Celebrating a decade-long commitment to creativity and community, the Echo Park Craft Fair has evolved alongside the artists it supports and showcases, igniting nothing less than a modern maker revolution.
Holiday 2019 will mark the Echo Park Craft Fair’s most exciting and expansive event yet, as co-founders and curators Beatrice Valenzuela and Rachel Craven celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the EPCF community.
“I started the Echo Park Craft Fair in 2009, in my backyard with a group of ten friends,” remembers Valenzuela. “Since then, it has expanded tremendously. Watching everyone grow and bring new, inspiring work to our fair brings me so much joy. Seeing all of these artists expanding in their creativity and thriving, becoming successful, I find inspiration in that. To watch people leave their second jobs, to see them focusing on their craft, that makes me so happy.”
At EPCF, the intent, as always, remains on encouraging a vibrant communal spirit, as artists gather to share their work and inspire, not only the thousands of guests who flock to the bi-annual event but each other as well.
Since its inception, the Fair has offered a nurturing space for all artists, with a particular emphasis on female creatives and entrepreneurs. But what truly sets the Echo Park Craft Fair apart, is that it's an event for artists, created by artists.
Craven and Valenzuela helm their own thriving design businesses, and their eye for curation results in a one-of-a-kind experience which continually features only the finest work from around the globe.
From woodworking to fabric art, ceramics to jewelry, perfumery to clothing design, food to flowers, the Echo Park Craft Fair is a constantly evolving collective of creatives, gathering twice a year to share their very best work.
“I feel like what I want to share with the community is the help of allowing them to feel real exuberance,” explains Valenzuela.
“Within creating the Echo Park Craft Fair, extending an opportunity for people to meet and have an exchange of both friendship and connection, while participating in an artist’s economy; we create our own jobs, we make it up as we go along, we are living and creating out of the norm.”
And at this much-needed moment, EPCF is here to remind us once again, that there is positivity and power in coming together.
“I feel a great sense of community because of the Echo Park Craft Fair,” explains Craven, “As the Fair has evolved, the core values and intentions have always remained the same – to provide a vibrant gathering place for a circle of artists to commune, share and inspire. The goal of these bi-annual celebrations is nothing less than a shared catharsis, a moment where talented creatives are not only able showcase amazing new work, but also to motivate, encourage and care for one another.”
