An antidote to throwaway fashions, online shopping and niggling trade barriers – both inter-provincial and now international – the Originals Spring Craft Sale celebrates creativity, craftsmanship and Canadian innovation. Craft show audiences can sip and sample gourmet treats as they shop, feel textiles and glasswares firsthand, and peek behind the wheel with live pottery demos. With live music all weekend long, and Line 4 of the O-Train now open, it’s the perfect place to get ahead of your spring shopping and Mother’s Day gift-giving, Canadian-style.

“With Originals, it’s always been elbows up in a way,” says John Ladouceur, president and founder of the event runner, Signatures Shows, and a former glass-blower himself. “Our Canadian craft community has been pushing back against big box stores, mass-produced retail, and cheaply-made copycat designs for more than 50 years.” With ongoing craft shows in 12 different Canadian cities, Signatures has been working to steward the craft community across the country and push back against larger, American-owned craft entities that seem to creep into the Canadian market.

“Each of our small businesses is run by and for Canadians. Our craftspeople are thoughtful, innovative, and such an integral part of our local economy. We’re thrilled to see more Canadians leaning into the value of thoughtful, ethical, and 100% Canadian-made.”

The Originals community has flourished from humble beginnings in 1974 to a sprawling 40,000 sq ft marketplace and an intrinsic part of Ottawa’s arts landscape. This year’s show features artists from as far as Nanaimo, BC and Halifax, NS, with 86 vendors from within Ontario and 40 from Quebec. There’s jewellery, leather, home decor, kids’ toys, body care, culinary creations, and more, with unique finds ranging from Mushroom Coffee (Dodjivi) and herb-infused skin salves (Matter Company) to water-repellent canvas handbags (Nautilos) and floral-print leather sneakers (Ana Maria Dessin).

Several exhibitors, such as Gary Saunders (Gü Krea Shun) and Carol Devine (Devine Fine Jewellery), have been mainstays since the 1970s, helping to grow a new generation of local makers along the way. North of the border, Originals proves that craftsmanship, ambition and innovation are very much alive and well… and just waiting to be discovered.

Tickets are available at originalsshow.ca. For a full list of vendors, visit originalsshow.ca/artists