Weekend nights in Market Square have been more creative and colorful than usual. The Night Markets are more extravagant than ever with local vendors selling products ranging from candles and clothing to refreshments.
Standing out from the rest are the crafts that are made by hand, not only by Pittsburgh locals but internationally. Art is anything made with love, emphasizing the importance of culture, originality or simply life. This form of self-expression has allowed these artists to turn their hobby into a business.
Daynell Marbury, 44, of the Hill District, is the owner and creator of Hello Boutiq LLC. She creates her art with resin, an organic material harvested from trees that, when cured, becomes solid. Her products range from earrings, dominoes, key chains, coasters, home décor items and more. Marbury gained the idea for her art from the internet.
“I saw a YouTube video and I was like ‘I think I can do that,’ and I can,” Marbury said.
Annie Marbury, 66, also from the Hill District, has been there since the beginning of Daynell’s art journey and sees it benefiting the community.
“I am proud of my daughter,” Marbury said. “It helped to decorate homes and businesses. The mirrors that she makes have been sold in hair salons.”
Authentically African by Moa sells handmade crafts straight from Africa. Marie-Louise Rectenwald, 49, from the Abbey Coast, is the owner of the international business. Rectenwald plays an integral process in transporting African artists’ crafts to the United States.
“I work with people back home in my country, but I have stuff from four countries: Côte D’ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger,” Rectenwald said.
Rectenwald uses her business to bring attention to the importance of crafts made by hand and to showcase the work of African Artists.
Jim Adams, 25, from New Florence Pennsylvania, started his business when he needed some furniture for his new house.
“We needed some things around the house, so I made them,’ Adams said. “I made a table, turned it into another thing, and then decided to try a market, and it turned into this.”
Alongside his son, Adams crafts clocks, checkerboards, signs, cutting boards, and more from locally sourced wood. All pieces from Jim Adams Custom Woodworks are food-safe and some have epoxy incorporated into them as well.
Sherece Brown, 38, from Highland Park, expresses her artistic side by decorating chocolate-covered strawberries. Her business, Sophisticated Strawberries, sells everything covered in chocolate from bacon to pretzels, apples, and her own bark and bars. Sophisticated Strawberries began as a pastime until Brown’s mother encouraged her to start a business.
“As a joke one day, I placed an ad on social media; I ended up with 147 orders for Valentine’s Day,” Brown said. “I had to Google what I was going to do. Like how am I going to start? About three days later, I turned it into an official business.”
For pumpkin lovers, Sophisticated Strawberries features pumpkin apple butter for the fall season only.
The Night Market will be held on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. until October 28.
