PucesPOP : Pop n’ Shop Picks

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After the SAT Souk, the next place to offer local and one-of-a-kind goods is PucesPOP. This weekend, vendors with food, clothing, accessories, housewear, ceramics, jewelry, paper products, kids stuff, and beauty products will set up shop so you can (ahem) shop. No need to fear that your hard-earned dollars are being spent on five-year old labourers in Vietnam or on questionable cancer-causing agents. Many of the artisans are repeat performers who regularly sell their stuff at POP events and local markets. 20 of them are brand spanking new to Puces POP.

Montreal Rampage has covered a number of the vendors before: Crown Pickle Co., Carriage 44, Lemo Lemonade, 3/4 oz Tonic, BALS Provisions, and Les Charlatans.

Some of the other things I have my eye on are:

The line of products by LVNEA remind me of Jung; there scents are archetypes, not caricatures. I’ve never been one for artificial scents of commercial perfume. Obsession and Chanel No. 5 make me sneeze. And cologne… forgeddaboutit. But, there’s something captivating about the scent combinations that sound more like food pairings I can get behind. Clove and honey lip balm or coffee and cardamom lip balm — I’d like that on my lips or to taste them on someone else’s ($6)! The perfume in scents like Black Spruce and Desert Sage comes in a solid, waxy format, rather than liquid, so there’s no dousing oneself ($25 tub/$52 sampler). The essential oil scents have names that are earthy and woodsy: Ghost Pine, Fern, Black Sea ($35/tube; $15 for sampler)

I’m not one to spend a lot of money on a purse, but Cantin bags are hard to resist. I’ve coveted one of these for several years now and I may finally break this year. Cantin bags come in neutral and grey shades of felt with brown, chocolate and black  leather accents. Metallic clips to close the bags give them a loft-condo sensibility.  Accents are clean lines in fabric of contrasting textures. The bags have so much going for them: hand stitching, adjustable straps, and fall in the category of perfectly sized — not too small as to be unusable, not so big you look like you’re headed for a night on Rue Crescent. Bags are advertised on the site to fit iphones, ipads and macbooks, which translates to me that there’s a specific intended clientele (upscale, urban and educated but not showy). Some double as sharp city backpacks.

From the I wish I’d thought of that files, I present the simple wood couch arm wraps by Blisscraft & Brazen. Made of native hardwood and capturing the character of the material, these look as elegant as they are useful. The company began by using scrap and salvaged wood, recycled wiring, and rescued bits of rejected furniture. As a result, their pieces are one-of-a-kind, but also have an upcycle/recycle cache without looking like they were found gathering dust at Salvation Army (or Value Village . Wood has such personality and appeal. Blisscraft & Brazen know to build on wood’s natural affability by using the sort of finishing materials anyone can feel good about: non-toxic hard wax oil and formaldehyde-free glue.

While I could easily stick to my passion for things that are elegant, natural, and understated, I also like the ridiculous and wild. For this, I turn to textile master Dionoski. This creative studio makes pincushions featuring the faces of dictators, appliqué/embroidery pieces of Madonna and Lionel Richie, sour looking cat pillows, leggings for tots, and its very own felted mascot: Suzie.

Puces POP takes place December 12-14 at Eglise St. Denis (5075 Rue Rivard).