The Amazing One Of A Kind Show

Last week I visited the 'One of a kind show' in Toronto. 

This air hanger-sized craft, design, art and food show lasted for almost two weeks and featured more artisans than I had time to visit in one day. The market is held a few times a year in both Toronto and Vancouver and brings vendors from all over Canada. It's certainly not something I'm used to seeing in Perth, and there's nothing really like it anywhere in Australia as far as I know.

A lot of the vendors only do this show. They travel between Toronto and Vancouver and spend the entire year working on stock levels to manage it all. It's an expensive show to be a vendor at, but apparently more than worth it in sales. 

I want to share so much of it all with you, but have decided to stick to my favourite kiddy stuff today. Even that is a challenge, just too much to fit in! 

First we'll take a peek at mehoi. Designer Hoi-An Tang has an incredibly quirky style and her work cleverly bridges the gap between childrens' and adults' products. You can purchase croissant-shaped ear studs (which I definitely have my eye on - a store down the road stocks them!), or a cute print for the wall. My friend bought this one...

image from here

Each character is lavished with it's own story. This bear is forgoing hibernation, he's got some exploring to do instead. Love it!

I purchased some of these magnets from baby elephant designs. 

image via here

And I also bought a delightful book for Poppet. All about being yourself. I love all of the illustrations by Joanne Cheung. She was a lovely person to chat with and so very chuffed that we bought something from her. We bought quite a lot, actually, and had to contain ourselves! Some of her illustrations of local houses are next on my list....

I only had time for a quick stop at Sonja Ahler's stall.  Just look at these "fierce" bunnies! 

 

 

 

image via here

Fiercely cute, perhaps. Utterly adorable, for certain. Her stall was quite magical with little vintage teacups full of bunnies, and gorgeous prints and cards as well. Sigh.

And then there's the gob smacking talent of Sabine Alpers, under the moniker of Felt Factory.

Sabine's felted faux fauna are just amazing. Each one is, of course, quite unique. And all sorts of wonderful farm animals and cold climate critters could be adorning your walls soon. I plan on quite a collection, just not sure where to start! Probably with Alfred the Moose, being in Canada...

image via here

Lastly, I come to Heidi Van Veen. Heidi was awesome. She was so open and willing to chat, offering up some great tidbits of advice to a Toronto newcomer like me. Muito sympatico indeed. Her pieces include some cool ottomans and cushions, and some really great soft dolls. I'm particularly partial to her fox. He will have to feature in our place soon, methinks. Look at his little overalls!

image via here

Look, that is soooo the tip of the iceberg. I don't have enough space to cover the other kiddy bits I loved. There were some amazing artists and jewellery makers at the market as well. I'll talk about them next time.

Lots of pieces wormed their way into my affections, and many of them came home with me. But once my hands were full, it was time to go home.

Apologies to my bank account...