Brooklyn Flea

A couple of classy items in the Hunt this week, these folks really kicked it up a notch with their generosity. Hint: Both items will be located on the lower/vault level this weekend.

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 Tuesday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

From left (click to enlarge):

1. Saturday: Wooden fabric-printing block from Calcutta, India. Vintage

2. Sunday: English brass demitasse spoons in original satin-lined box, 1930s. Vintage

Note: The Flea is indoors at Skylight One Hanson Saturdays and Sundays on 3 floors (with food downstairs), 10am-6pm, through March. The Fort Greene outdoor market is closed for the season and reopens Sat., April 2. Our new/second location in Williamsburg on Sundays launches April 3.

This Sunday from 2 to 6pm our friends from Cabinet magazine are presenting, well, here goes: a series of six interactive booths scattered around the Flea where you can discuss the topic of hair with a different expert at each booth. It's called "Fair for Knowledge: Hair," and it's part of an excellent esoteric festival of ideas going on around the city this week called "Walls and Bridges," presented by the French-American Villa Gallet cultural alliance.

In terms of details, they are best left to the kooky Cabinet kids:

"Designed to encourage an informal, social, and open mode of learning, Cabinet's series of "fairs for knowledge" aims to create bridges between specialists and the general public by providing unusual venues for short one-on-one discussions between an expert and a member of the general public. In this first installment, six writers will be seated at kissing-booth-style structures placed between the regular stalls of the Brooklyn Flea and be ready to engage the public in conversation on a topic that occupies our minds a great deal but is considered too lowly to be worthy of serious reflection—hair.

Come and brush up on “hair plucking” among anxious captive animals; Mary Magdalene’s hair as described in the Bible; fashion, hairdos, and underwear; hairlessness as a signifier of rationality in the history of philosophy; the exceptional hairstyles of rock stars; shaved women and the symbolic loss of power in the French revolution; and more!"

Featuring Laurel Braitman (historian of science), Barbara Cassin (philosopher and philologist), Cécile Guilbert (essayist), Justin E. H. Smith (philosopher), John Strausbaugh (author), and Sophie Wahnich (historian), seated at special tables designed by artist Gareth Long.

Friendly Fort Greener won Saturday, but shockingly no victor Sunday nice young lass Sunday.

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

From left (click to enlarge):

Saturday: Beaming Brannon brandishes the awesome vintage industrial stapler he scored in the Walker Antiques booth, which we hope he'll put to good use, ya know, connecting things to each other. Mr. B. is a Fort Greene Flea regular, but this was his first visit to Skylight One Hanson—and presumably, a memorable one. Fastenating!

The Walkers, Mary Ellen and Keith, are so humble they skipped the pic, but know that they're possibly the kindest, mellowest antiques vendors in the region, at least in our dealings. They also helped usher in the industrial-modern look that's now de rigeur at the Flea when they started with us back in 2008: metal rolling carts, steel cabinets, big country tools, aged wooden shop signs, all that awesome stuff you crave. They've been in the biz for more than a decade, and come up to the Flea every month or two from SE Pennsylvania, which we're super-grateful for. Actually, we're lucky enough to have 'em back again this Saturday, look for 'em on the ground floor as Walker Antiques.

Sunday: Blythe was fully un-blithe about her Hunt victory, and we appreciate her diligence in letting us know that she found and took home the gold-and-silk bracelet, which she shows off above. It looks great on you Blythe! B's a big fan of the Flea, liked the Dumbo spots best (we liked them too but don't play favorites). She's also one of our now 8300+ Facebook fans.

If you Flea, you might recognize the signature jewelry style of Elma Blint, a fixture at the markets since Day One. Miss E. is big on subtle simplicity: bracelets, pendants, earrings for the everyday, with a sort of universal/Brooklyn-gal appeal. The gold-plated bracelet that Blythe found is interwoven with silk, a style Elma has been working for years now. Find her every weekend at the Flea, or at her Fort Greene shop Baubles & Thorn at Lafayette and S. Oxford.

Shiny happy items this week.

Note: The Flea is indoors at Skylight One Hanson Saturdays and Sundays on 3 floors (with food downstairs), 10am-6pm, through March. The Fort Greene outdoor market is closed for the season and reopens in April.

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 Tuesday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

From left (click to enlarge):

1. Saturday: Cadet stapler by Ace Fastener Corp., designed in 1930 by William Weber, likely manufactured 1940s. With box of staples! Vintage

2. Sunday: Delicate bracelet with gold-filled chain and woven silk. New/Handmade

Farflung Scavengers this weekend; the Hunt is a global affair apparently. Thanks for coming all that way!

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

From left (click to enlarge):

Saturday: Rockin' Robin (left) was visiting her sister in Queens, headed back home to South Africa that very night. She swooped in to the Flea, snatched up the '60s paint-by-numbers set, and sailed off to South Africa in the sunset. That's how we Flea!

She's with rockin' Rebecca of Windsor Place Antiques, the Flea's go-to purveyor of school maps, hunting targets, Americana lodge kitsch, canning jars, and all manner of amazing stuff, plucked with an expert eye and displayed with a dazzle. (Her blog is worth a gander for a quick cross-section.) We only wish we had a dozen more Windsor Places, so high-quality is Rebecca's stock and so low-key her manner. She's in G24 at One Hanson most weekends (except this one upcoming).

Sunday: Siobhan's (left) from southern Maryland, originally from England, so she's basically international in our book. She came to town to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, figured she'd pop over to Brooklyn (via umbrella presumably) after hearing about the Flea via H&M's iPhone app (!). (In case you missed their snazzy Flea vid, here 'tis.) She claimed the wood album (or 12") frame early in the morning, and obviously she felt supercalifragilisticexpialidocious about it.

