a frolic! event: little winter market

I had the pleasure of co-hosting (along with Abby Try Again) Little Winter Market over the weekend. Abby dreamt up the idea and then asked me to help curate the market as well as style the event. I love to support the handmade community so I happily obliged. It was super special to bring all of these artists, crafters and bloggers together in one room. I was once again reminded how truly lovely and kind this community is.

Styling the event was a lot of fun. The location (The Cleaners at The Ace) is flooded with gorgeous natural light and rustic wood floors so I thought a wintery Swedish cabin concept would be a great starting point for designing the event. Shanna Murray created the lovely little logo for us based on the theme. Abby ordered darling pencil favors and her amazing sister hand-stamped all the programs.

  

We even had a "Little Winter Bicycle" covered in fabric by Cori Kindred.

For decorations, I purchased simple Douglas Fir garlands and we strung them criss-cross like flags, across the room. We changed out the curtains to a black and white gingham and used farm tables (from Thea's Interiors) for the entrance and gift table (that's cute Sally Shim above greeting our visitors. Isn't she gorgeous in her homemade dress?) The vendor tables were covered in kraft paper or simple muslin tablecloths.

Two of our vendor tables: Garment House + Jordan + Paul Ferney. All our vendors are awesome stylists so each table looked amazing. Check out all the incredible vendors over here.

We set lanterns outside at the entrance to welcome shoppers. This is Nicolle (so cute, right?) cutting sprigs for our gift wrap table which was set up on a large whitewashed farm table in front of a gingham curtain.

Here's a video by the amazing Anja that will make you feel like you walked around our market. Enjoy and please check out more photos and details on our Flickr stream.

Little Winter from anja verdugo on Vimeo.

There are so many people to thank so please see credits below. I have to give extra special thank yous to my friend Rich Wipf, my intern Samantha Shorey and our Project Manager, Corey Harmon and of course my partner in crime, Abby Powell Thompson. 

Photos: Jenny Vorwaller 1 + 4., 2+7 Anabela of Fieldguided.  3 Andrea, Hula Seventy. All the rest by me.

Credits. Creator: Abby Powell Thompson. Project Manager: Corey Harmon. Styling: Chelsea Fuss. "Little Winter" Name: Cori Kindred. Logo: Shanna Murray. Location: The Cleaners at The Ace. Farm Tables: Thea's Antiques. Layout: Rich Wipf. Styling Assistants: Rich Wipf and Samantha Shorey. Volunteers: Jenny Young, Havilah Savage, Brittany Hassell, Blythe Woodward, Sally Shim, Summer Allen-Gibson, Alyson Brown, Carlie Armstrong, Susan Lutjen, Jen Mccabe, Nicolle Null, Lindee Lewit. Thank you to Jen Alfieri-Adams at The Ace Hotel.

Comments

[twiggs]

as i told you a few minutes ago on twitter, this was so beautiful.. i just wish i could have been there! everythings looks amaizng and you had such an elegant and warm taste in the interior decorations! really loved it! have a great week! twiggs

[jen downer]

it was a really special & beautiful event. i do hope you all decide to make it annual!

[anja louise]

I adored the styling. It's cool to hear about the process and how it all came to be! :)

[Will]

This market looks like it was such a treat! Thanks for sharing more of it with us.

[Caitlin @ Sacramento Street]

looks like a wonderful event. i'm going to definitely come next year! thanks for sharing these wonderful photos. xo

[Laura.]

it's things like this that make me wonder why i haven't moved to portland yet.

[nicolle]

I'm so happy I got to help out with this event, it was so much fun!! really hope you guys do it again next year!! :)

[linda]

So nice to read your blog about the process on this event. It was so much fun and I'm so glad I got a chance to meet you!

[Carolyn]

Viewed the flickr stream, video and various blog posts from those that went along. It looked like such a wonderful event. Shame I'm on the other side of the world and couldn't attend. :( But it is a great inspiration to those of us who would love to do something similar in the future! Great work girls! :)

[shellie]

everything looked great...you guys did a great job!

[Regina]

love the video - I wish I was closer. Not only do I love Portland, but this would be so cool to attend. You did a beautiful job.

[sandy]

looks like such a special event! congratulations + looking forward to more to come!

[Jane Flanagan]

Chelsea - I literally gobbled up every tweet and photo and blog post that came out from the weekend. I could tell all the way from Toronto that this was something very, very special indeed and your signature style just enhances every beautiful piece of creative talent that was present.

I hope that this is a recurring event and dream I can attend in person next time. xx

[Samantha]

I so hope you do this again next year! I was disappointed that I couldn't attend!

[casey]

it's beautiful! what a lovely event. the styling/colors/logo/paper goods were perfect! great job. wish i was closer so i could have gone.

[cindy]

it looks so wonderful, magical really! come to nyc!

[Melissa]

It was so amazing; great job!! I brought my mom with me on our way to PDX to drop her off, and she thought it was just about the best thing ever!

[Mary Herman]

Congratulations Chelsea! It looks like you achieved success. Next year I'll just have to place a higher priority on attending. The black and white gingham drapes and the evergreen boughs set off your theme very well! I'll want to drive up with some friends so we can really make a day of it!

