Brooklyn Flea

Have you met Nutmeg, the Weimaraner? (She's pictured below, sitting pretty.) Then you've definitely set eyes on the Interior Bliss booth, a lovingly curated collection of reconfigured, recycled furniture and found objects from partners Kimberlee and Spencer.

Interior Bliss is more than a Flea stand—the business also incorporates interior design services that focus on the artful arrangements of objects both old and new, for residential, commercial and custom projects. Kimberlee (the designer and collector) and Spencer (the furniture-maker and woodworker) split their time between Hunterdon County in New Jersey and Manhattan (with weekends in Brooklyn, of course), working on a constantly changing collection of "cool junk," as Spencer calls it. For their picking excursions, they generally stay within a 200 mile radius of home, but Kimberlee admits that they have done some great buying as far away as Georgia and Vermont. When they first started at the Flea in the spring of last year, "initially we were just freeing up space in the barn," Kimberlee says, "but it was so much fun that we kept coming back!"

Their one-of-a-kind custom pieces, like the hand-painted, hand-pieced chairs, above, are striking in their sense of color, craftsmanship and creativity. On one of the hottest days this year, the pair cobbled together a makeshift shade structure of random objects and materials that rivaled any tent in town! It all fits neatly into their ethos of "recycle and reuse," where old objects are reconsidered, refashioned and given a new lease.

The Flea scene is surely part of the draw, with Kimberlee shouting out the real community between the vendors. "It is an incredibly talented and authentic group of artists, craftspeople and fashionistas… lest we not forget the incredible food! The energy is very positive and it is a great way to spend the weekend selling and enjoying the process." Visit their booth (they set up in both Fort Greene and Williamsburg regularly) and do your part to recycle and reuse.

Hurricane Irene may have mostly spared New York City, but many farms upstate have suffered inestimable damage. The Greenmarket at Smorgasburg is home to several farmers from the region, and our hearts go out to them during this time of need.

GrowNYC, the organization that oversees the Greenmarkets throughout the city, is asking for donations, 100% of which will directly support Greenmarket farmers impacted by Hurricane Irene. "Give what you can," they say, but between now and September 30, a donation of $50 or more earmarked for “Hurricane Relief” will receive a free Greenmarket poster illustrated by artist Claudia Pearson. (Claudia is an awesome illustrator from Clinton Hill and a longtime Flea vendor.)

Go here to donate now, and help support our local farmers during this difficult period.

Photo by Flickr pool contributor Steel Wool.

On Saturday, August 27 September 3, Smorgasburg will celebrate our first ever Drinks Day!

We're highlighting the beautiful beverages that our vendors brew up each week, quenching your thirst in between all those sandwiches, snacks and sweets. Outside of our dedicated drinks sellers like Kombucha Brooklyn, Blue Bottle Coffeee, City Lasses, Q Tonic, The Stand, Brooklyn Soda Works, Thirstea and others, many of our regular food vendors bring original, creative refreshments to the table. Here's a list of what's on the liquid menu.

- Vietnamese stand Bep's special drink will be a fresh coconut juice with coconut flesh.

- More than just empanadas (and killer chocolate chip cookies), Botana dispenses cups of agua de sandia (watermelon pureéd with lime) and agua de melon.

- Brooklyn Soda Works will have watermelon and tarragon flavor on tap (the one that Adam Platt rated the #1 soda in last year's New York mag).

- Cemita's sells an alcohol-free Mexican sangria called Sangria Señorial. It comes in a glass bottle and falls somewhere between grape juice, sangria and Alize without the alcohol. They also offer a housemade mango ice tea.

- City 'Lasses will have their three varieties of Switzel, a unique lemon, ginger and blackstrap molasses quencher.

- Indian street food seller Dadar Station will be crushing up fresh sugarcane juice with ginger and lime.

- Vegan chef extraordinaire Anita from Electric Blue will have watermelon agua fresca and iced coconut oolong tea.

- The farmers from Fertile Grounds will be pouring a chamomile-mint iced tea, with chamomile and mint straight from the fields.

- Fresh Picked Pantry's Saucy by Nature has a popular local mint lemonade which comes unsweetened but is available with either simple syrup or agave.

- New coffee vendor Grady's Cold Brew will be selling cups of New Orleans–style iced coffee along with his regular growlers.

- Fresh mint lemonade from BLT masters Landhaus features mint from Brooklyn Grange.

- McClure's Bloody Mary mix is one to take home for the vodka you have in the freezer.

- Mimi & Coco have an organic iced green tea soy latte, as well as what they call a Sunrise Cooler: organic vanilla soy latte with orange juice.

