Thirty vendors set up outside Black Crow Coffee Co in celebration of the coffee shops third birthday. Whitney Elfstrom | The Crow’s Nest
By Amy Diaz
What do you get when Small Business Saturday and Black Crow Coffee Co.’s third birthday fall on the same day?
A pop-up indie flea market.
With the holidays fast approaching, St. Petians took to the brick roads of Old Northeast to do their shopping locally.
“I’m shopping for my brother,” said market-goer Chelsea Rogers. “He bought me something local from New York last year so I’m trying to do that for him this year.”
“I’m trying to see if they have something cool, crafted or something like that,” said Bethany Klink, another shopper. “I like to get my family more local stuff.”
There was certainly no shortage of options — the market featured 30 vendors selling clothes, records, succulents, essential oils and art of all kind.
Many of the vendors don’t have physical stores and do most of their selling online or at local markets.
Lauralie Bradford sells her handmade jewelry at indie markets, farmers markets and music festivals around the country.
She started selling her creations to her friends through Facebook as a senior in highschool. She had an Etsy shop in college before she dropped out and eventually decided to make jewelry full time.
At the end of each necklace chain are vibrant stones, geodes, pressed flower petals, or shrunken animal skulls. Every summer, Bradford travels north to gather materials.
“Some stones are from Colorado, North Carolina, some are directly sourced from Brazil,” Bradford said. “My butterfly wings come from sanctuaries around the U.S., so instead of being thrown out, they’re recycled and sold to artists like me. I also buy deer antler in bulk by the pound from a guy in Montana who sells it out of his garage.”
No two pieces in her collection are alike.
“I get bored very quickly so I try to make everything different, so I don’t get bored and neither does anybody else,” Bradford said.
Her jewelry can be found on Instagram at @shopthegenesis, or at her website https://shopthegenesis.com/.
If you’re a regular local indie market-goer, you’ve probably seen the painted collages of famous musicians, writers and artists.
“I’ve been painting my whole life, but as far as making tribute collages, I’ve been doing that for about three years,” said artist Marcus Rogers.
Maya Angelou, Prince, Frida Kahlo and Kurt Cobain are just a few of the subjects in his vibrant paintings. The portraits are typically accompanied by a quote from the subject.
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down,” reads the quote alongside a painting of Toni Morrison.
Rogers co-owns the art business, 9lamps, with his partner of four years, Deepa. The two are based in St. Petersburg and sell at markets in Tampa and Sarasota. They can be found on Instagram at @9lamps.
Some vendors are relatively new to the indie market scene.
Becca Morelli started her upcycled clothing business Dirty Denim within the last year.
“I’ve actually been upcycling most of my life,” Morelli said. “I’ve been thrifting since I can remember because my family has always been a little bit poorer, but I’ve turned it into more of a fashion thing recently.”
Morelli gives thrifted denim shorts and T-shirts a new life by sewing patterned fabrics along the ends and adding images of eyes or leaves. She draws inspiration from the market community and her time working at Urban Outfitters, but she tries to make everything her own.
“I always try to use different materials to sew, all of the patchwork on my denim is from vintage clothing that hadn’t sold, so everything has a purpose nothing goes to waste,” Morelli said. “Some of my eye shorts, the eyes are actually made from a wedding dress that I made.”
Morelli has been hand-sewing all of her life. It was only a year ago when she started using a sewing machine.
She doesn’t have a physical store, but she has pieces in local shops downtown, including Gather, an indie market gift shop, and The Rolling Cabana. She can be found on Instagram @dirtydenim__.
