Brooklyn Flea

Welles + Graham Workshop is a new sister-duo biz who make cool clocks (above) and flasks from vintage materials out of their Red Hook studio. Brittany and sis also make and refurbish furniture and lamps which they'll be rolling out if the Flea goes well. I-24, Bridge/Sun

We believe there can never be enough records at the Flea, or any flea. Steve has a retail shop called Iris Records in Jersey City and does fairs all over, now runs his own, the Record Riot, which happens at Warsaw. He's got mostly vinyl, some CDs, no bootlegs, and comes from the comprehensive school, which means heaven for diggers. (For a few boxes of expertly chosen "out" stuff, head to Nick Kass-Johnson's booth, both days.) I-54+56, Bridge/Sun

Sean's background is graphic design, gal Kristy's in fashion—put their heads together and (literally) tapped into Kristy's family's upstate slate quarry, bring the stuff back here, cut it themselves into cheese plates (right), trivets, and the like. Cool clean look to the blue, red (who knew?), and purple slate, which is fairly priced and (we think) poised for the bigtime. They're called Brooklyn Slate, duh. E16, FG/Sat

David Makowski and his lady love auctions and The Hunt, not quite pros though. They like the mid-century, '60s/'70s furniture/lighting (who doesn't really?), Buddhist icons, and handwoven rugs from the Stans. They have a shop called Twice Upon A Time in cute Brattleboro, VT, making their debut trek to ze Flea tomorrow. Welcome them warmly! L13, FG/Sat

More antiques. Randy has been in the game for 15, own shop in CT for 12, daughter lives on Washington Ave., so she knows the Flea. Her biz Stockintrade runs the gamut—vintage jewelry, clothing, housewares, pottery, furniture, and on and on. V16, FG/Sat

Tanesha Smith works at Bluefly.com, right near the gal who handles the Project Runway "Bluefly.com Accessories Wall" (choose wisely!). On the side she's started making terrariums (right), which seem to be all the rage and we hope find a regular home at the Flea. As a fashionista, she'll be augmenting with a few choice vintage-clothing pieces, naturally. W15, FG/Sat

Kallie is in town for one weekend only, so she'll be hawking the jewelry from her 31 Bits non-profit Saturday and Sunday. The snazzy pieces are made from recycled paper by women in Uganda, and the proceeds provide income/jobs and community-building opportunities. Do right. E14, FG/Sat; I-41, Bridge/Sun

Couple new furniture designers in the mix under the Bridge this Sunday:

Kin ichi Ogata is a veteran Japanese designer who is literally entering the American market via the Flea. Insane. His wood furniture (left, below) combines smooth polish with a sort of organic texture that looks like leather or other soft materials. Really cool stuff. Ken works the booth, reps lots of arty types, and found us when he saw one of the Japanese TV Flea shows! F-33, Bridge/Sun

Bret Cavanaugh builds modern furniture out of recycled and new materials, looking for new venues to sell, especially for the lower-priced line he's rolling out. He's also moving studios and has some floor models to part with, so you should find good deals on serious pieces like the gorgeous bed (right, below) and some nice coat racks. F-9, Bridge/Sun

Fun, useful, pretty things this week. Don't be so scared you don't Scavenge—you can trick, treat, and Hunt!

When you find one of the items above, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

1. Bicycle screenprint, matted, 9"x12". New/handmade (Fort Greene/Saturday)

2. Vintage brass shark pendant on 18" chain. New/Handmade (Brooklyn Bridge/Sunday)

The Flea hopes to add to Fort Greene's rep as Brooklyn Halloween Central, with the Great Pupkin contest in the park (go Shuggie!), 313 Clinton's annual insanity, and just general neighborhood ghoulishness.

Flea vendors know they're a no-brainer source for unique costumes and accessories, so they'll be bringing out the dead (stock) to wow the life out of you. And trick-or-treaters should totally make the rounds of food vendors—Liddabit, for example, is concocting baby caramel apples among other special sweets for the day.

We're dying to see the scene unfold!

Last Sunday the Flea's snazzy Design Co-op switched to Sunday to impress Miss M with their craft-tastic wares. We caught up with one lass purchasing some notecards from Maptote. Welcome Alice.

Where are you from?

California, Orange County.

And you're here visiting?

Yeah, just for the weekend.

Are you staying in Brooklyn?

Uh, we're staying in Times Square.

Did you not know that Brooklyn was the place to be before you booked?

Ha ha. No I didn't. I love this place!

So how did you find out about the Flea?

A bunch of friends told me about it.

What did you buy here?

I got a got a couple of map notes. Of Paris and Manhattan.

What are you going to do with them?

I'm probably going to frame them and put them in my house.

Did you know that Martha Stewart is here today?

Yes I know! I took lots of pictures of her.

What was the last crafty thing you did, the last thing that would make Martha Stewart proud?

Oh, I made a bunch of birthday cards using ink stamps and yarn.

Good one!

Do you think you'll be coming back to Brooklyn anytime soon?

I'll be in Connecticut for the next couple months working, so yeah, I'll probably come back to the Flea as much as I can.

Then we'll see you again! Thanks Alice!

Jaron was a sales and marketing executive at a major record label for years. Over the last 10 he started collecting antiques on the side, slowly filling his garage in Kensington (which he likes to call "South Slope"). When it started to burst at the seams, he knew what he had to do. He had to sell. And sell he did.

