We bid a bittersweet ciao to ze outdoor Fleas this weekend, so come and Scavenge one last time. Just the one item this week. (Don't worry, the Hunt will roll on at the DUMBO indoor winter market, maybe even at Gifted too.) Mille grazie!

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. Art Deco 1930s-40's Bakelite chain with mother-of-pearl shells. Vintage (Fort Greene/Saturday)

Posted by demby at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

This week we caught up with folks behind Osborn Design Studios to talk about their art and design products. We love the intricate prints handmade by Carla and the fair-trade shoes are perfect for your inner hipster. Check 'em out!

What are your names?
Aaron: My name is Aaron Osborn.
Carla: Carla Venticinque-Osborn.
A: Our business name is Osborn Design Studios.
C: We're married.

Where are you guys from?
A: Philadelphia.
C: Teaneck, New Jersey. Now we live in Greenpoint.

What do you sell?
A: We sell handcrafted shoes and art prints, but our inventory is always changing as we come up with new design ideas. But shoes and prints are the staple. We do bootie slippers, a bunch of puzzles, things for kids, scarves.

And how long have you been selling it for?
C: We have been doing it at the Flea for two years. We were here on the first day. And our business has been branching out ever since.

What's your specialty?
C: Art.
A: Design.

What keeps you coming back to the Flea?
A: It's a great market and community. They do amazing promotion, just great opportunities have come out like magazine features.
C: And being here, everyone who is everyone comes through the Flea so you get people who are scouting major stores and smaller boutiques so there is opportunities for growth. And it's just really well-curated.
A: I really like the community of the Flea. All the vendors are great.

What do you do for fun?
A: Make shoes.
C: Think about our business.

Where can people find you online?
C: We have a website, Osborndesign.com

What else do you want the good people to know about you guys?
A: I am most excited about the business because we employ 28 people full-time who otherwise wouldn't have any work in Guatemala, that's where my family lives. Twenty-one of them are single moms. It gives it a lot more meaning than just selling something "cool."
C: Our shoes are fair-trade and it's a microeconomic project, and it really works!
We'll also be at Gifted with a lot of new prints, more art, more shoes. We are really growing.

Posted by JessicaBK at 9:44 AM | Comments (0)
Categories: Vendor of the Week, blog

Go Seek Antiques probably intended for their candelabra to become a nice interior highlight, but Martina and Eric have other ideas. Oh, and let's hope someone else gets a chance at the lobster rolls before these two come again. Meet our BFFs of the week, Martina and Eric!

What do you have here?
Eric: Protection! For walking down the street!
Martina: No! We bought a a candelabra.
E: Yeah, because we are trying to save on energy. Electricity is very expensive. So this is us becoming greener and greener.

Is that true?
M: No. Ha. We need something tall for the table that really sticks out. So it's perfect.
E: But we both like a lot of candlelight.
M: We'll put candles in here—this is not something for just decor.
E: And use it for holiday parties.
M: Yeah, holiday parties.

When's your next holiday party?
M: I'm from Italy so we always have friends coming over in December and January.
E: We are also going to have 120 people over for a Brooklyn Youth Chorus Parent Party.

That's a lot!
M: Yes, we have a lot of people all the time, very informal though.

Do you live in the area?
M: Yes, we live up the hill over there [ed.: the Heights].

Do you come to the Flea often?
M: This is his first time, but I have come several times. I have been to the Fort Greene one too, and when it was inside in DUMBO.
E: We are also friends with the lobster roll people.

Red Hook Lobster Pound?
E: Yes, I had a lobster roll today! They are fabulous. It's all lobster, hardly any mayonnaise, the bread is very light. So you can eat like 3 or 4 of them!
M: I already had 2 today!

Thanks guys!

Posted by JessicaBK at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)
Categories: BFF, blog

For the first time last week another vendor won the Hunt. Insanity. We had to check the rules and regs, but found no clause barring such Scavenging.

The lucky winner was none other than Monkey (center), of WrecordsByMonkey—the record-vinyl-recycled bracelet/clock guy and all-around excellent chap—who apparently is really into Haitian art. Who knew?

Monkey scoured the Flea all Saturday morning, only to stumble across the beautiful painted wooden bowl in his neighbors Lionel and Constant's booth. Again, insanity. Upon victory, Monkey proclaimed, "I now have a beautiful place to hide my personal green planet." Exactly!

Lionel and Constant, as you may recall from their Vendor of the Week, collect all kinds of cool vintage stuff on trips to their Haiti homeland. When their mother passed away in Haiti, they returned to where they were born to find that she left the care of six orphans to her two sons. They were also modest underground hip-hop stars in the 80s, it's true. They're at both Fleas, and will be at 81 Front St. in DUMBO for the winter pop-up, which starts Dec. 5+6.

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

Posted by demby at 2:30 PM | Comments (0)

Australian Scent just started selling their natural skin-care line at the Tribeca Whole Foods, a deal that came about through a Flea interaction. They're also in the cool new Dumbo shop Trunk, also from a chance Flea encounter. We still get misty-eyed when this kind of stuff happens, and like to share it with you.

Especially since AS' Megan and Eddie are some of the sweetest folks at the Flea, and we're not just talking about how they smell, which is lovely and, well, organic. Their balms, lotions, and potions are free of chemicals, parabens, and pretty much anything that's not straight from a seed or plant. Their Balm of Gilead (above) is a big seller.

Look for Megan and Eddie at the final outdoor Flea this weekend, and every week of Gifted.

Posted by demby at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

Stools, benches, lounges, and chairs—we got em'. After hours of shoppin' in the gorgeous fall weather, sometimes you just need to take a seat—from the Flea!

