It’s Urban Craft Uprising’s 20TH ANNIVERSARY Winter Show!
Urban Craft Uprising is the preeminent indie maker event in the PNW. We aim to organize local craft events that help makers build their business, and that inspire others to create.
We are a women-owned business, dedicated to supporting handmade artists and makers. We organize fun events for selling, shopping, and networking, aimed at bringing small businesses to the next level. Every show is curated independently, in the hopes of providing as many businesses as possible with an opportunity to expand their marketplaces and to create new shopping experiences that showcase the diversity of the maker community.
TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE STEPS WE ARE TAKING TOWARD diversity, equity, and inclusion in our events and our application process, please see our dei impact statement.
about
Urban Craft Uprising was founded in 2005 to showcase the work of independent crafters, artists and designers — to provide a unique, high quality, hand-crafted alternative to “big box” stores and mass produced goods.
Since its early beginnings at its first holiday show with just 50 craft booths and overflowing crowds, Urban Craft Uprising now holds the largest indie craft event in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest with its annual Winter Show. Since 2009, Urban Craft Uprising has expanded its horizons to include an annual summer show, our specialty food show Gobble Up, and have grown our roster of other shows to include events in Edmonds, Tacoma, Portland, Redmond, Bend, and Seaside, as well as wholesale events and opportunities which allow our vendors to connect directly with wholesale buyers.
Urban Craft Uprising aims to build a community of artists, makers, and designers by providing opportunities for them to connect with their fans, and for new shoppers to find them. In addition to the dozens of craft and food markets we organize each year, Urban Craft Uprising provides many other community-building activities, including a weekend business retreat, classes, sponsorships, scholarships, vendor happy hours, and other local activities. To find out more about our shows and to stay in the loop about upcoming events, be sure to subscribe to our mailing list right here on the website.
kristen rask
Kristen Rask opened a store called Schmancy in downtown Seattle in 2004. She started curating an annual show titled Plush You! at the shop that soon got international recognition. In its second year she received a book deal with f+w publishing to publish Plush You!: Loveable Misfits to Sew and Stuff. Since then she has come out with 7 more books; Creature Crochet, Button and Stitch: super cute ways to use your button stash (f+w publishing), Yummy Crochet, Teeny Tiny Animal Crochet, Woodland Crochet, Wizard of Oz Crochet and Peanuts Crochet which was written up about on Martha Stewart. She closed Schmancy after 11 years to focus on the growth of UCU. She joined UCU in 2008 and still says it’s her dream job. When she is not organizing events you can find her crocheting, baking, or reading. Craft organizing can be challenging but being able to work in the craft community is a dream come true.
Lindsey Ross
Lindsey has been organizing UCU since its first show at the Seattle Center, in 2006. She fell in love with the job of organizing when she became Logistical Director of her Camp Miriam at the age of 21, and knew that her dream would be to manage the systems and intricacies of events in other contexts. A Seattle native, she took a hiatus from the city for a half decade to live in various locales from Israel to Ohio to Montreal, and then back to Seattle for a fateful year that intersected with UCU’s establishment as a Seattle mainstay. She now lives in Portland and also owns Yarnia, an online DIY custom yarn shop that she operated as a brick & mortar for 9 years. She loves the job of building an event from the ground-up, of thinking through all the “what-if”s, and preparing accordingly–whether it’s at work with UCU, or at home planning a weekend campout, her own wedding, or a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro.
heather peek
Heather grew up in the beautiful and creative PNW, going to craft shows and shopping in small stores. Although she loves to craft, she has largely been in the management and production side of shows. Heather volunteered with Urban Craft Uprising at the age of 17 while she was studying geology. She always admired the way vendors share and/or collaborate but do their own unique thing and kept coming back to UCU! She went on to become UCU’s first ongoing intern which eventually landed her a more permanent position with the team. When she is not working she enjoys playing with her various animals, adding googly eyes and glitter to just about everything, traveling and crafting. Working with all these creative folks is a dream job and she is excited to continue meeting new people on their own artistic journey!