Dubbing himself "Jarontiques" (where everything is "Jaronteed!"), Jaron's first public foray into "the business" was Day One of the Flea, and it was nothing less than inspiring. For the next he year plotted his transition from Executive to Dealer, closing the deal this spring and going full Flea.

When Jaron was a wee tween, he scoured with his grandparents—they collected antiques, he baseball cards. Now fully bearded, Jaron specializes in mid-century modern Blenko Glass—brightly colored, clean lines, highly sought-after pieces—decorative arts, table clocks, and other perfectly unique pieces for the home.

J-Rock always comes correct at the Flea: constantly switching up his booth, giving 110% on his display (all yellow one day, all wood another, grouping random things together), and dedicating himself to the art of collecting in a way that makes him a leader of sorts among the Flea's next-gen coterie. (He's even got a super-snazzy new website now, too.)

And owls. Part of marketing and selling is paying attention to the market—and in this one, owls dominate, says J. He's gone deep into research on the habits and variations of owls, and the quality and quantity of owl items in his booth never ceases to amaze.

Check out Jarontiques in Fort Greene (V5) and under the Bridge (F-12) pretty much every durned weekend. He's a hoot!

We're just quoting Martha, not being cocky! OK, maybe we're milking this a little, so sue us.

In advance of her Nov. 10 TV show on Brooklyn, Martha blogged her Sunday visit to the Flea, complete with a 40-photo slideshow, including this snapshot with Pizza Moto Dave.

Photo Credit: The Martha Blog

More cross-pollinating among Flea vendor-pals, as Flux Productions has designed the latest fabric for Osborn Design Studio's groovy shoe line (above).

Many Fleasters have introduced a Flux T or hoodie into their wardrobe, whether it be designer Ryan's tree-silhouette, undulating-wave, intertwined-leaves, or other abstract-cool pattern—his stuff is practically de rigueur around Flea HQ. In fact, Senor sported a Flux tree T pre-Flea that he bought from Ryan's (still) regular Prince St. spot in Soho. His shoe design is printed on Japanese denim btw.

Carla and Aaron started out as Heartisans last year—their felt squirrels were and are well-loved—and have since evolved into the more sophisticated Osborn Design Studio. In addition to the line of shoes now featuring Flux, Carla produces intricate, magic-tinged drawings that are very "Brooklyn apartment," and also often has these giant fungi that look like driftwood and/or elephant ears, which she scavenges down in her native Guatemala. She and Aaron have all their crafts—shoes included—manufactured by a small women's cooperative there, which thrives on their sales up north here. Looks good, feels good.

Both vendors will also be at Gifted, naturally.

In the midst of the Sunday hoopla, the Hunt was almost overlooked—almost. Donna Jo's lamp lit the way to Scavenge heaven.

Jessica Fish (left) lives in Boerum Hill, has been to the Fort Greene Flea a bunch, decided to bring her mom (from Brooklyn suburb Maplewood, NJ) to the Bridge Flea on this gorgeous Sunday. Jessica had perused the blog on Friday, wasn't necessarily looking for the item, then happened upon it around 1pm—score! Donna Jo Brady of Re-Surface Design takes photos of dilapidated Brooklyn buildings and structures and transforms them into edgy lamps, which are always a hit at the Flea. She'll be at Gifted too.

Check back at noon Friday for this weekend's items.

Uber-foodie and crafter Martha Stewart graced the Bridge Flea with her presence on Sunday, and we were humbled. She was really nice! Her niece Sophie, a proud Brooklynite, came along for the ride too, and was equally sweet and down to earth.

Martha was shooting part of her TV show's upcoming hour-long special on Brooklyn, which focuses especially on the food scene Fleasters know and love so well. It's scheduled to air Tuesday, November 10—don't worry, we'll remind you.

Here's Mr. B and Senor bantering with Miss M before our interview. She was talking about being stuck in bridge traffic, and how she hadn't eat all day in anticipation of the Flea, except for some carrot puree she's working on for Thanksgiving. Then she ate like 4 lunches including Pizza Moto, pupusas, lobster rolls, Asia Dog and more!

The Flea is doing its "Gifted" holiday market again this year--in the big ole borough o' Manhattan. Yes, it's true, and yes it's gonna rule.

Remember the old Tower Records Annex, at E. 4th St. and Lafayette? We're doing it there. (There's a halloween store there now.) We'll have room for about 50 vendors, and we'll be open 5 days a week (Wed-Sun) until Christmas, after launching the Friday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27.

We're working with Lucky magazine on Gifted: Their editors will do a rotating Curated Corner all month featuring their favorite cool designers and makers, and the mag will help us get the word out in that foreign land across the river, and beyond....

So what to expect as we step it up? An alternative to big-box stores for one. An affordable option to high-priced boutiques for another. Way better stuff than blah gift markets--for sure.

So far we've got everything from Lotta Jansdotter to Brooklyn Brew Shop home beermaking kits to 19th Century nature prints to Lacroix vintage jewelry to awesome design objects to super-cute letterpress stationery to hipster T-shirts to pretty terrariums to a full range of maker-made jewelry. And we've only just begun.

We've left a few spots open to welcome new vendors into the Flea fold, so if you've got what it takes and want to sell at Gifted, drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you.

Finally, we're planning a cool window display/installation, likely featuring the digital reindeer on the right as Gifted's mascot. What do you think of this cute creature?