City of Craft aims to build community in the Toronto craftscape, support independent craft businesses, and encourage the larger community to get involved with crafty happenings in the city. 

Who we are

City of Craft is a project initiated by Becky Johnson, Leah Buckareff, and Jen Anisef. Becky is the founder of the Good Catch Craft Fair series in Parkdale and proprietress of the Sweetie Pie Press , Leah binds books under the name Coldsnap Bindery as well as serving as Reverend Mother of the Toronto Church of Craft , and Jen runs Toronto Craft Alert , a craft news blog, mailing list, and crafty community network.

How we came to be

The three of us were invited to attend the 2007 Craft Congress in Pittsburgh in our capacity as craft fair and craft community organizers. This inaugural Congress brought 50 indie craft leaders from across North America & the UK together to discuss issues and share best practices regarding craft related organizing; we were the only Canadian attendees. We soon realized that fundamental differences exist between craft cultures in the various regions represented, and were compelled to examine what made the Toronto craftscape unique.  And so an alliance committed to celebrating these differences and bridging connections with other craft communities was born.

What we do

Upon returning to Toronto from Pittsburgh, we organized CraftChat T.O., an open discussion where the craft-engaged public were invited to share their perspective on craft related issues of a local nature. It emerged that participants craved more local venues and opportunities to come together, share information and resources, and support one another in craft related endeavours.

The first City of Craft fair (December 1, 2007), a unique blend of craft show, craft community trade show, and exhibition, was inspired by this need for communion and collaboration, as well as a desire to share the unique culture of craft in Toronto with the larger public.  City of Craft (the fair) is a community-based craft culture event where community-arts groups, craft based initiatives/projects, studios, and other organizations were invited to do outreach to the public alongside a curated craft fair and craft-based installations. The City of Craft fair is a place to buy, observe, experience, chat about, share and reimagine all things handmade.

Buoyed by the overwhelming success of the December fair and positive response from the craft community, we decided to use the City of Craft umbrella to present other programming beyond this big annual event. These events will include some of our independent projects as well as new collaborations with other people and organizations.

Everything is possible - from small invitational exhibitions to lottery-based sales to the flagship City of Craft event that we have committed to remounting in late 2008.

Much of this growth comes from our individual desires to expand the scope of activities we undertake together, alone and in new pairings.   We are excited for what the future holds for craft in the city.