Etsy held a country-wide Made In Canada event today, the local manifestation of which landed at the Walper Hotel in DTK. For those new to the internet, Etsy is a relatively well-established online marketplace for makers. I think this is wicked cool to bring that to real life, too. One of the primary makebright missions is to get people off the sofa and engaged in the community. To sustain a rich pool of cool things to do like music/art/food/theatre/shopping, the follow-up mission is for us all to spend a little money.
If you liked or missed this event, you’ll definitely want to check out Marc Lecompte’s DIYDAY#2 coming up November 1 at Chainsaw in Waterloo. It was awesome last year, and will offer unique local stuff out of the zine crowd, different than the Etsy gig, but with overlap. And different is good.
I could not walk by these fantastic puppets by Joel Brubacher without stopping to take photos and chat…
Joel is local,…
making puppets from his basement workshop. Right on, maker!
I take it as a good sign to see this event in the Walper after the sale of this historic hotel last year. Hats off to Perimeter Development, The Zehr Group, David Strucke, and CK Atlantis for hosting. And high five to local organizer Jessica Murphy and team for making it happen.
The haps were happening upstairs.
Well well, familiar faces right out of the gate: Princess Café/Cheeses Murphy proprietor Marc Lecompte with daughter Dorothy and Bearface Design’s own Jon Johnson.
I didn’t get inside until 1:30pm of the 10-3 show, but crowds were still strong.
BRFC merch.
Still love this sign…
as did I love these collage/drawings by…
Catherine Mellinger, who just happens to be partnered with the aforementioned puppeteer Joel Brubacher.
I asked Catherine about this piece in particular that holds a fair bit of mystery. She pointed out the use of a certain type of pens that lend themselves to bleeding the colour. There was some faint echo of my brother’s drawings in this. The figure in a surreal landscape.
After making the…
rounds in…
here, I went to the other room over where the piano usually sits and found…
Crysta Stephenson making words with magnet letter buttons at…
Bayleaf Buttons. This is Megan Campbell, chief button maker and owner of Bayleaf.
I grew up in the ‘70’s and buttons were magic. Happily, I never shook that feeling. Bought the “BOOM” button you see at the bottom of this photo.
Then it was time to hit the streets again.
Well done, makers.
DW
Love this summary post. Thanks so much for sharing. Now I understand what it’s all about!