Posted by JessicaBK at 2:24 PM | Comments (4)
Categories: Slideshow, blog

Wondering what the new "Community" tab on the site is all about? (We know you didn't notice.) Starting this week, dozens of Flea vendors have started writing their own posts, on everything from what they're bringing to market this weekend (a Steampunk doghouse, e.g.) to their latest pumpkin pie recipe (thanks Whimsy + Spice).

The best part: you can post there too! Just join the Community and then you can ask the vendors to find you, say, a George Nelson coffee table, or an old Brooklyn map, or a new flavor of pickle. What other flea is so virtually advanced?

It's new, it's hip, and we have no idea what to expect—always the best recipe for fun. Check it out, and let the fireworks begin.

Posted by demby at 3:20 PM | Comments (0)

We're gearing up for full Fleas this post-Martha weekend, so you'll have to be quick on the draw to Scavenge these items, which are artisan and art, respectively. Prepare to 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.

From left:
1. Handcrafted and -painted wooden bowl from Haiti. New/handmade (Fort Greene/Saturday)

2. "Quail": 8"x10" limited-edition print, signed and numbered. New/handmade (Brooklyn Bridge/Sunday)

Posted by demby at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

Our man with the mustache David Sokosh has some wonderful tintype photographs in the Times this week, in a Thursday Styles section story about tweed and 1890s fashion looks. Great stuff, very Flea.

David can always be found in ye olde L9 in Fort Greene (although not this Saturday) and F-5 under the Bridge, with his pal Lon Black and his postcards. David is always changing up his old-fashioned-feeling booth: vintage Brooklyn clocks most of the time,
great old books, housewares, photographs, all sorts of funky stuff. Can't miss David either—he rocks a handlebar moustache and, well, an 1890s-style tweed look!

Posted by demby at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

We caught up with Joe Sipos over the weekend, a primetime vintage dealer whose milkshake brings all the boys and girls to the yard: his shoes, dresses, sweaters, jackets, and jewelry are fit for co-eds and co-stars alike. Joe also can also spin tales of celebrity gossip til the cows come home. We learned some interesting stuff about what he does on the record, but off the record found out that he recently sold 5 bags to a certain celeb at the Flea—we're surprised the "paparazzi" weren't following her around!

Name?
My name is Joseph Sipos and my company is Estate of Art Vintage Lifestyle.

Hometown?
New York City. Bay Ridge Brooklyn to be exact.

What do you sell and how long have you been selling it for?
I sell vintage clothing and accessories and I have been selling for about 20 years.

What's your specialty?
Vintage accessories.

What's your most memorable sale?
Selling shoes to Debbie Harry.

What keeps you coming back to the Flea?
The image and vibe is really good and high.

What do you do with your time while not Fleaing?
I'm a prop stylist for TV and movies during the week. For fun, I cook and eat.

How can accessory-driven people contact you?
Anyone can find me at the Flea. [Every weekend: B15/Fort Greene; F-11/Bridge.]

Anything else we can expect from Estate of Art Vintage soon?
I'm starting to sell a lot of World War II army surplus—I'l be doing that over the winter [at 81 Front St.]. And vintage accessories for women, shoes especially.

Posted by JessicaBK at 3:07 PM | Comments (0)
Categories: Vendor of the Week, blog

Who knows where you'll find inspiration for your art or your coffee table—either way, ze Flea got the goods, as our new BFF Aaron knows.

What do you have there?
It's an old children's block set and you can use these modules to make your own letters. They call it "victory" colors which I guess means faded yellow, blue and grey. The vendor has a whole bunch of antique blocks for kids. [Ed. note: She sure does: Blue Jet Toys has all kinds.]

What are you going to do with your new purchase?
I'm going to use them for some projects. I have a website called Friends of Type where I do a lot of lettering and this is going to become work instead of fun. Haha.

What's the website all about?
It's a blog my friends and I have where we just challenge each other with different lettering and type design, sketches, you know.

So do you come to the Flea to find stuff for your projects?
Sometimes that. Sometimes just to see what's going on. As an alternative to a bar or something.

Are you a local Brooklynite?
Yeah, we aren't too far from here. We've been in Prospect Heights for the last 5 years.
Michigan before that. We are graphic designers and there are more opportunities for us in New York.

Thanks Aaron!

Posted by JessicaBK at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
Categories: BFF, blog

Thanks to everyone who watched the Flea on Martha TV today, we thought the market looked fab.

Since we're getting a lot of emails asking, here's a quick refresher on the Flea's winter plans.

Our Gifted Holiday Market kicks off Friday, Nov. 27, and runs through Dec. 24, at 20 E. 4 St. (at Lafayette St.), with 50 vendors selling design objects, small antique items, cool clothes, pretty jewelry, yummy food, interesting art, handmade housewares, and all kinds of unique affordable stuff. (Do you like Digi the Reindeer, Gifted's mascot?) The complete dates are as follows: Fri-Sun, Nov. 27-29; Wed-Sun, Dec. 2-6; 9-13; every day, Dec. 16-24. Hours will vary from day to day, but will mostly be in the noon to 7pm range. Will there be food? We're workin' on it.

Also, with the outdoor Fleas' last weekend Nov. 21+22, we're moving back indoors to 81 Front St. in DUMBO for the winter, starting Dec. 5+6 through March. 11am to 6pm there, with about 50 vendors all winter, same mix of classic Fleasters. We're also nailing down an additional indoor winter location to open in January, more on that soon.

Just keepin' ya posted!

Posted by demby at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)