The Renegade Craft Fair Chicago-stop took place this past weekend in Wicker Park. I imagine that it's sort of like the Renaissance Fair, but replaces the theme "ye old cosplay" with "hipsters, irony, and felt." I attended with three of my craftiest associates, and we were unanimously amazed. But what of the plants, in particular?
Well, you'd be surprised at how many people were using plants as display-enhancement. Pots of succulents were scattered about trays of homemade buttons and resin barrettes. Little tufts of moss held delicate hand-made jewelry (sadly all the moss I encountered was fake... it is possible to keep pads of moss alive for this purpose). One station was even selling tiny crassula offshoots in film canisters, for a not-so-tiny price. Asking the vendor if I could take a photo, I overheard a fashionable fairgoer looking at these pots and exclaiming, "Ugh, this jade stuff is so popular right now."
I think I see a "Gollum" in there
This gave me the chuckles. Really? Popular like colored wayfarers are popular? I know that propagating your own plants is DIY and awards you eco-points (the indie-kid Holy Grail), but I had no idea it was in vogue. Do people go into Bucktown bars with their jade plants and their neck-bandanas, and make the other patrons say, "Well, we were bringing jade around here before all these other poseurs"? For goodness' sake! Stick to growing tomatoes and weed, like normal hipsters.
Anyway. There was one vendor there that I thought was particularly wonderful: Photosynthesis. Here is a screenprinting artist who loves ferns and wants to shout her love from the rooftops, which I can get behind. Needless to say, the "Fern and Ginkgo Silk Skirt" is on the christmas list.
-NA
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