LOVECRAFT At The Ya-Ya Teahouse

Lovecraft - Celebrates local handmade crafts and indie music.
Sat Feb 9th, Ya-Ya Teahouse, Poplar Lane, 12:30pm till 4:30pm.
www.myspace.com/craftwerkchch lovecraft.chch@gmail.com

Lovecraft is an alternative crafts market encompassing arts, crafts, home-made magazines, comics, a mix tape swap and live music. Vendors will be selling everything from cupcakes and comics to clothing and CD's, and there will also be a stall dedicated to selling merchandise from Christchurch bands. Attendee's will be kept entertained throughout the event by performances from local musicians Mike Ellis (The Insurgents), Pop Hits City and Pine. This time the event will be held at Ya Ya Tea House in Poplar Lane.

"Not everyone is content with buying mass produced items, individuality is becoming more and more important and sometimes the only way to make sure you own something truly unique is to make it yourself, and alternatively if you aren't creatively inclined or are short of time you can always buy it at Lovecraft! " say Lovecraft organisers.

The task of putting on Lovecraft has been taken on by Melinda Maxwell, Fran Miller-Pezo and Ashlin Raymond, who are all passionate about sharing the modern crafters attitude with locals. The trio embarked on staging the first small fair in December 2006, and due to the success of this, organised a second fair in June 2007 at SOL Square under the name Craftwerk Christchurch. Along with the name change to Lovecraft, The organisers now want to make it bigger and better and provide Christchurch crafters with a wider audience for their work. The third event organised by the trio will be at the Ya-Ya House of Excellent Teas in Poplar Lane (www.yayateahouse.co.nz), located in central Christchurch near High Street and Lichfield Street. The tea house has a wonderful Zen garden where musicians will perform and inside attendees can enjoy Ya Ya's teas while browsing the selection of creative efforts from stall holders.

Such craft fairs are already a much anticipated event on calendars in both Auckland and Wellington. Lovecraft began life as part of the "Craftwerk" phenomenon created by Wellingtonian Heather Barnes. The Craftwerk ideology is an important part of the Lovecraft Fair- the elements of live music and a mix tape swap are just some aspects of involving people who may not consider themselves a "craft fair" person.

One of the principal aims of Lovecraft is to expose emerging craftistas, and to put them in touch with others of a similar mindset. There are a growing number of people across all age groups taking up crafts, and using them to their own ends-usually in very non traditional ways… be warned you aren't going to find tea cosies that your grandmother made here! For many of them Lovecraft is their first exposure to the public. Lovecraft's ethos is now becoming widely accepted, Such craft fairs have been featured TV3's Campbell Live in 2007 and TV1's Artsville. This crafting renaissance is by no means isolated to New Zealand; it is part of a worldwide trend towards creative crafting. Craft website www.crafster.org hosts thousands of members from around the world, all of them encouraged to "break the rules of crafting".

Lovecraft Contacts:

Ashlin Raymond
Home: 384 2258
Mobile: 027 2436146

Fran Miller-Pezo
Home: 980 2612
Mobile: 021 148 5068
Lovecraft.chch@gmail.com

Melinda Maxwell
Mobile: 021 1722 401
www.myspace.com/craftwerkchch