Folk Art Market

Every July for the past 23 years Santa Fe has hosted a Folk Art Market. This year nearly 150 vendors from all over the globe, selected via a competitive process, came to sell their handcrafted wares. Last year we went and were overwhelmed by the diversity and quality (read cost) of the crafts. I had no idea what kind of house we’d be living a year out. Although I wanted to buy something to adorn our future abode, I settled for a pair of earrings. This year, with our “permanent” living situation established, we could indulge…or invest..in a more specific vision.  Over the weekend we purchased seven pillows for our two living room couches from a Turkish vendor. We bought only the covers and have pillow interiors on order to arrive Friday.

From an Indian shop, Robert purchased a couple of nice silk shirts. Our good friends Chandra and Bill, who were visiting from Austin, negotiated a good deal on a couple of Uzbek rugs. After they left, we went back to get ourselves a rug from the same shop.

We had seen this rug on our first trip to the Folk Art Market, but it was priced so far beyond anything we would consider that we couldn’t even bring ourselves to make a counter offer. After going home, taking some measurements, and imagining the rug in place I was more convinced that it would work well in this space. So, we went back the next day and made an offer, eventually arriving right in the middle between what we were thinking we would pay for a rug in this spot and the amount on the sticker. We owe Chandra for showing us what is possible. In the evening, the vendor with generations of family drove to our house to deliver our new prize. Inside he noted other places where we could use a rug. I told him we had no spare money now but that we would look for him at next year’s market. He replied “Then you’ll be like family!”