Etsy.com
It's the biggest, coolest craft fair you wish your neighborhood had – Etsy.com, the place to "Buy, Sell, and Live Homemade." It's like an artisan’s Amazon.com, where buyers can find anything and everything handmade, and sellers can share their art with a global audience.
With a mission to re-focus on the handmade craftsmanship of people versus machine, Etsy is bringing back that old-time feel of the marketplace, where people made a living with their hands and their craft, and sold directly to the public. But, aside from the idealism of living homemade, Etsy is just plain cool.
Founded in 2005 by three guys (Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire and Haim Schoppik) with a vision of a different kind of economy, Etsy has since become a community marketplace of more than 100,000 online shops all over the world. These shops sell anything you can imagine – and even things you can't – from jewelry, clothing, pottery, paper goods and furniture, to even wedding bouquets. The selling policy is strict – if it's not made by the seller themselves, it's not allowed on Etsy. Crafting supplies and vintage items, however, are also allowed, in support of the handmade and recycling revolution.
For a buyer, Etsy is the perfect place to find one-of-a-kind items – items that are made, it seems, just for you. In this unique marketplace, buyers can put a face to their purchases. They have direct communication with both the maker and the seller – because it's the same person. Each item sold has a story, unlike the anonymous mass-produced items that line store shelves today. And, they're reasonably priced and shipped to your door.
If you're looking for something specific and totally custom made, you can post a request on Etsy's "Alchemy" forum. Then, sellers bid on the item to make it.
It's a whole community – an entire world of incredibly talented, eclectic artists – right in your browser and ready to sell directly to you. Let the handmade movement march on.