YOUTHMAKERS DEEDEE AND JOJO AT THE HANDMADE ARCADE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL IN 2022. | PHOTO BY KITOKO CHARGOIS

If you’re not sure where to start with your holiday shopping this season, check out this year’s Handmade Arcade Holiday Market. Now in its 19th year, the market hosts makers, artists and creatives of all ages. More than 11,000 shoppers buzzed through the market last year, supporting more than 250 makers with more than $680,000 in reported sales.

This year, nearly 300 makers will set up their stands at Downtown’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Dec 1-2, their largest cohort of creators to date. This year’s vendors include 14 individual youth makers, a Scout troop and other youth groups as well as makers from the BIPOC Maker Accelerator program that partners with Sustainable, a Pittsburgh start-up with a mission of supporting socio-economic equity, to provide a greater platform for underrepresented artists.

Customers can expect handmade clothing, jewelry, artwork, woodwork, housewares, glasswork, toys and more. The Main Event will be held Saturday, Dec. 2 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and requires free timed tickets. Registration is not required for children under 12. There will also be two opportunities to meet the vendors at Friday Night Happy Hour on Dec. 1 from 5-7:30 p.m. and at Early Bird Shopping on Dec. 2 from 9-11 a.m. Friday’s event will sell a limited number of tickets, $35 each, at the door and online, while Saturday morning’s event requires pre-purchased tickets that cost $25. A virtual catalog will become available on Monday, Nov. 20 for people to browse featured products at this year’s market.

At the Main Event, shoppers can expect hands-on activities to create art they can take home with them, including LED gift bags and collages, or see artists in action through demonstrations of silk screening, crocheting and clay-wheel throwing. For those just interested in finding the perfect holiday gift, there are plenty of booths to browse special, one-of-a-kind items.

Megan Grguras, owner of Little Pittsburgh Flower Shop, will be selling in the holiday market for the first time. She sells sola wood flower arrangements, which are made from Shola plant, a natural and sustainable source for wood-crafting.

Grguras buys flowers wholesale, treats them with vegetable glycerin, dip dyes them, hand paints them or sometimes airbrushes them and then arranges them on wire stems to look just like authentic flowers, but they last considerably longer. She places them in mason jars, mugs, teacups or other upcycled materials and also sells wall hangings, reed diffusers, candle toppers and magnets. 

MEGAN GRGURAS, OWNER OF LITTLE PITTSBURGH FLOWER SHOP, AT THE HANDMADE ARCADE SPRING MARKET. | COURTESY MEGAN GRGURAS

She says she wants to create not only gifts, but showstopping pieces.

As a vendor in the 2022 Handmade Arcade Spring Market, Grguras met other vendors who she immediately befriended. She describes the atmosphere and show as being “unlike any other in Pittsburgh.”

She believes these gifts bring a kind of personality, intention and artistry that products from Amazon simply could never replicate. One of Grguras’ favorite vendors is Clementina, a soy candle company. She says the candles are so beautiful that she refuses to burn them, keeping them somewhere warm enough for the scent to emanate.

Her husband, Dan Grguras, has been a vendor at the Handmade Arcade since 2017 with his company Baxter & the Bear, which sells minimalist movie prints, posters and graphic design work.

“I consider this one of the more elite maker shows in the area,” she says, encouraging other artists to apply to sell with the Handmade Arcade. 

Another vendor, Imani Batts, is making her second appearance at the annual holiday market with her company Catherine Trendz, an adult upcycling clothing company that prioritizes sustainability. This year she will be selling items made from thrift-store finds such as tapestry blankets, tapestry hoodies and sweatshirts and T-shirt pillows.

Batts notes that the Handmade Arcade curates a crowd that appreciates the creativity of local handmade businesses.

“It’s something about knowing the person that’s making the items,” says Batts. “Knowing their story, knowing that they are putting in hard work and dedication to present something different.”

One of her favorite vendors is weirdlittleearrings, a company that sellings odd earrings out of  unusual items, such as baby doll heads. She has also seen other vendors that sell screen printed shirts, limited edition comic books and vintage items. 

“Everyone is curating an experience when you’re shopping with them,” says Batts, “that can be more personable, more intimate, more one-on-one than just buying from big brands.”