[katy elliott]

Wow this amazing chelsea and so inspiring. What an group of artists you brought together!

Big hugs and congrats. You must be exhausted.

[Honora]

Looks absolutely lovely! My favorite part is all the wonderful smiles around the room! Congrats. xx

[Uncle Beefy]

YAY! Even if I couldn't make it I'm thrilled to still see it! Loved the video! And, of course, it looks styled to perfection. Clean, homey, sophisticated... lovely. Makes me sigh with a smile. :)

(I hope Miss Jane Flanagan can make it next time too!)

[emerson merrick]

It is really amazing what can happen when cool girls come together. Well freakin done.

[amelia]

Yay!! I do love Sally's dress and the video soundtrack and the display windows and greenery :)

[abby]

AWESOME!
Thanks for all your hard work Chelsea!
It was a dream!
(Oh and one more SUPER hard worker to mention-my sister who stamped all the programs, did a ton of our errands and was there all the days helping, setting up and cleaning-Lindee Lewit http://toansweryourquestions.blogspot.com/)
Yay!

[havilah]

i was so happy to help with the set-up + to see you {& abby} again! everything looked incredible, you styled it perfectly- well done!

[Melanie]

Chelsea, you and Abby did an utterly fantastic job. Everything looks so pretty. I loved getting a little peek from the video. This is one of a hundred reasons I need to move to Portland.

[Robin]

Thanks for helping in making this happen. The market was beautiful and unlike anything Portland has seen before. I hope you do it again!

[Supra Shoes]

You're fantastic.Continue to work hard.

[Truly Smitten]

will not be missing this next year =). You all did a fantastic job!

[sally]

Chelsea, thank you for letting me be a part of this special experience. It far exceeded my [already high] expectations. So glad we finally connected! We need to go on a food date soon! :)

[joslyn]

oh i so wish i couldn've been there. it looks like perfection friend. well done! you are amazing.

[Alison]

oh, to live in portland! what a beautiful event. thank you for sharing photos, video and info!

[Fieldguided]

Miss Chelsea. Is it too much if I say that I love you and everything you do? Because I do. I wish we had gone for an adventure-meal together. You're the best. xo

[Color Collective]

Oh Chelsea, it looks so gorgeous!!! I love all the styling-those gingham curtains are the perfect touch! :) Wish I could have been there!

[Cheryl]

This was a beautiful event! And super well promoted! I had friends from SF and LA all telling me to go.

[Joke]

Loved every second of it! Thank you for letting me be part of it! Xo

[Lynne, Tea for Joy]

So amazing Chelsea - the most talented people really do live in Portland.

[BODIE and FOU]

and you've done a wonderful job Chelsea..it's really the kind of little events that make me wish I was living where they're happening. For some reasons, I often think that craft markets in London are too crafty and not stylish or inspiring enough but Little Winter looks beautifully curated!
May I ask you what font you used for the logo, it looks wonderful and so appropriate..I'm in awe

http://bodieandfou.blogspot.com/2010/11/impossible-project.html

[jane]

i'm late to the game as far as comments go, but had to let you know how brilliantly executed this little winter market was.

so wish i could have been there to mingle, meet, and shop :)

[Chelsea]

The logo (font included) was designed by Shanna Murray. Shes a genius! www.shannamurray.com Thanks for the comments guys! Wish you could have all bee there!

[evencleveland]

Every detail so considered - it looks like it was beautiful. I so wish I could have been there!

[Kristine - Cool Wedding]

Cool stuff you got there! I wish I could have been there to see all the details in person!

[Elena]

Absolutely mesmerizing and such an inspiration, and this is based on photos and blog posts alone! Chelsea, the styling was utterly lovely, and the event had a dreamy, dreamy vibe. I would absolutely love to be part of something similar closer to home (NYC). If you ever do an East Coast 'Little Winter/Spring/Fall', I'm there! :D

[christian louboutin SALE]

I know this is really boring and you are skipping to the next comment, but I just wanted to throw you a big thanks - you cleared up some things for me!

[Sarah Winward]

I went up to Portland for the weekend and visited the market and bought a few goodies. You did such an incredible job of styling it, it felt so clean and cozy, perfect! I loved all of the green foliage.

[jen jafarzadeh]

Chelsea, I'm so floored by what you and Abby created — a weekend of pure magic, that's for sure. Love all your styling — the black + white gingham and the lovely fir garland. You two curated such an amazing market. Wish I could have been there, but so happy to peek through all the photos (and the video is so fun!). May I request an East Coast Little Winter in the future?!

[Hannah Nunn]

How lovely. I ended up here after searching for 'green foliage'! Just the inspiration i need. What a lovely event!

[Sundari Carmody]

It all looks really sweet. I should try and set up something bloggy here. I just wouldn't know what kind of craft to share, I'm more an appreciator of craft.

[Elisa_Croatia]

what a neat concept. It's very inspiring to see all the photos and the creativity of many wonderful people. I like the handmade dress you pointed out.

[vanessa joie]

Kicking myself for missing this.