Meesterlijk

I wanted to share the few pictures I took at the living fair last week. After the workshop I didn't take much time to look around & I really should have as the 'Meesterlijk'-hall seemed a great place to get creative impulses and inspiration. Bummer! Will have to go back next year I suppose. But the few stands I did visit are really worth mentioning so check out their sites if you are attracted by what you see. :) All the links are below the images.

Feetbag

This company is comitted to the preservation of the leather trade in the Netherlands and stimulates the development of this field. Quirky and fun leather objects!

Anne Vandenheuvel

Beautiful versatile textile art: smashing colorcombo's, felt mosaics, wall decoration and care wear.

Bouwjaar 63
Fun felt items in fun happy colors.

Instincts

This stand really attracted by the minimalistic touch and interior. I loved how all was set up & showed. And apparently she has an Etsy-shop too!

Penduka
Image by Penduka

Penduka provides work to women in Namibia. This way the women and their families have an income and the downwards spiral of poverty can be broken. Their embroidery tells a story using typical imagery of the ethnic groups these women originate from. The women embroider their own life stories, centuries-old, orally transmitted stories, or any story that you would like to be told.

Femke van Gemert

I was literally drawn to this stand. I simply couldn't resist taking a closer look at the textures of this woven wall art. Femke surely knows how to impress with all the different kind of fabrics woven into a new piece. Beautiful!

From Africa with love

With passion from Africa and design, this new gallery in Amsterdam sells work of Africa's most talented designers. They have work of Skinny laMinx too! I love the wobbly ceramics dinnerware!

Don't you love the tiny branches used to hang the jewellery?
It looks so clean and brilliant!Corina Rietveld
How clever are these embroidered silver rings? Love 'em!

There were approximately 100 stands in this hall and I only saw a fraction of them. If you are interested in seeing more, there are links to all the designers on the webpage of Meesterlijk.
And today, 101 woonideeën also published a post on Meesterlijk. :)

Weekend impressions

On friday I left for a weekend Amsterdam with my Etsy friends. In the evening we went to an Etsy meeting at the Lloyd hotel. What a fun crowd gathered there. I don't have any useable pictures of the meeting itself as it was dark and small in there but it was cozy and fun for sure.
Matt and Benedikta from Etsy's Berlin office were the hosts and they certainly spread the enthusiam about the conference for micro entrepreneurs next spring. Can't wait for this summit of awesome!
All these flowers were in the hallway of the toilets - a creation of Vlinder & Vogel Isn't it beautiful?On Saturday we went with a bunch to the Craftymarket. Even though the market was connected to a cultural festival, it wasn't really busy which surprised me. But being there with like minded souls, it was certainly the highlight of my weekend.
The weather was kind of weird: sunny, cold, cloudy, warm, rainy,... typical Dutch weather for this time of year...
My friend Vanessa came to visit me at the market. I hadn't seen her in over a year and she's not only an amazing Etsy-supporter but also a good photographer as I asked her to take some pictures from the stands. I'm so glad she spend the entire afternoon with us chatting. Thanks for popping by, Ness! :)It's fun sharing a stand with someone who's a fan of your work. Marta from Martice did a great job explaining my work to people with her never ending enthusiasm! Thanks Marta! :)Nicole from Babongohome hides behind her beautiful and ecofriendly mobiles.Swee is checking out ThongbaiTatong's work.Barry & Liesbeth from Pinipiru shared a stand with Annemiek from TwoTreesBelgium.Bai from ThongbaiTatong spoiled us with a beautiful pouch and Swiedebie gave me a plush apple pincushion which will be excellent in my sewing space. Thanks so much, supersweet, smiley ladies! :) I bought this cutie hat from Swiedebie for my nephew who turns 1 in 2 weeks. He will look much cuter in it then I do but I wanted to show you how awesome it is.
So happy I remembered his birthday when chatting with Swee while looking at her pretty stand! I'm terrible at remembering birthday's! ;)It was a fab weekend spend with friends & it made me forget a bit about the load of work I still have on my plate the coming weeks. Better get back to the to do-list now I suppose...
Have a great start of the new week everyone! :)