Handmade in America: ASSEMBLED ~ Somerville, MA

This past Saturday, a friend and I visited ASSEMBLED in Somerville. Have you heard of it?

Some of you might have, but it was new to me. I received an email inviting me to check it out, so I decided to go.  The artists displaying at ASSEMBLED changes week to week. Here is a list of artists from July 20th.

ASSEMBLED is an outdoor handmade arts market at Assembly Row, right by the mall at Assembly Square. It's held most Saturdays from 11am to 4pm from mid-May through mid-September. Assembly Row is quite an up and coming location. There will be a dedicated Assembly Station T stop on the Orange line in the Fall of 2014. New apartments are almost completed and they appear to be leasing now. They look quite nice and will be in the middle of everything. New stores and restaurants are being added too. It will be quite the spot to live in.

It's funny that I received the invitation when I did, because I've been looking for a nice handmade ceramic bowl for my breakfast. I found one that I love! With polka dots!

Sarah Kelly, who calls herself a "Funtional Potter" makes all kinds of beautiful ceramic pieces. She is currently a student at UMASS Dartmouth working on her BFA in Ceramics. I love her work!

Below are some more pictures of her work. I find myself very drawn to these colors, textures and designs.

The jewelry below was made by Laurie Lynn of Beryllina. She uses recycled metals and actually mines the minerals herself. Her pieces are very delicate looking and unique. She does custom work too. Absolutely gorgeous!

Below is Dara Cheek of Hieropice ("HI-ro-pie-cee") on Etsy. I love her terrarium necklaces!

Below, Karen Aquipel was showing her work for the first time. I love everything from her Etsy shop Dancingpurls. Saturday was one of the hottest days ever though, so the wool was definitely ironic. Can wool be ironic? Anyway, she repurposes wool sweaters to make some of her pieces. Quite beautiful and green too!

Sarah Wormann is an Etsy seller too. It was hot as Hades out, but Sarah managed to look so cool and relaxed! I really liked her work too. Loved the Massachusetts state map illustrations!

Below are some pieces from White Barn Heirlooms. They had some great furniture and accessory pieces to decorate in a casual cottage style. Love it!

Then of course there has to be food right? The Thai Basil Chicken from the Away Cafe Food Truck was tasty as could be!

For dessert, I had a slider from Frozen Hoagies, which was an ice cream sandwich with two chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream. I'm glad that they put it in a bowl, because it would have been impossible to eat by hand. The ice cream was really good, but the cookies were hard as rocks. Even after being soaked through with ice cream. Rather odd. I'd get ice cream from them again, but will probably pass on the cookies.

Anyway, I had a really good time at ASSEMBLED and hope that you get a chance to check it out this summer. I've written before about making a point of buying things made in America. The easiest way to do it is going to a handmade market like this where the makers are selling their goods. It's nice to meet the artists and you're helping the economy.  A winning situation for all!

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Disclosure: Compensation was received in the form of Art Bucks and Food Truck Bucks,  where lunch for two was provided and I was allowed to purchase from the handmade market. Thank you!


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