The Renegade Craft Fair comes to San Francisco this weekend, and I'm very excited about some of the vendors that will be there. A wide range of illustrators, jewelers, home-goods crafters and letter-press printers will be luring me to their tables. I've trolled the Renegade Crafts Fair site and gone down the list of participating San Francisco vendors. I tried to keep to a tight set of criteria for picking out my favorite vendors. 1. They had to be making something that was original and unique — not like the multiple vendors who will be there selling upcycled wallets and notebooks — something special. 2. I also wanted to stick primarily with vendors working in the paper arts or using their own designs and illustrations on T-shirts, totes and other ephemera, because it's more relevant to my interests and more relevant to those looking at a print-focused blog. 3. I also just chose, completely subjectively, the items I would drop cash on and be willing to display in my home. All my laboring in front of a hot computer all day, making the hard decisions, has brought you this list of my favorite renegades at the fair: 3 Fish Studios A husband and wife team of painters and print makers in SOMA.

I love you California print

Merde 6x6 painting
Amos Goldbaum He's got such a loopy gestural quality to his line drawings that make them seem alive.

Ferry Building T-shirt

Muni T-shirt

Televisor print
Berkley Illustration I had found this illustrator before in my Etsy wanderings and already had my eye on some squirrel prints.

Kittens print

Cardinal print

Red Squirrel print
Brian Gubicza I can picture these in a baby boy's room. He would never be afraid of monsters looking into these gentle faces every day.

Creature print

Robot print

Werewolf print
Caitlin Kuhwald I've seen Caitlin's editorial illustrations before — most notably in 7x7 Magazine — and I love her style

Owling


Pink Lady
Campfire Goods I love a good typography T-shirt. They also carry a lot of state and region-specific shirts.

Bold Sans T-shirt

Quotes and Primes T-shirt
DKNG Visually great poster design.

Smoke

Unchain Yourself poster

Smodcast gig poster

K.D. Lang gig poster
Double Parlour Are we seeing a theme here with animal heads on human bodies? Hmmm.

The Hunter

The Traveler

Lonely Accordionist

Oh Dear
Erin Dollar A nice minimal geometric aesthetic.

Abstract embroidery

Warm Sweater card

Geometric Pillows
Gnome Enterprises Bold, graphic and pretty.

Fox T-shirt

Narwhals T-shirt

Whale T-shirt

Wolf T-shirt
Hillary Bird I love quirky hand-lettering. And her sense of color is nice.


2011 Calendar
Jason Munn You may remember Jason Munn from the "
Best Summer Movie (posters)" post. I know that it's so hard to come up with such tightly crafted concepts and execute them with such minimalist precision.
Kevin Tong Another amazing illustrator. Every poster is a study in color use and line finesse.
Mis Noplaes You may also remember Mis Nopales from my
"Day of the Dead" post. Still charmed by his prints.

Frida Kahlo Calavera

Sirena Serenata

Sunday Morning Limited Edition
Nora Aoyagi These are her silhouette pieces which I covet. She also does full-color paintings

Alice

Fancy Bird

Fancy Wolf

Portrait of a Girl
Valhalla Studio Last, but certainly not least, Valhalla Studios. Yet another vendor making beautiful concert posters.

[...] topic. Upcycling is more than a hobby; it is a lifestyle. You are no longer just partaking in crafts – you are actually reducing waste and fighting against consumer culture, not to mention [...]