INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

Location

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is a contemporary craft fair that consciously celebrates modern handmade goods, the relationship between creator and consumer, and local, alternative economies. The IHE is quickly becoming a notable stop on the indie craft fair circuit, which includes events such as the Renegade Craft Fairs in Chicago, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Austin and Los Angeles, Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta, Stitch Rock in Delray Beach, Florida, Art vs. Craft in Milwaukee, Detroit Urban Craft Fair in Michigan and Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia, among others. The IHE began in 2007 as a way to highlight local crafters and artisans as well as to expose Indianapolis to some of the best vendors on the national indie craft fair map.Most of the products sold by IHE artists serve the dual purpose of art and function and range from the beautiful to the irreverent, from the adorable to the slightly sinister, from the hysterical to the just plain bizarre. Vendors may use traditional crafting techniques but they express contemporary themes and design. Vendors offer a range of unique handmade goods from wooden jewelry to fanciful undergarments, from custom vintage-inspired western wear to stationery, from plush animals to natural bath and body goodies, from hand-screened rock ‘n' roll poster art to pop culture icon finger puppets and much, much more. Admission into the fair is FREE to the public. Raffle tickets are sold for $2 each, three for $5 or 7 for $10. Money made from raffle ticket sales is used to purchase arts and craft supplies for select Indianapolis area public school art programs. Prizes for the raffle are donated by our vendors and local, independent business sponsors. The event is kid-friendly, but some artists’ work features the occasional dirty word or sexual image, so parents might want to take a gander before their little ones get an eye full. The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is the first and only of its kind in Indianapolis and is currently held biannually.