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Vendor of the WeekNovember 20, 2009VOTW - Osborn Design StudiosThis 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? Where are you guys from? What do you sell? And how long have you been selling it for? What's your specialty? What keeps you coming back to the Flea? What do you do for fun? Where can people find you online? What else do you want the good people to know about you guys? I-15 under the Bridge on Sunday.
November 12, 2009Vendor of the Week: Joseph SiposWe 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? Hometown? What do you sell and how long have you been selling it for? What's your specialty? What's your most memorable sale? What keeps you coming back to the Flea? What do you do with your time while not Fleaing? How can accessory-driven people contact you? Anything else we can expect from Estate of Art Vintage soon?
October 29, 2009Vendor of the Week: JarontiquesJaron 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!
October 16, 2009Vendor of the Week: Fringe + FeatherThere's nothing finer than the intra-Flea connections that spring up around the markets. A ricotta-and-granola combo here, a handmade sweater photo shoot with a jewelry vendor there, and a Blue Marble sundae with Nunu caramel everywhere. Lillian Crowe (left) and Darlene Estremera, together known as Fringe + Feather, met at the Fort Greene Flea last summer (2008) and decided they liked each other so much, they would just share a booth from then on, pairing original jewelry and vintage clothes. Nice. Lillian's two cast-jewelry lines are Shipwreck and Anatomical. The former features items like driftwood and squid pendants; the latter's signature piece is a human rib cage that Lillian fashions into gold, silver, and brass necklaces, and she's got other body parts too. They're a big hit at the Flea. About half her stuff is made from salvaged goods and dead stock, because not creating new waste is important to Lillian. So are her cats, Buffy and Cuthbert Cut Throat. Darlene, originally from Long Island and doing the fashion thing for a few years now, has the vintage. She sells boots, belts and bags, scarves, skirts and dresses, and even one or two ponchettes (Ed. note: term coined at the Flea, check the images below, you'll see what we mean). Her picks are very cute young sophisticated stylish gal in her 20s--not unlike Miss D. And if you see Darlene in the morning, don't be surprised if she's rocking a new outfit that afternoon. She's got it like that. In addition to Flea biz partners, Lillian and Darlene are also friends. They try to match their outfits (until the plan is black and white, and Lillian shows up in bright yellow) and give each other feedback on their wares. Aside from the business, they chill, and at their first sleepover, Darlene found a cuddle buddy in Cuthbert Cut Throat while sleeping on the floor. Hence, another shared interest found in Lillian's cats. Fringe + Feather can be found at both the Fort Greene and Bridge Fleas most Saturdays and Sundays. Pop in, and ask about the ponchettes.
October 9, 2009Vendor of the Week: John MurphyJohn Murphy is "that really cool artist guy" you've seen at the Flea since Day One, with the super-saturated ornate frames surrounding vibrantly colored, intimately detailed photographs of miniature sets he constructs in his Philadelphia studio, usually featuring small birds and flowers. They feel like 2-D dioramas of Candy Land or some other fantastical technicolor world. John is a longtime art curator who now focuses solely on his own work. His pieces aren't what you'd call typical "flea art" in any way, and ever since he started out with the Design*Sponge section in April '08 we've seen scores of Fleasters ooh and ahh over his gorgeous work, deservedly so. For a unique edition like what he brings to market, it's right up Affordable Lane, especially when you think of the frame and print as two pieces combined. John also sells unframed photo collages that are sourced from 19th Century etchings, then combined with his own photographs and printed on archival paper in limited editions. (Check the slideshow below.) Although his photos and frames are of a single piece, John will soon start selling the frames separately. He's also launching a new stationery collection that's pretty and cool. And don't miss his ostrich drawings, which will be finding their way onto Baby Flea's wall very soon. John does the Saturday and Sunday Fleas, but he's been focusing on the Bridge market lately, including this Sunday, Oct. 11. He's usually in F-41 along the back fence near the pupusas, chillin' and chattin'.