- Super smoothie makers Salud will bring the Salud Special, which consists of fresh Mexican mint, pineapple and spring water; the Park Slope Pink, with watermelon, lemon and aloe vera; and the Lucha Libre, featuring chocolate, homemade peanut butter, bananas and rice milk.

- Soup sellers Sea Bean Goods like to think of their soups as drinks! Sip their watermelon cucumber straight from the cup; it's a blend of super-ripe yellow watermelon, cool cucumber and a bit of mint.

- Skytown is bringing their Green Bee Palmer: green tea, fresh squeezed lemonade and bee pollen. Super energizing!

- The Stand will be pouring a trio of flavored lemonades: basil lemonade, ginger-rose lemonade and hibiscus lemonade.

- Table Tales brews a lightly sweetened citrus-mint iced tea to go along with their special Sunday Gravy.

Smorgasburg's got the pork while the Flea welcomes new (to us) vintage sellers.

Saturday (Smorgasburg in Williamsburg):

Betto - The new Williamsburg restaurant from the popular 'ino and 'inoteca family of Italian eateries, Betto will set up at Smorg to sell heritage-pork meatballs and crostini with house-made ricotta and honey.

Pig Island - Smorgasburg will host a one-time promotional booth for this pork-centric party to take place on Governors Island on September 10. (Keep an eye out for a blog post with more information about this fun event.)

Saturday (Flea in Fort Greene):

Ruby Moshlak - Long Island City–based Ruby Moshlak will be at the Flea both days selling some really cool stuff that belonged to her late grandmother; the collection dates from the '60s, '70s and '80s.

Rook Vintage - Rook Vintage is a newly established Windsor Terrace shop selling antiques and collectibles. They carry smaller pieces of furniture, vintage kitchen items, clocks, still and movie cameras (like the Polaroid pictured above), an enormous selection of paint by numbers, plus much more.

Retro Schmetro - Mid-century barware, lighting and collectible stuff like salt and paper shakers, linens, tablecloths and, last but not least, Elvis figurines.

Hunters and Gatherers might not be for the squeamish. But the booth, run by longtime friends John and Keith, is definitely for the curious. The tables are filled with antlers and skulls; keys, tabletop sculptures and art objects made of bone, brass, glass and shells; plus quills, reptile heads, pinned butterflies, beetles and bugs under glass. Think of it as a mini Museum of Natural History with a gift shop straight out of a sideshow.

Proprietors John and Keith (John is from upstate and now lives in Manhattan, Keith is from Atlanta and currently resides in Brooklyn) come from fine art and retail-display backgrounds, which is obvious given the impeccable arrangements on their tables. When they started at the Flea it was as J/K, a straightforward array of antiques, collectibles and hand-crafted art objects; the switchover to Hunters and Gatherers brought a natural, organic angle to the proceedings, one with more focus and intention. "Now we have our followers," says John, noting that Flea shoppers love "natural materials with a purpose." There's a natural element in the metal pieces too, with animal themes across the board. "It's stuff we love ourselves," says Keith, "we're interested in products that fit into this story."

Their passion for the Flea is obvious: "We live for the weekends," Keith says, and since they already travel all over the country for work, John laughs that neither of them are "strangers to putting a crapload of weird stuff on an airplane." John recounts tales of objects missing from packed suitcases upon return from buying trips—the TSA has likely confiscated items that they didn't like the look of. (Carry-on all the way, they say now.)

There's a wide range of reactions to the booth: some people don't want to touch the stuff, screeching "OMG, it's so sad!" at the remnants of dead creatures. But other shoppers revel in the weirdness, with one local artist regularly stopping by for new bones to gild in gold. (Another Fleaster requested monkey skulls, but they refused to source that one.) There's an element of education at work here, with folks bringing their kids over for a quick science lesson. Shopping and biology in one stop! John and Keith man the Hunters and Gatherers booth every Saturday in Fort Greene and Sunday in Williamsburg—come check out the bugs and bones and beautiful objects and make sure to say hello to Hunter, the big brass dog who serves as their mascot.

A romper that didn't want to be found, and a statue that will be cherished. Just another weekend at the Scavenger Hunt!

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

(Click image to enlarge)

Saturday (Fort Greene): The fabulous Neanna Bodycomb, she of Bogart & Moore, put up a super-cute purple jumpsuit for the Hunt, but no one claimed it. Too bad, since it's totally in fashion and surely would have looked adorable on some stylish Fleaster. Since 2009, Neanna brings the best selection of men's and women's tops, coats, dresses, shoes and more. She also recently expanded to offer unique vintage housewares so you can live in style too! Several of her clients include New York designers looking for vintage inspiration for their new lines. Most importantly, she recently opened a showroom at 56 Bogart Street (natch) in Brooklyn, which is open every day from noon till 8pm. She's got a Facebook page too, so check it out and shop with her at her store or with us at the Flea on the weekends.