To Siobhan's right is Framy, aka Amy, dba Jellyroll Vintage. Amy, a Day One veteran with nearly perfect Flea attendance (gold star!), is a star of our vintage-clothing constellation, and she's recently branched out to create these cool wood frames, which have been quite popular with the Fleasters. She's got lots for your records, others for pics and paintings (Amy's an accomplished painter too), and also these awesome chalkboards that the kids (the young kind) really dig. Multi-talented, friendly, dedicated—we'll take a dozen of her too! G23, without fail.

Both these items are gonna go quick, so start Scavenging early. Good luck!

Note: The Flea is indoors at Skylight One Hanson Saturdays and Sundays on 3 floors (with food downstairs), 10am-6pm, through March. The Fort Greene outdoor market is closed for the season and reopens in April.

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 Tuesday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

From left (click to enlarge):

1. Saturday: Complete "New Artist" paint-by-numbers kit, with boards and paints for two 16"x20" paintings: "Maple Syrup Time" and "Running Brook." Circa 1960. Vintage

2. Sunday: Black wooden 12" LP frame. Nina Simone record not included, but available for purchase. New/Handmade

Even in slow snowy January there's lots of Flea-related ink and celluloid. We thought Flea pal Jon Caramanica's roundup of pawn shop/hoarder/picker TV shows in the Sunday Times Week in Review had some relevance to our growth over the last few years, in addition to being a good read.

Longtime vendor Nina Z. showed up on The Feast (above) today talking with Tiffany Davis about why New Yorkers dig clogs so much. (Her clogs, boots, and sandals rule btw, and are made in Sweden.)

But mainly we're writing because it's weird how much international press is in the works: Norwegian TV (and Norway's top shelter mag); New Zealand's top newspaper; Japan's NHK national TV network; Exile, a big Japanese fashion mag; and finally a travel show on Spain's Canal Cuatro called "Callejeros Viajeros." Also look out for an interview on The Inside Source, eBay's editorial site, and a Skylight One Hanson video tour with The Feast. Jeepers!

A fab foursome of Hunt winners to launch the new year. Onward and upward!

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

From left (click to enlarge):

Saturday: Claire (left) and Aaron refer to themselves as "Fort Greene natives," which makes them dinosaurs compared to all the neighborhood newbies. How apropos, then, that they found and won the T. Rex pendant necklace! The twinkly twosome were simply beaming with joy, which is how we imagine Hunt winners' faces when we post the items every Friday.

The necklace is part of the new Anodyne line of jewelry, which is the biz name of Cole family mama and papa Peter and Jarka (plus 9 y.o. fixture/mascot Charlie). The Cole clan focuses on offbeat vintage housewares from the mid 20th century, beautiful diaphanous clothes that Jarka plucks from voyages home to her native Eastern Europe, and now a cute line of necklaces. Their stuff spans the sophisticated to the quirky, and they have been Flea fixtures for 3+ years now. We [heart] them.

Sunday: John (middle) and Adela (right) live in Manhattan, which is fine, and are friends, which is also fine. John's been trying to win the Hunt for awhile, but perhaps it was Adela's maiden Flea voyage that was the lucky charm. Sounds like she's taking the vintage sport-print scarf for her own, and she can't wait to, well, sport it soon.

Friendly vendor Brittany (left) is yet another cutie specializing in the latest vintage fashions for your winter wardrobe wanderings. (She also had the awesome recycled-fabric gift-wrap station at Gifted.) Mahps Vintage, as she's known, holds court with excellently selected coats, sweaters, dresses and more for the ladies in the vault every weekend at Skylight One Hanson. Not to be missed.

The Hunt is back! So this weekend we're gonna Scavenge like it's 2011.

Note: The Flea is indoors at Skylight One Hanson Saturdays and Sundays on 3 floors (with food downstairs), 10am-6pm, through March. The Fort Greene outdoor market is closed for the season and reopens in April.

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 Tuesday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

From left (click to enlarge):

1. Saturday: Rubber 2" Tyrannosaurus Rex on 24" patinated brass-plated steel ball chain. New/Handmade

2. Sunday: Sport-print silk scarf. Vintage

Senor is pleased to be a judge for the fun Next Big Small Brand contest again this year, since it fits right into the wheelhouse of the Flea's overall mission. Presented by the fine Rooster Design Group folks, who have branded/designed everything from the High Line to Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta, the annual contest puts budding food entrepreneurs in front of a range of experts, from Whole Foods bigwig Kara Rubin to Tasting Table editor Nick Fauchald. (Objectivity will be a challenge for us with Fleasters Liddabit and Brooklyn Cured in the mix.) The winner gets a brand launch from Rooster, three months of free PR from First Press, and a free booth for a month at the Flea. Pretty snazzy.

If you want to meet and taste the wares of the five finalists, the live award event is next Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the cool new Brooklyn Winery space in Williamsburg, 7-9p. (Check the contest site to watch a cute video on each finalist by Food.Curated's Lisa de Guia.) Tickets are $20 each. Or, you can win one of four free pairs of tix on us by emailing the Flea and naming any food vendor who was at the Flea on opening day in April 2008 and who still sells with us. Yum. [Note: All four pairs of tickets have been claimed.]

2011 Next Big Small Brand Finalists

Bombay Emerald Chutney Company

Brooklyn Cured

La Newyorkina

Liddabit Sweets

Sweet Loren's