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West Coast Craft Showcases the Color and Creativity of California

West Coast Craft Showcases the Color and Creativity of California

American Craft visited San Francisco’s largest craft fair to find the handmade in the tech industry’s backyard.

West Coast Craft Showcases the Color and Creativity of California

American Craft visited San Francisco’s largest craft fair to find the handmade in the tech industry’s backyard.
Caramic sculpture in yellows and greens with circle texture.

Amoebas, bacteria, and cell reproduction inspire Oakland, California–based ceramist Justin Kiene’s blobby, abstract surface decoration on planters and mugs. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Exuberant maximalist aesthetics and California comfort dominated last weekend’s West Coast Craft, the twice-yearly craft fair whose Summer 2023 iteration took place June 10–11 at windy Fort Mason in San Francisco. Inside the Festival Pavilion, over 275 vendors—most from the West Coast—gathered to showcase their striking functional ceramics, casual clothing lines, and eye-popping jewelry. From Everett Noel’s sculptural knives to Chaparral Jewelry’s topographically accurate rings to Ariana Heinzman’s arresting floral ceramics, the natural splendor of the West Coast was on full display. American Craft stopped by the event to check in with craftspeople working in clay, wood, metal, textiles, and glass. Enjoy their work and West Coast Craft’s vibe in this slideshow with images by Gabriela Hasbun.

West Coast Craft

Booths setup in an open building with a Coffee This Way sign greeting guests.

The entrance to West Coast Craft before the midday rush. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Brightly colored ceramic vessels.

Bright floral patterns pop on Vashon Island, Washington–based ceramist Ariana Heinzman’s dramatic black coil-built vessels. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Handmade large knife.

Everett Noel, a knifesmith based in Nevada City, California, shows a rough blade prototype for a knife. Noel will show a new body of work inspired by JB Blunk’s sculptures at Blunk Space in Point Reyes Station, California, from July 1–16. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Two blankets hanging next to each other.

Mathilde quilts, pillows, bags, and pouches are designed by Claudia Middendorf and handsewn in Rhode Island from European linen and American cotton batting. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

A hand showcasing a gold ring with a salt and pepper diamond.

Lindsay Knox of Oakland, California–based ladha displays the Reyes Gray Diamond Ring, a chunky solid gold heirloom ring with a 1.06-carat salt and pepper diamond. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Vibrant colored plates, mugs, bowls, vases and planters.

Squiggles, vibrant colors, curves, and dots are emblematic of Viviana Matsuda’s Mud Witch, a San Francisco–based pottery company offering plates, mugs, bowls, vases, and planters. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Two people sitting in chairs with their leather bags and items on display.

Robert Saltonstall (right) makes playful, bulbous wooden stools in Berkeley, California; Jonathan Wilson of Taulis Leather Workshop fashions wallets and bags from vegetable-tanned leather in Oakland, California. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Multiple footed planters with swirly patterns and plants displayed.

Kyle Daniels of AL Ceramics in Oakland, California, adorned this footed planter with swirly sgraffito patterns. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Artist Dioscvri displays table linens with animal designs.

Leopards, tigers, snakes, and other powerful animals make up the core of Dioscvri’s imagery. Echoing the endless reproducibility of tattoo flash, the designs are stamped onto comfortable cotton basics, sturdy chore coats, and table linens in Alameda, California. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Two artist stand in their brightly colored booth with various porcelain dishes on display.

Bay Area ceramists Emily Tarner (left) and Katie Thrash pose with their work. Thrash, of Shady Clay, uses the Japanese technique of nerikomi to create delirious, whimsical porcelain dishes. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Large ceramic vessel inspired by a baroque candelabra.

Whitney Sharpe of Latch Key Ceramics coil-builds her massive vessels—inspired by baroque candelabras—in Oakland, California. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

A hand displaying a stone-focused ring with multiple colors in a geometric pattern.

Silversmith Claire Haupt of Silver Mazzy wears a bold sunburst ring from her stone-focused jewelry collection. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Artist Ulrich Conrad Simpson stands with his daughter in their durable denim aprons.

Ulrich Conrad Simpson, pictured left with his daughter, designs durable denim kitchen goods such as aprons, napkins, and potholders for his San Francisco–based company Mi Cocina. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Photo of a denim napkin place setting.

Napkins and place settings from Mi Cocina. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Dogs made from vintage wool fabrics.

Christie Beniston makes 3.5-foot-long stuffed dogs from vintage wool fabrics for her daughter Isa Beniston’s colorful brand Gentle Thrills. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Artist Nicole Neu stands in her booth displaying her paper art.

Portland, Oregon–based Nicole Neu of Niknik Studio sources hemp bark from Hiromi Paper in Los Angeles, which she boils with soda ash and blends into a soft pulp for papermaking. She pours and brushes the pulp into molds constructed from high-density neoprene from a cosplay supply website. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Multiple sizes of colorful baskets made of hand-dyed robes and fibers.

Moriah Okun of San Francisco textile company MOkun stitches hand-dyed ropes and fibers into flexible, colorful baskets, planters, and vessels. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Zoomed in photo of a glass vessel.

Portland, Oregon’s Gary Bodker Designs offers a full range of glass goods for the home in 17 different colorways. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Two artists display a brightly colored collard shirt.

Alex Lunt (left) and Lili Pham of San Francisco size-inclusive slow-fashion brand Nettle Studios hold up a shirt from their Tutti Frutti collection. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Ceramic planters and mugs on display in a booth.

Amoebas, bacteria, and cell reproduction inspire Oakland, California–based ceramist Justin Kiene’s blobby, abstract surface decoration on planters and mugs. This Seussian pastel planter has fingerlike orange protuberances. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Image of artist Justin Kiene.

Justin Kiene. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Ceramic teapot with two teacups.

Tina Fossella, of Mill Valley, California, centers her ceramics practice around ritual and function. This wheel-thrown teapot has a bamboo handle and comes with two teacups. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Artist Giedre Kose displays a necklace in her booth.

Giedre Kose wears a coat and a delicate adjustable necklace from Anchovy, her Berkeley, California–based brand that emphasizes nature’s imperfections through materials such as linen, pearls, and opals. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Handmade shelf on display.

Eric Martin of XYZ Studio designed the modular XYZ Studio Shelf to grow and change with shifting interior needs. Designed and built in Alameda, California, it is transportable, adaptable, and endlessly reconfigurable. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Two artists pose with their wavy woodwork trays and cutting boards.

Elijah Clancy and Lohana Richmond of Square Objects pose with their wavy woodwork. The couple make trays and cutting boards for everyday use in their home studio in Watsonville, California. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Four rings on display.

Alissa Bailey of Chaparral Jewelry left a career as a park ranger in Yosemite National Park to make topographically accurate jewelry renditions of iconic Western landscapes. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Artist Nick Carter wears a shirt from his collection that is inspired by camouflage and decorative art patterns.

Nick Carter wears a shirt from ASMR homegoods, his Providence, Rhode Island, clothing project. Carter bleaches, dyes, and prints on upcycled and deadstock garments, taking inspiration from camouflage and decorative arts patterns. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Shivaun Watchorn is an assistant editor of American Craft.

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