Sunday (Williamsburg): Our lucky winner was Jeremy Darty (left) from Astoria; we can only hope that he will be gifting this awesome grandpa statue to his grandfather! He collected this kitschy statue from the lovely Sachiko of Monroe Garden (yet another business name inspired by the Brooklyn street on which it stands); Sachiko focuses on old-timey, cute and humorous objects. Her unique vintage style is proved in her Ball Jar lanterns, cool furniture, toys and a table full of covetable stuff. She shares her booth with vintage clothes–seller Koichi, and you can find them both at the Flea every weekend, in both Fort Greene and Williamsburg.

Always something good to look at—we love your photos of the Flea and Smorgasburg. Keep 'em coming and show off on our Flickr pool, or get at us via the usual Twitter or Facebook pages.

A million photographic thanks to our contributors Bob Jagendorf, complaina, Jellybean Boom, jonathanpercy, karyinny, kelseyyrose and donuts, dresses and dirt.

We have a few new friends on board at the Flea and Smorgasburg this weekend—welcome!

Saturday (Smorgasburg in Williamsburg):

Fertile Grounds - Fertile Grounds is an organic, diversified vegetable farm in rural northeastern Pennsylvania that provides local residents fresh produce through a weekly CSA. At Smorgasburg, expect their line of farm-fresh dressings and pestos, and salads featuring just-picked greens.

Saturday (Flea in Fort Greene):

Homestead - Homestead creates custom furniture and home items such as ceramics and pillows in a style that's rustic mixed with modern and new.

Instumental Lighting - Handcrafted lamps made out of used and abused musical instruments, transforming discarded horns into brand new home accessories (pictured above).

Karen Carpentry - The collective Karen Carpentry has worked for NYC fashion retailers Oak, the salon Bumble and Bumble and Sel de Mer restaurant, designing and building unique furniture pieces. For their first time at the Flea there will also be some vintage finds (clothing picked by Resurrection's Jennie Lee) and smaller housewares (from ceramics artist Matthew Ward). In Williamsburg on Sunday too.

Rust Belt Retail Therapy - From rural northwestern Pennsylvania comes Rust Belt Retail Therapy, bringing "whispers of the past" with all sort of vintage: kitchenware, clothing, stained glass, quilts, lamps, ashtrays and barware, sets of retired dishes, formica tables, children’s books and toys, just to start (pictured left). Also in Williamsburg on Sunday.

Sunday (Flea in Williamsburg):

City Hydroponic - All the supplies you need to grow your indoor, aeroponic or hydroponic garden are available at this Greenpoint-based gardening shop making its first visit to the Flea.

Soniao Tarot - After a few delays due to bad weather, Soniao Tarot is back to help you gain insight and inspiration through a tarot card reading.

One of the original Brooklyn Flea vendors—he was part of a collective organized by Design*Sponge on the very first day in 2008—John Murphy is an artist who creates bold, colorful, somewhat surreal prints and photographs that immediately became market favorites. He's been a dedicated Fleaster ever since, over the years widening his audience and broadening his craft.

The Philadelphia-based Murphy comes from a fine art and curatorial background, and beyond the popular prints and photos he's developed a line of stationery that's sold in museum shops around the world. He embraces juxtapositions and intensity in his work, where the strong colors of his ornate frames contrast gorgeously with the scenes inside. (Manufactured reproductions of his frames are available for purchase on their own.) A current pursuit mixes old architecture with forests (above); he also puts together collages combining 19th-century etchings and his own shots, giving old-fashioned black-and-white prints a jolt of photographic realism. "People used to think my paintings were photos and now folks often mistake my photos for paintings," he says. "The photos I create are from small sets I build in the studio. The images are obviously fake and it's the impossibility of the scenes that I'm attracted to."

The work is ever evolving, with new subjects, materials and techniques coming into play all the time. "I'm finishing some sets of gardens at night," he says, "I'm sort of obsessed with that time of the day when it's getting dark and everything is saturated in this great blue." They're being printed on a metallic silver papers, he explains, "so they sort of disappear, and the ones with stars really glimmer." (Look for those starting this fall.)

The Flea has helped John sell his work and share his process with the public, but it has also created a community of which he is now an integral member. "I've met some really talented makers here," he says. "Many of them have become close friends. Printmakers, ceramicists, jewelry designers, soap makers, stylists, chocolatiers. They're the real deal. They bust their asses and I have a great deal of respect for every one of them." Same here.