About Handmade Arcade
Video Content: 2025 Holiday Market (Video Credit: Alejandro Jimenez)
Our Mission
Handmade Arcade empowers makers of all ages by providing them with professional development and connections to customers.
Our Vision
Handmade Arcade envisions an inclusive artistic community where all makers are empowered to share their craft and to achieve their creative potential and financial goals.
Our Values
We are driven by our core values of anti-racism, collaboration, equity, financial sustainability, & transparency.
Our Impact
Since 2004, we have connected 3,000+ makers with 250K+ shoppers, leading to maker sales of $8 million at our events alone.
Pictured: Handmade Arcade Staff in 2026 (Photo Credit: Kitoko Chargois)
Pictured: 2024 Holiday Market (Photo Credit: Kitoko Chargois)
Our Story
Handmade Arcade was founded in 2004 around a dining room table by a group of seven crafty women who wanted to create a DIY/indie craft fair. At the time, indie craft fairs were virtually unknown. This was long before Etsy and the “maker movement” existed. Our first market in 2004 featured 30 makers whose quirky, irreverent, and unique handmade products delighted over 1,000 curious shoppers.
The creative leaders behind Handmade Arcade continued to host indie markets in Pittsburgh, building a grassroots community of makers, and serving as pioneers in Pittsburgh’s own flourishing maker movement. From features in MAKE Magazine, hosting the first-ever Craft Congress with other indie craft show leaders from around the country, and being featured in BuzzFeed’s 2014 round-up of “25 Indie Craft Fairs Every Creative Person Needs to Visit,” our reach continued to grow.
We received official 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2017 and have since significantly expanded our support for makers. In addition to running our annual Holiday Market, which is Pittsburgh’s largest and longest-running craft market, we host two other annual maker markets, offers free year-round maker education and support programming, and create more opportunities for shoppers to connect with makers outside of our markets. We are dedicated to Pittsburgh’s craft, maker, and arts community and committed to improving quality of life and economic success for our region’s makers.
Pictured: Handmade Arcade Founders in 2005
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