on display which was too cute. Made950 also carries Ryan Berkeley's animal print which I totally heart.. :) Check out the owl, baby jackelope (below) & Alice in Wonderland tea set (see here). 

Made590

The Story Book Rabbit - a rabbit paraphernalia which borders on kitsch if not careful. Very sweet & very cute.

There were so many other interesting stalls and there's simply not enough room to cover here. Actually the crowd was a bit too much for me at the end as I really dislike crowded places (mental note: need to be there early next time!).

Other cool homeware which I found to be interesting were vibrant tea towels & cushions from Materialistics & beautiful porcelains from Angus & Celeste. Also really love the linen cushion covers from Mr & Mrs White, which is suitable for any décor in my opinion. :)

Photo take from Mr & Mrs White Etsy store

Photo take from Mr & Mrs White Etsy store

By The Quirky One