At the street fair, an artist

Work/One: 

They find words and phrases they like: “just” or “true” and “paint your life” or “I like people” or “everything moves” and they heat press the words onto canvas. Then they take to their sewing machines and sew and sew some more, turning the old into something new - wristlets and passport holders and bags and necklaces. They sell their wares at street fairs and holiday fairs and online as 100percentcool designs. They are two artists, Evija and Inga.

This is their work and they love it, Evija said.

It was a street fair that went on for blocks and blocks down Broadway in Greenwich Village, with all the usual odd and wonderful stuff, pickles in wooden barrels, corn on the cob grilling over hot coals, scarves and t-shirts and sunglasses and tiny yellow cabs for sale. One booth had a long canvas sign that read, “Handmade from recycled materials, fabrics and clothes:  Wallets, bracelets, bags.”  A crowd had gathered around the table so I stopped for a look.

A woman was admiring a handbag, and the artist, Evija told us how she and Inga, the two-person design and production team, do their work. They go in search of nifty fabric, a pretty piece of canvas, a long stretch of material. They gather up ties and belts and turn them into bag straps. Sometimes they’ll take out turquoise or lavender or red paint and spread material across the floor and paint stripes or bursts of color. They heat press those words and put it all together.

The woman left with a handbag she held close. At the table a man searched for a while and then chose a wallet. He showed it to his girlfriend and he seemed quite taken with it.    

“Where is it going?” Evija asked him.
He looked down at the wallet he’d just purchased. “To Italy,” he said. “Genoa.”

She said she always asks where each piece is going. She likes knowing that their art travels, whether to Italy or Connecticut or the next borough.