THE PUBLIC’S RADIO

In partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org • By James Baumgartner, Luis Hernandez

For 20 years, Craftland has featured the work of artists and craftspeople in its small shop on Westminster street in Providence. It started as a temporary holiday art show and store, before the term pop-up shop was even popular. Artscape producer James Baumgartner and morning host Luis Hernandez talked with Margaret Carleton, one of the store’s founders, and Deb Dormody, who has been involved with the store since its earliest days.

LUIS HERNANDEZ: I wanted to start by asking you: how would you describe to anybody who’s never been there, what is Craftland? What is it today?

MARGARET CARLETON: This is Margaret. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of color. It’s a lot of craft. It’s a lot of art on the walls, all merchandise together. And it’s the work of 120 artists. Most of them are local. We have a really wide range of things. We have a lot of ceramics, beautiful, beautiful ceramics, handmade jewelry. We do have T-shirts that are silk-screened by artists. We have a lot of letterpress paper goods or printed paper goods, letterpress cards, housewares. It’s a pretty special way to get a connection to the community that we come from, and the community and Rhode Island and Providence in general.

DEB DORMODY: This is Deb. As Margaret and the Craftland team describe it: it’s “crafters to the rafters.” It is floor to ceiling filled with crafts, lots of bright colors. And, you know, I think what makes it special is that most everything in there is handmade. That’s pretty unusual for any store these days. And you know, and I think previously, in its newer days, especially as a year round store, people when they’re getting a sense of it would say oh, like a brick and mortar Etsy. And we, you know, would kind of be a little bit indignant about that, because we started three years before Etsy existed. So, you know, we’re originals in that way.

HERNANDEZ: You are the OGs.

DORMODY: That’s right. store before that was even really a thing. What was the inspiration to create the first Craftland show?

CARLETON: I was talking with a good friend of mine, Johanna Fisher. And we were very inspired by all the artwork that just craft and DIY stuff that we were seeing in Providence. The printmaking scene was really exploding. There was Fort Thunder, the Dirt Palace, just collectives making art and individuals making really interesting art. So we were really inspired by it and wanted to create a place to share it with the wider community.

DORMODY: The punk, do it yourself scene was kind of a way to help spread the word of what was happening kind of in a national way for what was going on. Because there wasn’t a way to access that information through other channels in, you know, in other mediums. And so Craftland, was sort of at the beginning of this burgeoning movement of like a new wave of craft. There wasn’t even a phrase called pop-up at that time. You know, I think that kind of came on a couple years later. And so that also meant that when we were popping up, that we are creating everything from scratch, we created the – we made the furniture, Margaret really made a lot of ridiculous furniture every single year. But even just like the plug-and-play services that exist today of building a website, or running a credit card machine, we would learn lessons like oh, crap, it’s two days before the store is opening, and we need a landline so we can run the credit card. And so we have to call on our flip phones or run home to our landline to get the phone company to come out to install a landline so we can run their credit cards, you know. So, things like that. So those are the kinds of lessons that we’re learning every year when creating a pop up like that.

HERNANDEZ: So then when was it? When did you decide instead of being seasonal? Let’s go year round? What was that decision? Like? Or when did you do it?

CARLETON: That was 2009. It had been suggested to us. And we always thought that was a terrible idea. We didn’t really start with a business plan. None of us are really business people. Our business model was possibly the most ridiculous of any in existence. But we got offered a space. And there was very little going on downtown.

DORMODY: This is post-market crash 2008. So in 2009, because we had a precedent for, you know, running this shop successfully every year, we worked with a local developer who said, we see you doing this, what if you made this year round?

CARLETON: Yes.

DORMODY: And we said that sounds ridiculous.

BAUMGARTNER: Is there sort of an overriding aesthetic or something in particular about what you’re trying to put together in terms of who the artists are or what they’re presenting or the different types of work?

CARLETON: There is an overall aesthetic and we do choose work that will fit in with what Craftland is and what Craftland does. There’s definitely a bias toward things we haven’t seen, things that seem new to us. And again, definitely things that are colorful.

HERNANDEZ: Almost everything that’s sold in the store, I believe is without sales tax. Right?

Craftland's 20th Anniversary Party

introduced that art made by artists in Providence should be able to be sold tax free.

BAUMGARTNER: And that’s for all of Rhode Island, or is it just Providence?

CARLETON: It is all of Rhode Island now. There are a few things that are taxed. But mostly prints, ceramics, jewelry – all sold without sales tax.

BAUMGARTNER: Craftland is celebrating 20 years in business this year, how have things changed in that time?

DORMODY: I think the evolution of how people receive crafts and understand them and appreciate crafts has evolved over time where it’s certainly not going away. But I think that different economic changes, change how people receive it, right. So with the market crash, people had a real hunger for, or an appreciation for the handmade. I think with the pandemic, people, you know, got a little bit tired, even though there’s a great access with technology and what that brought you, I think, really looking for that connection, having a connection to what is handmade, making things by hand themselves. And then also having an opportunity to be able to, you know, potentially meet the person who made the thing that you just bought right or see them on the street. Whether or not they do but knowing that that is a thing that exists is so different from something that’s mass-produced.

CARLETON: Definitely, when we started, we really had to explain to people why handmade was important. And what that meant about the local economy, and how it related to, you know, helping artists survive in this, in Providence, mostly, all all over the – New England. But we have to do that less now. It seems like there’s more appreciation for things that are handmade and sort of a warmer embrace of the art that’s still being made in Providence.

HERNANDEZ: Well, congratulations on 20 years.

CARLETON: Thank you.

DORMODY: Thank you.

HERNANDEZ: And to the best for the next 20 years.

The article originally posted on December 8, 2022. Craftland is a business supporter of The Public’s Radio. Coverage decisions are made independent of business support. James Baumgartner and Luis Hernandez may be reached at James@ThePublicsRadio.org, LHernandez@ThePublicsRadio.org

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