After attending a focus meeting at school, I scampered off to the Merchandise Mart for a few hours, to see what I could find at the
One Of A Kind Show, and discovered a wealth of folks making great stuff.
There were many, many makers of jewelry and garments there, as well as a sea of artists and woodworkers - far more than I could ever connect with in a few hours - many of which appeared to be doing this full-time or coming close to it.
Among the makers I chatted with was Elly Green, the creator of
Clothing Brand Experiment, which makes their hoodies and other products entirely in Toronto, and Bob McNally, inventor and maker of the
Strumstick, a beautifully simple stringed instrument, and Eric Rose of
River Valley Kitchens, which grows and handmakes small batches of salsa and pickled veggies. I was also really geeked to run across Kellee and Matt of
Overdue Industries, whom I
mentioned earlier, and they said they'll be happy to give me a scoop on what they're doing these days, once the madness of December is over.
Then I had a really nice chat with Kimm Alfonso and some other staffers at
Etsy, who happened to have a substantial chunk of real estate there, and they were rather impressed with my research and agenda in running this blog.
As it turns out, this is a pretty busy time for me, as well, but I'll try my best to document some progress every week until January kicks in.
BTW - Make 4A Living has a
Facebook page you can follow!