September 17, 2009Vendor of the WeekBrothers (in the literal sense) Lionel and Constant sell at the Flea as Nenenn155. They have a really cool take on vintage shoes, clothes and jewelry, as well as paintings, that they've honed to a sharp edge for the Flea crowd. Most of their stuff comes from their native Haiti. The friendly upbeat bros are also accomplished painters and musicians, and recently released a funky tribal jazz album as Vodu155. In the '80s they made the scene as a sort of hip-hop/freestyle crew called Unity 2. (You must check out their hilarious music video for "Shirlee" (she's my little girlie!), directed by a young Matt Dillon and starring a young, hot Veronica Webb.) Lionel and Constant see their Flea booth is a sort of extension of their art, merging Haitian and American culture, but Fleain' wasn't always the plan. 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. As you can imagine, it changed everything. In order to take care of their newly found responsibility, they launched Nenenn155 and have been importing Haitian goods to NY to sell at the Flea ever since. Their business has slowly grown since (cute blog/website now up), which has in turn created jobs for the family back in Haiti. (They go home every 3 or 4 months to check in too.) Every vendor's got a story, and this is just the tip of Lionel and Constant's iceberg. Next time you Flea, chat 'em up--and any other vendor who seems interesting. That's what it's all about.
September 3, 2009Vendor of the Week: Liddabita SweetnessThey weren't even planning on going into business so soon. Sure, Jen and Liz knew in culinary school they worked well together and got along super-duper, but they didn't think it would all happen so quickly.... Jen and Liz both graduated from the French Culinary Institute in SoHo about a year ago. While working their respective food-related jobs (Jen cooks and delivers food and Liz works for Roni Sue, the Essex St. Market chocolatier), they were still finding time to cook, eat, and talk about food while cooking and eating. One day they decided to make a candy bar--you know, for fun. And then The New York Times article came out. You know, the one with Eric in the center of Brooklyn's hottest foodies? Jen and Liz thought, "Hmmm. Let's bring our new candy bar to the Flea and just try to sell it." They brought him some samples at Flea HQ, including their insane honeycomb treat, and got the coveted go-ahead. From candy experimentation to full incorporation of their business, Liddabit was up and running in a couple months after their launch at the Flea in April. (A New York mag plug before they started didn't hurt.) Their signature King Bar is filled with all sorts of goodness like brown sugar/brown butter cookie, peanut butter nugget, and fresh banana ganache. They also rock a coconut lime bar, beer-pretzel-and-salt caramels (omg, i want that), a perfect peanut-butter-and-jelly bar (healthy!), and that honeycomb thing, just to name a few. But that is really just the tip of the of the sundae. Their products change seasonally and week-to-week based on whimsy and random inspiration, so your tastebuds will always have a surprise treat. (Listen to this Hey Brooklyn online radio interview for a candy-science dissertation.) And they use all biodegradable packaging so you can gorge guilt-free. Check Liddabit at the Flea every Saturday in Fort Greene in E6 and soon at fine artisanal stores like Greene Grape Provisions.
August 13, 2009Buy American: Hideya SagawaAs a wee teen in Japan, Hideya Sagawa would watch the telly, (specifically, Footloose) lovin' the style and culture of old American movies and TV. He would eventually make his way to the U.S., to work in vintage stores in Chi-town, where he would learn English, and then NYC where he worked as a buyer for 10 years at legendary vintage shop What Goes Around Comes Around. It wasn't until a couple years ago that Hide (HEE-day) decided he had enough cool stuff of his own to start selling his collection of clothing and accessories. And cool, indeed. You can find snakeskin cowboy boots, silver and turquoise cuffs and necklaces, select mens clothing, a Native American-made bag constructed from a turtle's shell, prints and paintings, and knick-knacks, all in Americana style ranging from the 30's through the 70's. Hide will soon be partnering with Kenji of Amoskeag XX, the LES denim boutique and big-time supplier. Kenji will sell some wares in Hide's booth and Hide will sell some of his items at the shop. It's this type of partnership that Hide appreciates about the Flea. While in his booth, Hide is always taking account of what people are wearing and selling, as a sort of informal anthropological study--probably preparing to take over the world. But he doesn't remove himself. His OTHER favorite part of the Flea is the selection of people socializing and the partnerships he builds. As he says, "You never know who you are going to meet." Meet Hide in V12/Fort Greene and F-32/Bridge every weekend.
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